Protect Daytime Sleep of Shiftworkers

Labor statistics point to the fact that workers working "non-standard" hours account for approximately 25% of the labor force. This means that there are millions of people working weekends, evenings, nights and various shiftwork schedules. If you aren't a shiftworker, you probably know someone who is.

We rely on shiftworkers to provide not only health and protective services, but a wide variety of services that we demand 'round-the-clock, at our convenience. Want pizza and a movie at 3 a.m., just call your local provider. Want to order a product or do your banking, just call a toll-free number or use the internet. Want your package in another city tomorrow morning, the courier will have it there.

But for all these services to be convenient and available, someone must be working at night - baking the pizza, answering the toll-free line, sorting the packages and flying them around the world. And if they are working at night, they will need to sleep in the daytime.

And, therein, lies the problem. We demand convenience and 'round-the-clock services, but have not yet recognized that we need to be mindful of the workers who need to sleep in the day as a result. We continue with our noisy and disturbing daytime activities with no consideration for the fact that our neighbor or friend may be trying to sleep. As a result, getting any sleep may be very difficult.

Sleep is also difficult in the daytime because, physiologically, our bodies were designed to sleep at night and work during the day. When we try to sleep during the day, our own body is working against us, trying to keep us awake.

Another factor serving to minimize the amount of sleep workers get is the belief that sleep is dispensible. If we short-change our sleep, it doesn't matter. Yet more and more research is showing that even one disturbed sleep period or sleep loss has an impact on memory, learning and moods. On-going sleep deprivation leads to more serious consequences of illness, depression and perhaps even a shortened life span.

Sleep is not a luxury. It is essential to our well-being. As shiftworkers, we must be diligent in protecting our sleep and as a community we need to be more mindful of the need for daytime sleep for those who serve us at night.