TEMPUR® sleep specialist and sleep counsellor, Thomas Høegh Reisenhus, shares his guide to creating healthy sleep habits when working unusual hours.
Food is fuel
Think of food as the constant energy supply that sustains your body throughout the shift and beyond. As many shift workers only have short breaks to eat, it can be tempting to consume tasty and high-energy, but nutrient-lacking foods such as chocolate and crisps. It is important to try to maintain a pattern of three daily meals, with carbs, fats, proteins, fruit and vegetables present and balanced in each.
The food we eat and when we eat it can affect our sleep. If eaten just before bedtime, complex foods such as meat or cheese will keep your body busy trying to digest them, which in turn will keep you in the REM (rapid eye movement) state of sleep for longer, increasing the risk of broken sleep. If you like to sleep as soon as you return home from a shift, try eating a bigger meal near the end of the shift instead of when you get home.
Good options for snacks to eat just before sleep are fruits such as cherries and bananas, as they contain the naturally occurring chemicals melatonin and magnesium, which promote sleep and muscle relaxation.
Caffeine management
Coffee is undoubtedly the elixir of shift workers. However, over dependence on caffeine can be problematic and drastically interfere with sleep, leaving you feeling both more tired and even more dependent on coffee – a vicious circle. Try to consume coffee at the start of your shift, and never within the 8 hour window before bed – as caffeine can take up to ten hours to completely leave the body.
Consistency is key
Many shift workers work three or four days a week, leaving days in between shifts where it might be tempting to switch to more 'sociable' sleep-wake routines. However, consistency in sleep patterns is vital for good long-term sleep health. If possible, on the days off, it is preferable to keep to your sleep schedule the same as the days you work, which means going to sleep and waking up around the same time.
A consistent wake-up and wind-down routine is vital for everyone. Enjoy a mood-boosting activity first thing - checking your phone and getting sucked into social media as soon as you wake up isn’t the most positive way to start your day. Some light stretching, an evening walk, an invigorating shower, or even just a quiet cup of tea are all good ways to create a mindful routine for when you wake up, and will in turn make avoiding hitting snooze easier too.
Before bed try not to bring devices into your bedroom as the blue light emitted stimulates the mind, making sleep harder to attain. Instead, try journaling, meditation, or reading before sleep to create a regular bedtime routine no matter the time of day. This consistent and repeated routine will become known to your body, meaning it will know it is time to drift into sleep when it is performedeven if the clock says it is morning.
New normal
Shift workers may be on a different schedule to those around them, but it is still important to stay active and enjoy natural light as much as possible in order to maintain good physical and mental health.
If you work indoors through the night, make sure to get a good dose of vitamin D when your shift is over. Going for a 20-minute walk when you arrive home or after you wake up is ideal and will boost energy levels for the day ahead.
Sleep environment
Having a soothing and comfortable space to drift to sleep is important for everyone, and even more so when the world outside is awake as you are trying to doze off. Invest in blackout blinds, curtains or a sleep mask to create the illusion of night-time, since our bodies release melatonin in response to darkness.
Using foam ear plugs or a white noise machine can also help you block out noise – whether from inside or outside the house - allowing you to achieve quality and unbroken sleep. Another aspect to consider is room temperature. The body’s internal temperature needs to drop one - two degrees during sleep so the ideal temperature is around 18°C.
To allow your body to maintain its temperature during the night and avoid being woken by overheating, make sure your sheets are made of natural, breathable fabrics like cotton.
