Working at night or during staggered hours concerns many people, in health, industry, security or transport. It puts a strain on the biological clock, designed to sleep at night. Without eliminating all the difficulties, strategies can limit their impact on sleep and health.
1. Why shift work is difficult
Our body is set to a day/night rhythm. Working at night requires you to fight against this internal clock: you must stay awake when the body calls for sleep, and sleep during the day, when light and noise make rest difficult. Hence fatigue and often disturbed sleep.
2. Health effects
Prolonged shift work can impact sleep, alertness, mood, digestion and, in the long term, cardiovascular and metabolic risk. Drowsiness also increases the risk of accidents. These effects justify monitoring and prevention measures.
3. Strategies to sleep better during the day
| Objective | Strategy |
|---|---|
| Sleeping during the day | Dark room, quiet, fresh |
| Protect your sleep | Avoid noise, cut off requests |
| Stay alert at night | Light at work, breaks |
| Recover | Strategic nap before position |
Creating total darkness, cutting off noise and warning those around you help preserve daytime sleep. A nap before a night shift can improve alertness.
4. Take care of yourself
Beyond sleep, taking care of your diet, your physical activity and your social ties helps you better cope with strange schedules. Monitoring by occupational medicine is valuable for identifying difficulties and adapting the organization.
- Take care of darkness and calm to sleep during the day
- Use a strategic nap before the night shift
- Rely on occupational medicine
Shift work requires particular vigilance: a few strategies help limit its impact on health.
💡 tips to remember
- Shift work forces you to fight against the internal clock: stay awake when the body calls for sleep, and sleep during the day.
- Prolonged, it can affect sleep, mood, digestion and cardiovascular risk, and increase the risk of accidents.
- To sleep during the day, I create total darkness, cut off noise and warn those around me.
- A strategic nap before a night shift can improve alertness.
- Food, physical activity, social connection and follow-up by occupational health help to better cope with odd schedules.
