Effects of Taking a Nap or Break Immediately After a 16‑h Night Shift (Nurses)

Effects of Taking a Nap or Break Immediately After a 16‑h Night Shift (Nurses)

Type: Randomized controlled trial

Registration: PMCID: PMC12261775

Status: Published

Tags: Naps, Nurses, RCT, Recovery

External URL: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12261775/

Summary

A 30‑min nap or quiet break right after a 16‑h night shift improved fatigue recovery and subsequent sleep episodes.

Why It Matters For Night Shift Workers and Night Owls

This RCT how brief, scheduled on‑shift naps (timing/length) showed sleep & alertness for night‑shift workers and night owls. Findings add structure to the idea that the circadian low can be managed by how rest is divided and timed on duty. For people who work nights, that frames an everyday choice (when you eat, how you light the end of a shift, how rest is split) as part of the mechanism, not just routine.

Tags

  • Naps
  • Nurses
  • RCT
  • Recovery

Notes

Recent hospital‑based RCT.

← Back to Research