Shift work can harm sleep and health: What helps? - Harvard Health (2024)

Shift work can harm sleep and health: What helps? - Harvard Health (1)

We can feel groggy when our sleep schedule is thrown off even just a little. So what happens when shift work requires people to regularly stay awake through the night and sleep during the day — and how can they protect their health and well-being?

What is shift work disorder?

Mounting evidence, including several new studies, paints a worrisome picture of the potential health fallout of nontraditional shift work schedules that affect 15% to 30% of workers in the US and Europe, including factory and warehouse workers, police officers, nurses, and other first responders.

So-called shift work disorder mainly strikes people who work the overnight or early morning shift, or who rotate their shifts, says Eric Zhou, an assistant professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. It is characterized by significant problems falling and staying asleep, or sleeping when desired. That's because shift work disrupts the body's normal alignment with the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle called the circadian rhythm.

"People who work 9-to-5 shifts are typically awake when the sun is up, which is aligned with their body's internal circadian clock. But for shift workers, their work hours and sleep hours are misaligned with the natural cues to be awake or asleep," Zhou says. "They're working against the universe's natural inclinations — not just their body's."

What's the connection between shift work and health?

A 2022 research review in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine links shift work to higher risks for serious health problems, such as heart attack and diabetes. This research suggests adverse effects can include metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that raises the risks for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke), accidents, and certain types of cancer.

"The research is consistent and powerful," Zhou says. "Working and sleeping during hours misaligned with natural light for extended periods of time is not likely to be healthy for you."

How do new studies on shift work boost our understanding?

New research continues to add to and strengthen earlier findings, teasing out specific health effects that could stem from shift work.

  • Shift workers on rotating schedules eat more erratically and frequently than day workers, snack more at night, and consume fewer healthier foods with potentially more calories, a study published online in Advances in Nutrition suggests. This analysis reviewed 31 prior studies involving more than 18,000 participants, comparing workers' average food intake over 24 hours.
  • Disrupting the circadian rhythm through shift work appears to increase the odds of colorectal cancer, a malignancy with strong ties to lifestyle factors, according to a 2023 review of multiple studies published online in the Journal of Investigative Medicine. Contributors to this higher risk may include exposure to artificial light at night, along with complex genetic and hormonal interactions, study authors said.

"Cancer understandably scares people, and the World Health Organization recognizes that shift work is a probable carcinogen," Zhou says. "The combination of chronically insufficient and poor-quality sleep is likely to get under the skin. That said, we don't fully understand how this happens."

How can you protect your sleep — and your health?

If you work overnight or early morning shifts, how can you ensure you sleep more soundly and restfully? Zhou offers these evidence-based tips.

Time your exposure to bright and dim light. Graveyard shift workers whose work schedule runs from midnight through 8 a.m., for example, should reduce their light exposure as much as possible after leaving work if they intend to go right to sleep once they return home. "These measures could take the form of wearing blue light–blocking glasses or using blackout shades in your bedroom," he says.

Make enough time for sleep on days off. "This is often harder than it sounds, because you'll want to see your family and friends during nonwork hours," Zhou says. "You need to truly protect your opportunity for sleep."

Maintain a consistent shift work schedule. "Also, try to minimize the consecutive number of days you spend working challenging shifts," he says.

Talk to your employer. Perhaps your boss can schedule you for fewer overnight shifts. "You can also ask your doctor to make a case for you to be moved off these shifts or have more flexibility," Zhou says.

Look for practical solutions that allow you to get more restful sleep. "People engaged in shift work usually have responsibilities to their job as well as their family members, who often operate under a more typical 9-to-5 schedule," he notes. "The goal is to preserve as strong a circadian rhythm as possible under the abnormal schedule shift work requires."

Shift work can harm sleep and health: What helps? - Harvard Health (2024)

FAQs

Shift work can harm sleep and health: What helps? - Harvard Health? ›

Time your exposure to bright and dim light.

How can shift work sleep disorder affect your health? ›

People with SWSD are at higher risk of depression compared to those who don't have the condition. Alcohol and substance use: Many people with sleep problems, including SWSD, self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. This can lead to substance or alcohol use disorder.

