How to Sleep During the Day: A Night Shift Worker’s Handbook

Learning how to sleep during the day for night shift is one of the most important skills you will build as a shift worker. Daytime sleep is biologically harder than nighttime sleep because light, noise, and your own circadian rhythm work against you. This guide gives you a complete system to fix that.

Why Learning How to Sleep During the Day for Night Shift Is Hard

Your circadian rhythm is a 24-hour biological clock driven primarily by light. When sunlight enters your eyes, it suppresses melatonin production and raises cortisol, signaling your body to stay awake. When you try to sleep during the day, your body is actively fighting that signal.

Daytime sleep is also shorter on average. Night shift workers sleeping during the day often lose one to two hours compared to equivalent nighttime sleep, primarily due to light intrusion and noise from household and neighborhood activity. A 2025 BMC Nursing study confirmed that light exposure and noise were the primary barriers to sleep quality for night shift nurses, with blackout curtains cited as one of the most effective environmental interventions.

You cannot fully eliminate the circadian disadvantage of daytime sleep. You can reduce it significantly by controlling your environment, managing light exposure, and building a consistent wind-down routine.

Step 1: Build a Completely Dark Room

Light is the single biggest enemy of daytime sleep. Even a small amount of sunlight signals your brain to stay alert. Your goal is a room that is dark enough that you cannot see your hand in front of your face.

• Blackout curtains: Look for curtains specifically labeled “blackout” or “100% light-blocking.” Standard blackout curtains often allow light leaks at the edges and top. Install them with a rod that extends past the window frame so the fabric overlaps the wall.
• Blackout tape and foam strips: Use black foam weather stripping or blackout tape to seal the gaps around curtain edges. This is the move that makes the biggest difference once curtains are already installed.
• Garbage bags or cardboard: A low-cost option that works: cover the window with a black garbage bag or black cardboard taped directly to the frame, then hang curtains over it. This is popular with shift workers who rent and cannot modify the space permanently.
• Sleep masks: A quality sleep mask is your portable backup. The Manta sleep mask style, with individual eye cups that block light even if your eyes are open, works better than flat fabric masks for people who sleep on their side.

No single solution is perfect. Most experienced shift workers combine two methods: blackout curtains plus a mask, or curtains plus foam tape.

Step 2: Control Your Room Temperature

Your core body temperature drops as you fall asleep. If your room is too warm, this process slows down and sleep onset is delayed. The Sleep Foundation recommends 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (18 to 20 degrees Celsius) for sleep.

This is colder than most people keep their homes during the day. Use a dedicated room air conditioner, a fan aimed at the bed, or a cooling mattress pad to hit this range. In warmer months, running a window AC unit in your bedroom while the rest of the house stays warmer is one of the most effective changes you can make.

A fan serves double duty: it cools the room and produces white noise.

Step 3: Use White Noise or Sound Masking

Daytime noise is unpredictable: traffic, lawn equipment, delivery trucks, construction, children. Intermittent and unexpected sounds are more disruptive to sleep than constant background noise. White noise works by creating a steady acoustic “floor” that masks sudden sound spikes before they can wake you.

A dedicated white noise machine (not a phone app, which can be interrupted by notifications) set to a volume level above your ambient noise is the most reliable option. A box fan produces similar noise characteristics.

Pink noise and brown noise are lower-frequency alternatives that some people find easier to tolerate for extended periods. Experiment with which frequency keeps you asleep rather than just helping you fall asleep initially.

For deeper sound isolation, add foam earplugs under a sleep mask or pair earplugs with a white noise machine.

Step 4: Manage Your Phone

Your phone is one of the most disruptive elements of daytime sleep. Calls, texts, app notifications, and alarm sounds from apps can wake you during critical sleep stages.

Set a clear schedule for your phone:

• Enable Do Not Disturb mode on a schedule that covers your sleep window.
• Allow calls through only from specific contacts (partner, childcare provider, your employer for genuine emergencies).
• Charge your phone outside the bedroom. If you use it as an alarm, set the alarm, then put it face-down on the far side of the room.
• Communicate your sleep hours to family, friends, and coworkers so they know when not to call.

Most people are surprised how much better they sleep after implementing hard phone boundaries. The anticipatory anxiety of waiting for a call is itself a sleep disruptor.

Step 5: Communicate With Your Household

If you share your home with a partner, children, roommates, or other family members, their daytime activity will affect your sleep. This is not optional to address.

Have a direct conversation about your sleep hours before you start your first shift cycle. Cover:

• Your exact sleep window (e.g., “I sleep from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.”)
• What you need during that time (quiet near your room, no knocking unless urgent)
• What counts as an emergency versus what can wait
• A physical signal for your door (a sign that says “Night Shift Sleeping, Do Not Disturb”)

A sleep door sign sounds minor. It works because it makes your need visible without requiring you to repeat yourself every day. Children especially respond better to a consistent visual cue than to verbal reminders.

