Consequences of Shiftworking on Sleep Duration, Sleepiness, and Sleep Attacks

Abstract

Rotating shift and permanent night work arrangements are known to compromise sleep. This study examined the effects of work schedule on sleep duration, excessive sleepiness, sleep attacks, driving, and domestic/professional accidents. A representative sample of the general population of the state of New York--3,345 individuals > or = 18 yrs of age--was interviewed by telephone regarding their sleep and psychiatric and organic disorders. Multivariate models were applied to derive odds ratios (OR) after adjustment for age, sex, physical illness, mental disorders, obstructive sleep apnea, and sleep duration. On average (+/-SE), workers slept 6.7 +/- 1.5 h, but 40% slept < 6.5 h/main sleep episode. Short-sleep duration (< 6 h) was strongly associated with fixed night (OR: 1.7) and day-evening-night shiftwork arrangement (OR: 1.9). Some 20% of the workers manifested excessive sleepiness in situations requiring high attention, and it was associated with the fixed night (OR: 3.3) and day-evening-night work arrangements (OR: 1.5). Overall, 5% of the workers reported sleep attacks; however, they occurred three-times more frequently in the fixed night (15.3%) than other work arrangements (OR: 3.2). Driving accidents during the previous 12 months were reported by 3.6% of the workers and were associated with fixed night (OR: 3.9) and day-evening-night (OR: 2.1) work schedules. The findings of this study indicate that working outside the regular daytime hours was strongly associated with shorter sleep duration, sleepiness, and driving accident risk. Night work is the most disrupting, as it is associated with insufficient sleep during the designated rest span and excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks during the span of activity, with an associated consequence being increased driving accident risk.

Seafarer fatigue: a review of risk factors, consequences for seafarers’ health and safety and options for mitigation

“…Sleeping may take place under unfavourable circumstances due to continuous exposures such as noise, vibration, movements of the ships and other disturbing factors at sea. Consequently, the quantity and quality of sleep is prone to be disfavoured, which is even worse if being forced to sleep at unfavourable times of the day when working outside the regular daytime hours [4].…”

Sleep deprivation and obesity in shift workers in southern Brazil

“…However, according to the results of a survey conducted in 2005, more than 17 % of the working population in the European Union are shift workers, with a significant variation among countries (from 6?4 % to 30?0 %) (8) . Many health impairments associated with shift work have been reported, but the most prevalent problem for the shift worker is the quantity and quality of sleep (9)(10)(11) . Moreover, a number of studies have associated short sleep duration with higher BMI in adults (12,13) .…”

When Does Stress End? Evidence of a Prolonged Stress Reaction in Shiftworking Truck Drivers

“…In this respect, night work, in particular, has been found to increase levels of cortisol both independently of job strain and work hours (Thomas et al, 2009) as well as in association with an adverse psychosocial work environment (Rystedt et al, 2008) and elevated subjective stress (Dahlgren et al, 2009). Furthermore, the effect of work stress on mental and physical health is potentiated by insufficient or poor sleep, which is very common in shiftwork populations (Harma et al, 2006;Meerlo et al, 2008;Ohayon et al, 2010).…”