Working night shifts causes sleep disorders in more than half of workers

Sleep is critical for daytime and neurocognitive functioning, as well as physical and mental health. When people work shifts-in 2015, 21% of workers in the European Union did-their circadian sleep-wake rhythms are commonly disrupted. Now, researchers in the Netherlands have investigated the relationship between different shift working patterns, sociodemographic factors, and sleep disorders.

“We showed that compared to working regular shifts during daytime hours, working other shift types is associated with a higher occurrence of disordered sleep, particularly in rotating and regular night shift work,” said Dr Marike Lancel, a researcher at GGZ Drenthe’s Mental Health Institute and senior author of the study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. “Of note, 51% of people working nights scored positive for at least one sleep disorder.”

“There is a lot of evidence that shift work reduces the quality of sleep. However, little is known about the influence of different types of shifts on the prevalence of various sleep disorders, and how this may vary depending on demographic characteristics,” Lancel continued.

To fill these gaps, the researchers recruited more than 37,000 participants who provided demographic information, indicating their shift work patterns (regular morning, evening, night, or switching between shifts).

They also completed a questionnaire screening for six common sleep disorder categories: insomnia, hypersomnia, parasomnia, sleep-related breathing disorders, sleep related movement disorders, and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders.

The responses suggested that working regular night shifts was the most debilitating condition concerning sleep. Half of the night shift workers reported to sleep less than six within 24 hours, 51% reported one sleep disorder, and 26% reported two or more sleep disorders.

Reference: Working night shifts causes sleep disorders in more than half of workers; Frontiers in Psychiatry; DOI:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1233640