A good day’s sleep: why sleep is essential to the health of night shift workers

Where we work, much like where we live, has an overall impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. At Impact on Urban Health, we explore how we can tackle health inequalities by making our work and workplaces healthier places to be through our multiple long-term conditions programme.

The links between our work and our health are complex. But evidence shows employment can have a positive impact on our wellbeing – though only if the work we are doing is ‘good’ work. Good work is the kind that is fairly rewarded, secure, and takes place in a supportive environment. Good work allows for agency and work-life balance. ‘Bad’ work can affect our mental health and hasten the onset of long-term conditions. For instance, chronic pain and cardiovascular diseases.

On World Sleep Day (March 18), I want to reflect on the ways that working night shifts can affect health, and the innovative work our partners are doing to ensure shift workers get the support they need.

The impact of shift work on health

Working shifts is increasingly common in our society and especially in our cities, where life – and therefore work – takes place 24 hours a day. People who work at night are more likely to have problems with their sleep. And the number of people working nights has grown to over 7million people since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evidence also shows that, like health conditions, sleep and sleep loss are not experienced equally. For example, studies on sleep and the pandemic show that women and people from minoritised communities have been more vulnerable to sleep loss.

The World Health Organisation has classed night shift work as ‘probably carcinogenic’. This highlights the profound effect this type of work can have on our mental and physical health. There is also strong evidence that night shift work can contribute to serious and chronic health conditions. For example; diabetes, heart disease, and depression.

It’s also important to acknowledge that shift work is customary among staff in key frontline industries, including in health care. We are keen to help ensure that all healthcare workers at every level can get the sleep that they need, so that their important work is not impacted by when they work.