How bad is shift work for your health? ›

Experts associate shift workers' higher risk of cardiovascular disease with: Chronic stress caused by maintaining a nonstandard schedule. High blood pressure, which is linked to working longer hours. Increased metabolic risk factors including high body mass index (BMI) and smoking.

How to reduce the effects of shift work? ›

You may find it helpful to:
  1. take moderate exercise before starting work which may increase your alertness during the shift.
  2. keep the light bright;
  3. take regular short breaks during the shift if possible;
  4. get up and walk around during breaks;
  5. plan to do more stimulating work at the times you feel most drowsy;
Jan 7, 2021

What is the best sleep aid for shift workers? ›

Taking melatonin will do two things: First, it will help shift the timing of the circadian clock to help you manage shift work better. Second, it will help you sleep when you are transitioning between work shifts by telling the brain to sleep at a different time than normal.

How to sleep better with shift work? ›

Sleep schedules

Night shift workers should try to stay on the same sleep schedule every day of the week. This means that you don't change your sleep time on days off. Keeping a regular schedule will help align your body clock with your sleep pattern. This will increase the quality of your sleep.

What are the negative effects of shiftwork and long work hours? ›

Shift work and long work hours increase the risk for reduced performance on the job, obesity, injuries, and a wide range of chronic diseases. In addition, fatigue-related errors could harm patients.

At what age should you stop working night shifts? ›

For ageing employees, night work reduces sleep quality and recovering from demanding shifts takes more time. Based on new research results, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health recommends providing employees over 50 years of age with better opportunities to reduce night shifts and long hours.

Do shift workers live longer? ›

Shift work can kill you 15 years sooner, warns Whoop's chief scientist, while dramatically raising your risk for depression and suicide. Essential staff who work night shifts are more vulnerable to mental health issues.

What is the healthiest shift work schedule? ›

In general, clockwise shift rotations should be used (day–evening–night). Ideally, a rotational schedule should include no more than 3 night shifts in a block, with 3 days of recuperation after the night shift work. In general, 8-hour shifts are preferable to 12-hour shifts.

How to recover sleep from a night shift? ›

Recovery after nights
  1. Have a short sleep in the morning and then get up.
  2. Aim to go to bed at your usual time; avoid a long lie in the next day.
  3. You'll need at least two normal night's sleep to reset your sleep routine.

What happens to your body when you work night shift? ›

Night shift work increases the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. It disrupts the body's circadian rhythms—the 24-hour internal “clock” that controls when you sleep and wake. Studies have shown that eating at night alters the body's metabolism.

What are the best vitamins to take for night shift workers? ›

Some of the most highly recommended supplements for shift workers include vitamin D, magnesium, and melatonin.

How to fix shift work sleep disorder? ›

Lifestyle changes that help manage shift work sleep disorder
  1. Try to keep a regular sleep schedule, including on days off.
  2. If possible, take 48 hours off after a series of shifts.
  3. Wear sunglasses when leaving work to minimize sun exposure. ...
  4. Take naps when possible.
  5. Limit caffeine intake four hours before bedtime.
Jan 11, 2018

What is the best sleeping pill? ›

What are the best medications for sleep?
  • Doxepin.
  • Temazepam.
  • Triazolam.
  • Ramelteon.
  • Suvorexant.
  • Trazodone.
  • Estazolam.
  • Eszopiclone.

Is it unhealthy to sleep in shifts? ›

Drerup says segmented sleep schedules tend to reduce your overall number of hours of sleep, which can lead to sleep deprivation. The NHLBI warns that this can put you at risk of high blood pressure, depression and anxiety, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Can working night shift affect your mental health? ›

Working night shifts can have a profound effect on an individual's mental health and overall wellbeing. This is because it disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythm or sleep-wake cycle, which can lead to fatigue, stress, depression, and other physical and mental health issues.

How does working night shift affect the brain? ›

Working the night shift versus the day shift can harm the brain. Research indicates that night-shift work is associated with steep declines in cognitive abilities, memory problems, lower levels of alertness, visual focus, and impaired impulse control and situational response.

How does night shift affect your life? ›

This disruption of the natural sleep/wake cycle affects how the body functions and interferes with the natural release of hormones and chemicals in the body, leading to potential problems of the cardiovascular system, metabolism, digestion, immune system, mental health and even fertility and pregnancy.

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