Working the night shift means living your life on a schedule that’s directly opposite the rest of the world. You’re working while most people are asleep. And you’re trying to sleep during bright, busy daylight hours.
“For most of us, our body’s natural sleep zones and wake zones are in tune with the sun’s schedule,” explains Philip Cheng, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and sleep research scientist at Henry Ford Health. “But when you work nights, that may not fit your body’s natural rhythms.”
Why Is the Night Shift So Hard on Your Body?
“The body has a clock in it, with times it expects us to be sleeping and times it expects us to be alert,” says Dr. Cheng. “When you’re on the night shift, you’re likely working when your body is in its sleep zone. And trying to sleep during its alert time.”
As you might imagine, that sets you up not only for difficulty sleeping, but for all sorts of associated problems. During its natural sleep time, other functions in your body slow down. Your brain might feel foggy, your digestion sluggish and your body lethargic. “It can make it difficult to think clearly, make decisions and process the food you eat,” says Dr. Cheng.
Similar problems occur when you get home and try to sleep during your body’s natural alert zone. If you’re exhausted when you get home from work, you may fall asleep easily. But because your body isn’t in its natural sleep zone, you may wake up after just a couple of hours and be unable to go back to sleep.
The resulting lack of sleep not only leaves you perpetually groggy, it can also impact your overall health. Not getting adequate sleep is linked to increased risk of heart disease, dementia and obesity.
Digital Wellness Interventions for Night Shift Workers
Sleep Medicine At Henry Ford Health
“We know that sunlight or other bright light is really the cue for how the body clock adjusts itself,” says Dr. Cheng. “Getting the right amount of light at the right times can help shift your body’s natural sleep zone to a different time.”
Until recently, however, figuring out the best approach for using light to shift your body clock involved a lot of guesswork. Now, technology is helping to create personalized prescriptions for how to use light to reset your body clock.
The latest tools include a variety of digital wellness interventions and apps to help night shift workers sleep better. Using your smartphone or data collected from wearable technology devices (like an Apple Watch), these apps can help you better understand and adjust your sleep schedule. Dr. Cheng partnered with a company called Arcascope to create an innovative shiftwork app called Clairoe. It takes all the data you may already be tracking (such as your sleep, heart rate, exercise, and food and caffeine intake) and uses it to help you understand what your body needs when.
“A lot of night shift workers feel like their sleep cycles are unpredictable or broken,” says Dr. Cheng. “Using digital interventions can help them see their body’s patterns and make sense of the chaos.” The result can be better sleep, higher productivity, improved mood and better overall health.
Other Sleep Strategies for Night Shift Workers
“Sleep hygiene is even more important for night shift workers than for the rest of us,” says Dr. Cheng. “When you’re working against your body’s natural rhythms, even small things can become much more disruptive.”
It’s more difficult to find peace, quiet and darkness during a daytime sleep session. Taking the time to set yourself up for success is critical. Good sleep strategies should include:
- Installing blackout shades or curtains to block sunlight from streaming in your windows. Wearing a sleep mask can also be helpful.
- Maintaining a schedule and routine for your bedtime. This could include a relaxing bath, meditation or other ways to wind down and get your body ready for sleep.
- Managing stress so that worries and anxiety don’t keep you awake.
- Prioritizing an adequate amount of sleep. Your days and nights may be flipped, but you ideally still need 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
- Silencing your phone or setting it up so that only your most important contacts will be able to get through to you.
- Using white noise to block out daytime sounds of people inside your house or outside your windows.
One of the most important things you can do for your sleep is to not be too hard on yourself. “Give yourself permission to prioritize sleep,” says Dr. Cheng. “It doesn’t make you a lazy person to get the sleep you need—even when it’s during the day.”
Reviewed by Philip Cheng, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and sleep research scientist at the Sleep Disorders Center at Henry Ford Health.
