Cognitive Effects of Shift Work
Compared with the day shift, incidents has been estimated to increase by 15% on evening shifts and 28% on night shifts.
One study suggests that, for those working a night shift (such as 23:00 to 07:00), it may be advantageous to sleep in the evening (14:00 to 22:00) rather than the morning (08:00 to 16:00). The study's evening sleep subjects had 37% fewer episodes of attentional impairment than the morning sleepers.
There are four major determinants of cognitive performance and alertness in healthy shift-workers. They are: circadian phase, sleep inertia, acute sleep deprivation and chronic sleep deficit.
The circadian phase is relatively fixed in humans; attempting to shift it so that an individual is alert during the circadian bathyphase is difficult. Sleep during the day is shorter and less consolidated than night-time sleep.
The effects of sleep inertia wear off after 2-4 hours of wakefulness, such that most workers who wake up in the morning and go to work suffer some degree of sleep inertia at the beginning of their shift. The relative effects of sleep inertia vs. the other factors are hard to quantify; however, the benefits of napping appear to outweigh the cost associated with sleep inertia.
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