Does the quality of life differ for shift workers compared to day workers?

ABSTRACT

It is often assumed the quality of life of dayworkers is better than that of shiftworkers. Our findings from United States Navy (USN) sailors (N = 804, 78.4% males) showed dayworkers slept better, were less sleepy, and reported greater vigor and reduced fatigue (Profile of Mood States) than shiftworkers. Nevertheless, ~25% of dayworkers slept <6.5 h/d, ~62% had split sleep, 31% reported excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), and ~64% were poor sleepers (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). The two groups had similar sleep-related behaviors, rates of insomnia, comorbid EDS/insomnia, and scores on total mood disturbance, tension/anxiety, depression, anger/hostility, and confusion/bewilderment. The findings of our study indicate shipboard sleep-related issues are prevalent among USN sailors.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep
• fatigue
• mood
• shift work
• naval operational environment

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Naval Advanced Medical Development (NAMD) Program. The views expressed in this research are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defence, or the U.S. Government.

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Naval Advanced Medical Development (NAMD) Program.