Background: Night shift work can lead to exhaustion and fatigue, often resulting from sleep deprivation, identified by some studies as a negative factor for health.
Objective:To identify the characteristics of the sleep wake cycle of the nurse who works at the night shift.
Method:Integrative review by searching publications at the databases SCIELO, LILACS, CINAHL and PubMed, using the keywords: sleep, shift work, nursing.Results: There was selection of 11 articles; 54% of the studies were published in 2012 and 2013, which allowed observing features of the night worker in the course of 24 hours. They were developed along two axes: night worker and sleep, and night worker and vigil.
Conclusion:We can conclude that hospitals need to adopt preventive measures regarding the physical and mental health of workers of the night shift.
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