Keeping that in mind, people who need to work night shifts should try these strategies:Įstablish a fake day-night cycle. Sleeping during the day is fundamentally different from night sleep. You have to work hard to fool your mind and body, and even then you must expect that it won't be completely successful. Switching to a regular night shift schedule takes more effort. because that is the sleepiest time of the day." Be prepared to feel extremely sleepy in the hours just before dawn and use all possible countermeasures to help you stay awake. "You can't escape the negative effects of the circadian clock," Drake said. Banking sleep will get you only so far through the night, however. "That clock is what tells us when we're alert and when we're tired." Stay in extremely well-lit rooms or intermittently use a light box that produces between 2,000 and 10,000 lux. "That circadian clock has connections to the eye, and bright light can reset our internal clock," said William Kohler, MD, medical director of the Florida Sleep Institute in Spring Hill, Fla. Light has a powerful effect on your internal clock, and bright light can temporarily fake the body into thinking it's not yet time for bed. "Taking a small cup of coffee right before one takes that short nap will eliminate the sleep inertia effect," he said. Drake's solution: Drink an 8-ounce cup of coffee, which is about 75 milligrams of caffeine, before your nap. Taking a short half-hour nap during a shift can be effective, but some people will feel sluggish afterward. "That will help maintain alertness throughout the shift but also avoid people having significant sleep disturbance once they are home and ready for bed." "My recommendation is not to utilize a giant Venti Starbucks but to use small doses equally spaced throughout the night shift," Drake said. However, just chugging one big caffeinated beverage at the start of the shift will not help you through the whole evening. Caffeine is an effective aide for staying up late. I have experience doing it, but going back and forth is the hardest for me, especially if it's for a short time. My body clock would like to be sleeping at night. "I have a harder time sleeping during the day. "As you get older, it's harder," said Sevigny, 47. During the summer he works the graveyard shift patrol for the Salem Police Department in Salem, Ore., which runs from 10 p.m. Officer Shane Sevigny can testify to that. "When we try to stay up late and sleep during the day, we are working against our own bodies." "Our bodies are programmed to sleep during the night and be awake and alert during the day," said Christopher Drake, PhD, a sleep researcher at the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders Center and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.
The longer you're up, the more your mind and body will feel the effects of sleep deprivation. Keep in mind that success is relative when it comes to staying up late. Either way, there are tricks you can use to successfully become a night owl. Maybe you’re working late, or you might need to stay up for a one-time event like a family trip or a kid's sleepover or even adjust your sleep schedule to accommodate a new night shift assignment. Staying up late can be tough on the body, but sometimes it's unavoidable.
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