How to Get Better Sleep While Working the Night Shift

Working a night shift can make sleep difficult, especially if everyone else in your life follows a day shift routine! Luckily, there are several tips you can implement to improve your sleep quality no matter your work schedule. Read on to discover our best tips to sleep while on a night shift.

1. Keep Your Sleep Schedule Consistent

When you’re working the night shift, you’ll sleep better by keeping your sleep schedule consistent, whether you work or not. This means you should avoid changing your sleeping schedule on your days off.

Why? Your body’s circadian rhythm helps you get ready for sleep when it’s getting dark, but you can get used to night-shift sleep by keeping your sleeping schedule consistent. Sleeping at night during your days off will shift your body back to what it naturally prefers to do, which will make it more difficult for you to fall asleep during daylight hours.

Sleeping during the day every day may make it more difficult for you to achieve a work-life balance. Choose a schedule that works best for your lifestyle — for instance, some night shift workers go to bed immediately after their shift, while others will remain awake and sleep in the afternoon.

If you’re a shift worker who changes from day shift to night shift regularly, this may not be possible for you. Do your best to keep a consistent schedule across your various shifts. For example:

• Day shift: sleep from 8 pm to 4 am
• Night shift: sleep from 6 am to 2 pm

If you’re not sure which sleeping schedule to implement, figure out which sleep chronotype you are! This will let you know which hours you tend to be most productive.

2. Set Up Your Bedroom For Optimal Sleep

You’ll have to fall asleep while the sun’s still out. But that doesn’t mean you can’t set up your bedroom for optimal sleeping conditions.

First, get some blackout curtains to keep out the sunlight. If you live in a noisy area, you can also find a way to block out the noise with your own relaxing noises. For example, you could use:

• A fan
• Rain sounds
• Crackling fire sounds
• Many other sounds in the Bettersleep sound mixer

If possible, try to keep your bedroom at an optimal temperature, which is 65°F (18.3°C).

3. Implement a consistent bedtime routine

At first, your body may not easily want to fall asleep during the day. But with some consistent bedtime routines, you can fall asleep more easily and faster over time.

Here are some ideas to try:

• Gentle sleep exercises: Winding down before sleep can signal your body that it’s time for bed, even if it’s not used to sleeping during the day.
• Sleep meditations: A sleep meditation is designed to guide your mind into slumber.
• Military technique for sleep: Try this technique to help you fall asleep in minutes!
• Bedtime stories: If meditations aren’t your thing, try a bedtime story instead. Stories give your brain something to focus on other than your thoughts so that you can relax and drift off to sleep.

If you’re struggling to sleep while working the night shift, try the BetterSleep App to find the ideal sounds or guided meditations and stories for you.