If noise from the rest of the house is unavoidable (young children, shared walls), focus on sound masking inside your room rather than trying to control the entire household.

Step 6: The Wind-Down Routine for Day Sleepers

Your body needs a signal that sleep is coming. The transition from work or post-work activity to sleep should take 30 to 60 minutes. This window is where most shift workers skip steps and then wonder why they cannot fall asleep.

A basic wind-down routine for day sleepers:

1. Block light on the commute home. Wear wraparound blue-light-blocking sunglasses on your drive or walk home. Morning light entering your eyes during the commute will suppress melatonin and delay sleep onset. This is one of the most underused tactics for shift workers. Read more about night shift sleep strategies.

2. Eat a light meal, not a heavy one. A large meal raises your core body temperature and metabolic rate, which delays sleep.

3. Avoid alcohol. It may help you fall asleep faster but significantly reduces sleep quality and duration.

4. Take a warm shower. The post-shower drop in skin temperature signals your body toward sleep.

5. Dim all lights in your home. Use warm-toned (amber or red) lights in the evening before sleep, not standard white LED overhead lights.

6. Avoid screens for the last 30 minutes. Blue light from phones and laptops suppresses melatonin. If you must use screens, use a blue-light filter.

Step 7: Melatonin for Night Shift Day Sleeping

Melatonin is one of the few sleep supplements with credible research support for shift workers. The key is timing and dose.

Dose: Start at 0.5 mg to 1 mg. Research does not support the common 5 to 10 mg doses sold in most pharmacies. A Sleep Research review found that 1.8 mg of sustained-release melatonin improved daytime sleep time in night shift workers, particularly in those who had difficulty sleeping during the day. Higher doses do not produce proportionally better results and increase the risk of grogginess.

Timing: Take melatonin 30 minutes before your target sleep time. For daytime sleep, this means taking it shortly after you arrive home from your shift.

What melatonin does and does not do: Melatonin is most effective at signaling your circadian system that it is time to sleep. It is less effective as a sedative. Do not expect it to knock you out. Use it as a timing signal alongside the environmental steps above.

Melatonin is not recommended for long-term daily use without medical guidance. If you are using it every day for extended periods, speak with a healthcare provider.

Comparison Table: Daytime Sleep Strategies

Strategy	Evidence Level	Cost	Effort
Blackout curtains	Strong	Low-Medium	Low (one-time setup)
Sleep mask	Strong	Low	Very low
White noise machine	Strong	Low-Medium	Very low
Room cooling (65-68F)	Strong	Low-Medium	Low
Wind-down routine	Strong	None	Medium (habit building)
Blue-blocking glasses (commute)	Moderate	Low	Very low
Melatonin 0.5-3 mg	Moderate-Strong	Low	Very low
Do Not Disturb phone schedule	Moderate	None	Low
Household communication	Moderate	None	Medium (one-time)

How Long Until Day Sleeping Gets Easier for Night Shift Workers?

Most shift workers report meaningful improvement within two to three weeks of consistently applying environmental controls and a wind-down routine. Full adaptation varies by individual. Some people never fully adapt to daytime sleep but can get consistently good rest with the right setup.

Consistency matters more than any individual tactic. The more closely you replicate the same routine at the same time each day, the more reliable your sleep will become. If you are still figuring out how to sleep during the day for night shift, explore more tools in our sleep aids guide, and see how NightOwling supports individuals with shift work challenges at /for-individuals/.

FAQs: How to Sleep During the Day

How many hours should I sleep during the day after a night shift?

Target seven to nine hours, the same as the general adult recommendation. Most night shift workers get six to seven hours of daytime sleep due to environmental disruption. Prioritize getting as close to seven hours as your schedule allows.

Is it bad to sleep right after my night shift ends?

Going to sleep promptly after your shift ends is generally the right strategy. Delaying sleep extends your time awake and increases the risk of catching a second wind that makes it harder to fall asleep later.

Should I nap before my night shift?

A 90-minute nap in the late afternoon before your shift is beneficial for alertness during the shift. Keep it under 90 minutes to avoid entering a deep sleep stage that leaves you groggy. UCLA Health recommends a pre-shift nap as one of the most effective strategies for night shift alertness.

Does melatonin work for day sleeping?

Yes, with appropriate expectations. It works best as a circadian timing signal, not a strong sedative. Low doses (0.5 to 3 mg) taken 30 minutes before your target sleep time are the most evidence-supported approach.

What if I share a room and cannot control the environment?

Focus on what you can control: a sleep mask, earplugs, and a white noise machine. These portable solutions address the two main disruptors (light and noise) without requiring changes to the shared space. A bed tent can also create a dark, quieter microenvironment within a shared room.

Research cited: BMC Nursing 2025 | Journal of Sleep Research | UCLA Health