Protect sleep when you work shifts
Planning sleep around shifts helps preserve the time your body needs to recover.
The number, drawn
Increase sleep opportunity and limit shift changes when possible
Why it matters
Shift work can put working hours in conflict with the internal body clock. NIH advises increasing sleep opportunity, while NIOSH emphasizes recovery time when designing shifts. No single schedule suits everyone or eliminates the health risks of shift work.
How to do it
- If you work shifts, reserve a main sleep period in your schedule.
- Use a nap when needed to increase your total sleep opportunity.
- Discuss a schedule that protects recovery with your employer; permanent night shifts are not best for everyone.
Seek clinical help if you cannot sleep adequately or remain excessively sleepy despite protecting time for sleep.
Do it
Pick the time you have. Anything beats nothing.
Start with the time you have
1 minute
Identify your next main sleep period around your shift and one optional task you can move to protect it.
5 minutes
Check your next shift and travel times, then reserve a main sleep window; note any household noise or light you can reduce.
15 minutes
Plan sleep opportunities around your next few shifts, including a nap if helpful, and prepare your room for the times you will actually sleep.
30 minutes
Review a full roster for gaps in recovery time, write down the changes that would help and prepare a discussion with your employer or occupational health service.
A plan
Protect recovery around your roster
- Stage 1: Map work, travel and necessary commitments against available sleep time.
- Stage 2: Protect a main sleep opportunity and arrange a quieter, darker room for daytime sleep.
- Stage 3: Consider additional sleep opportunities such as naps and discuss insufficient recovery time at work.
- Stage 4: Seek clinical help if adequate sleep remains difficult or excessive sleepiness continues.
In real life
- Protect a main daytime sleep period after a night shift and let people at home know when it is.
- Use light-blocking curtains for daytime sleep if light keeps you awake.
- If you use caffeine during a shift, keep it to the first part rather than near your sleep period.
Watch out for
- Common mistakeTreating poor sleep as only a bedroom problem can miss an exhausting roster, so discuss recovery time with your employer.
- Common mistakeUsing one fixed sleep schedule for every roster can be unrealistic, so plan around your actual shifts and seek help if you remain sleepy.
Trusted guides
Check usSources
- Evidence grade
- B Consistent large cohort studies, with some trial evidence.
- Basis
- NIH and NIOSH shift work guidance; NHS identifies shift work as an insomnia trigger
- The number
- Increase sleep opportunity and limit shift changes when possible (NHLBI, NIH, 2022)
- Tier 1 guidelineSleep Deprivation and Deficiency: Healthy Sleep HabitsNHLBI, NIH, 2022
- Tier 1 guidelineInsomniaNHS, 2024
- Tier 1 guidelineWork organization strategies: guidelines for designing work schedulesCDC NIOSH, 2020
General health information, not a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan. Personalization changes the order of suggestions; it does not assess your medical risks. Follow the cautions and consult a qualified clinician when needed.