My name is Lauren Drain Kagan I am a New York Times Best Selling author, NASM cert personal trainer, fitness model, wife and an RN of 10 years. I specialized in cardiology while also working the night shift float pool for several years all meanwhile I was building out my fitness career & training for multiple fitness shows, working on my personal transformation and much more.
I’m calling on all nurses and medical personnel! For years, many of us nurses and medical staff have been at the beck and call of our patients and families, sacrificing our own daily and hourly needs in order to tend to the care of our patients. Over time, this prioritizing our patient’s needs over ours may cause us to completely lose focus on our own self-care and health goals. At the relatively young age of 28, I found myself in that exact spot having worked as a cardiac step-down nurse for over seven years in several different major teaching hospitals. Working full-time nights at one hospital and per diem nights at another, I found myself sacrificing my personal health and fitness needs because I was so tired, stressed, overworked, and only focused on patient needs 36-48 hours a week, leaving only my days off to rest and recover.
One night, I decided I did not want to let this pattern of self-neglect continue – even though it is so common in the nursing culture to sacrifice our simplest needs, such as getting a proper meal break, bathroom break, stress break or any time to think of ourselves during work. I noticed the veteran nurses on my unit often complained of the same things after having worked 20-30 years on my unit; saying they were stressed, tired, overworked, overweight, suffering from back pain problems, and many other health related issues. As a younger nurse, but still somewhat experienced, I refused to accept this reality: that nurses will ALWAYS sacrifice for their patients, and never have time or energy to dedicate to their own health and youthfulness.
I made a promise to myself that I would find a way to incorporate lifestyle changes into my daily routine so that I would be healthier, more fit, less stressed, and less prone to injury, pain and other things our veteran nurses are often subject to. I dedicated a full year of my life to learning new lifestyle habits, nutrition, workouts and ways to ensure I took care of my health first, before entering my shift.
It has been four years since I made that life altering decision and it has propelled my passion into promoting a fit and active lifestyle to everyone I come in contact with, including my fellow nurses/co-workers. I have since become a certified personal trainer, training thousands of females and males in custom weight loss and muscle building programs, built out balanced nutritional meal plans, and became the strongest and most energized I’ve felt as an adult, now at age 31. I have successfully helped people achieve their dream bodies, attain personal fitness goals, and drastically reduce health problems by introducing nutrient dense foods an eliminating processed foods from their diets, thereby improving quality of life tremendously. You do not have to take my word for it, see the testimonials for yourself on my website (www.laurendrain.com).
So, in honor of all my nurses out there, I have developed a bunch of simple lifestyle tips and tricks to start incorporating into your daily and weekly routines, both at work and on your days off that should truly change your health, energy, body and lifestyle for the better. Take a moment to read through these health tips for days you are working:
For days off from work try incorporating some of these habits:
For more tips on how to get and stay fit, or blogs on how to become a fit and active nurse/service personnel, check out my website www.laurendrain.com or follow me on Instagram @LaurenDrainFit. I also offer weight loss and fitness challenges with amazing transformations occurring in as little as six weeks. The challenges give out thousands of dollars in cash prizes for incentives as well. Are you ready to take back your life and health? Don’t let the daily and hourly stresses of the nursing culture and profession steer you down a path of settling or giving up on your health, body and energy. Start your health and fitness journey today, and let me help you! I know the struggles that you face and have strategies and suggestions that really make a difference! See my website for more details, past client testimonials, transformations and much more www.laurendrain.com
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