Shiftworkers are being urged to nap strategically and make the most of transition days as part of a world-first study that’s compiling best-practice sleep guidelines.
Key points:
- CQUnivesity has compiled key sleeping tips for shiftworkers
- The guidelines include planning transition days, napping strategically, and having a good sleep environment
- A key union body for the mining industry says more work needs to be done to look at fatigue
The CQUniversity study has brought together 50 international sleep and shiftworker researchers to compile 18 guidelines that ensure shiftworkers get a decent amount of shut-eye.
Lead author Alex Shriane said the aim was to take all the usual sleep advice given to the general population and make it applicable to shiftworkers.
“The challenge lies in shiftworkers having to sleep at all hours of the day and night … and trying to do those things quite contrary to your natural bodily circadian rhythms,” she said.
The guidelines have recently been published in Oxford University’s Sleep Journal and include using a sleep schedule, a bedtime routine, and only using your bed for sleeping and intimacy.
Many sleep guidelines remain the same for most people — such as exercising, creating a comfortable sleep environment, and being mindful of alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine intake.
Other tips are tailored to help shiftworkers transition back to their natural sleep cycle on their days off.
Though it depends on the shifts, Ms Shriane said exposure to light could help with this transition.
“When you come home from a night shift, you can have that brief sleep in the morning, but then get up, get outside into some bright natural light,” she said.
“And then go back to bed reasonably early that evening.”
Drinking alcohol close to bedtime could initially make you sleepy, however, it could also impact on the quality of sleep, Ms Shriane said.
Lived experience
Ms Shriane was inspired to research the topic after spending a decade working shifts as a paramedic.
“I found myself in the same boat that many shiftworkers do where you get burnt out, you get sick, there’s weight gain, it impacts your mood,” she said.
Ms Shriane used her lived experience for the research to find a solution for the estimated 2.25 million shiftworkers in Australia.
However, Ms Shraine said the guidelines might not work for everyone.
She said each person responded differently to shiftwork, depending on age, gender, the type of work they did, and the shifts.
“It’s going to be a lot of experimentation for the individual,” she said.
Changing shifts ‘harmful’
As for whether the study could help inform better rostering, Ms Shraine said it was very difficult to come up with a “one size fits all” solution.
“We don’t have a gold standard model,” she said.
“We do know that when you’re changing your shifts a lot … a day shift today, and then a night shift tomorrow, and then back to a day shift — that sort of model is particularly harmful.”
She said the best approach was to assess each individual as they started in shiftwork and create a personalised roster.
The topic has been of much debate in the mining industry in recent years.
Jason Hill, the Mining and Energy Union’s industry safety and health representative, said sleep was a big issue in the sector, with the Queensland coal mining industry reporting 33 incidents related to fatigue in 2022.
“It’s important to have a proper rest period away from work each shift,” Mr Hill said.
“We recommend that anyone in the industry shouldn’t do any more than 12 hours per shift.”
The union recommends no more than seven day shifts in a row and less than that for night shifts.
Mr Hill said, in mining accommodation camps, everyone on a single block should also be on the same shift to avoid sleep disruptions.
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