Snooze You Can Use: Best nap length for safer, more productive night shifts
Research shows that a nap on night shift can reduce sleepiness and improve performance.
But is there a perfect length of shut-eye to optimise alertness and productivity?
CQUniversity sleep researchers Dr Grace Vincent, Professor Sally Ferguson, Dr Madeline Sprajcer, and Associate Professor Matthew Thomas from the Appleton Institute have received an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project grant to find out – and help more than 2 million Australian shiftworkers.
The three-year, $877,410 project will utilise the Appleton’s world-class sleep laboratory in Adelaide to assess how performance and productivity change with different nap lengths – and Dr Vincent says the innovative approach fills a yawning knowledge gap.
“We know the benefits of naps, but no study has assessed nap timing against whole-of-shift productivity or safety outcomes,” she explained.
“The nap needs to be long enough to help the shift worker feel refreshed but still fit within their work duties. We also need to keep in mind that people often feel groggy and take a bit of time to fully wake up after a nap.”
“This project will fill this gap by systematically evaluating different on-shift nap durations, and finally give us evidence-based guidelines for workplaces that want to improve productivity while minimising disruption.”
The ARC-funded initiative is one of 536 projects to share more than $342 million, announced under the latest round of the Discovery Projects scheme.
Dr Vincent, who has spent the past decade researching sleep in workplaces, said night workers are almost twice as likely to make an error, be injured at work, or have an accident.
“Workplaces need strategies built on the best available evidence to mitigate the adverse impacts of shift work on performance, productivity, and safety,” she said.
Earlier this year, Dr Vincent received an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), with $488,579 over three years to develop a digital sleep assistant.
The project will be undertaken at the Appleton Institute, CQUniversity’s flagship research centre for behavioural sciences, which has a research focus on physical activity, sleep and biological rhythms, and operational readiness.
The research team also includes international collaborators Associate Professor Paul Patterson, Dr Cassie Hilditch, Associate Professor Philip Tucker, and Professor John Axelsson.
