Nurses who work the night shift might want to consider scheduling an eight-hour sleeping shift the night before, according to research described at nursingtimes.net.
Compared with day-shift workers, alertness and attention declined in the first night shift for all participants. However, alertness and attention improved in the second and third night shifts in the treatment group while remaining lower in the control group. By the third night shift, alertness in the treatment group had improved to day-shift level but continued to decline in the control group.
The researchers said that night-shift workers would benefit from not sleeping immediately after work, sleeping instead in the afternoon. They noted that this pattern would be easier for older workers, as these are less likely to have family demands that would make it difficult.
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