Night shift workers: What's your sleep strategy? -- Career Center Blog

June 21, 2011

Night shift workers: What's your sleep strategy?

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By Michelle Goodman
NWjobs

A recent NWjobs article and another on MSNBC gave a glimpse into the lives of people who prefer to work the night shift. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 3 percent of the country's full-time workforce pulls the graveyard shift. Another 5 percent work an evening shift.

[Flickr photo by Brad.K]

Among the perks: better pay, fewer meetings, no rush-hour commute, and most important, your days free to attend school, grow a fledgling business, or care for your kids while your partner works (thus saving a bundle in childcare costs).

Much has been written lately about air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job during the night shift. Likewise, it's easy to find web accounts of the many ways night shift workers cheat sleep on the job (coffee and jumping jacks, anyone?). What I've seen less of are best practices for ensuring your night shift gig doesn't completely mess with your sleep schedule, both during the workweek and during time off.

A recent Vanderbilt University study of the sleep strategies of nurses who work the night shift found that 25 percent of them will forego sleep for up to a day to adjust to their next night on the job.

Many hospital nurses work 12-hour shifts three times a week, followed by a couple or several days off. As a result, many alternate between two different sleep schedules: the standard nighttime sleep schedule that most of us keep, and the daytime sleep schedule that folks working a five-day-a-week graveyard shift keep. As any seasoned night duty nurse will tell you, transitioning from one sleep schedule to the other can be rough, especially if you're doing so several times a month.

According to Vanderbilt researchers, staying up for 24 hours to prepare for your next night shift is the least productive sleep strategy. Nurses in this study who did so reported feeling less adjusted to their sleep schedule, had a harder time getting out of bed, consumed more caffeine, and were more likely to fall asleep during the day when off work.

Instead, Vanderbilt researchers listed sleeping in late the morning before your first night shift (practiced by almost half the 400 nurses polled) and sticking to a daytime sleep schedule all week long (practiced by very few of the nurses polled) as more effective sleep strategies.

But on-the-job effectiveness isn't the only thing at stake for those who significantly alter their sleep patterns each week. Their health may be, too. As Vanderbilt researchers note:

A number of previous studies have found that repeated incidence of circadian misalignment -- the condition that occurs when individuals' sleep/wake patterns are out of sync with their biological clocks -- is not healthy. Jet lag is the most familiar example of this condition. Circadian misalignment has been associated with increased risk of developing cardiovascular, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, some types of cancer, and several mental disorders.

Night shift workers, what say you? When it comes to sleeping, how you do adjust between your days on and days off work? Do you sleep through the daylight hours on weekends and your other days off, too? Or do you slightly alter your sleep pattern during your time off work?

Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com

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Meg | June 24, 2011 12:38 AM | Reply

I group all of my shifts together; I work 12 hour shifts, 3 per week, so I do 6 in a row and have 8 days off - my schedule repeats like that every 2 weeks and it works perfectly. It's a challenge to work 6 12-hour shifts in a row, but it's worth it to have the 8 days off. I sleep in late the morning before I start my stretch, and on my days off I revert back to a "normal" schedule. I almost never have trouble switching, and if I do, I take some melatonin my first "night" off to help me get back on a regular sleep schedule.

Jim | June 24, 2011 4:09 AM | Reply

We currently work 12 hour shifts, 4 nights one week, 3 the next. When I get home at 7 am, I go straight to bed, get up between 2 and 3, have some coffee. My 1st day off I'll sleep until around noon, and live "normal people" hours on days off. My first day back, up at 6 am, nap from 2pm to 5 pm, and off i go...Work starts at 7.

Sarah | June 25, 2011 1:35 AM | Reply

I work 4 10hour shifts Wednesday evening thru Sunday morning. . The first two days of my week I get home at 4am and am up by 6:30am with the babies and then I nap with them when we can and then on the weekends when my husband is home I am able to sleep until noon. I am usually still tired from the short changed nights that I go to bed at 10pm or earlier so that I get up at a regular 6:30am with the babies again on Monday when my husband is back to work. But we do save a bundle on child care.

Tyler | August 16, 2012 9:06 AM | Reply

This may seem strange, I work 5,8's and during the night shift this is how it works for me. I get home at 0700, Eat breakfast with the wife, she goes to work at 0845. from that time to about 1500 i stay awake, do chores around the house, etc. around 1530 a lay down for the "night". wake up at 2100, Eat dinner that was made that night drink some coffee and head out the door. Has worked for 32years.

Josh | September 12, 2012 5:13 PM | Reply

I work 6 8's i get one day off a week. But i get off at 6 am every morning. I get home make dinner and pass out as soon as i am done eating. I wake up about noon take my dog out to potty and then stay awake for a bit alot of times i take a nap before work too. But i really never feel i have a day off. The real problem is i am a 26 year old man and no dating life cause most women are turned off to my work week. Never seeing me at night.