Overview:

Our bodies are designed to sleep at night, then be awake and active during the day. Yet many industries rely on employees working through the night. Although our society benefits, it can be hard for individuals.

This class provides shift working employees a basic understanding of sleep and body clock principles, which we then can use to design an Optimal Sleep Plan. The Optimal Sleep Plan that you design will specify when the best time for you to sleep on work days and days off. We will also discuss strategies to stay alert on the job including precisely timed light and caffeine.

There are some long-term health risks of doing shift work. We will discuss these, and you will leave with a checklist to go through with your primary care physician so that you have a plan in place to minimize those risks.

Why you should Attend: Are you a shift worker who struggles to sleep during the day? Or who wants to improve your alertness on the job?

Shift workers typically don’t get the sleep they need to perform at their best on the job, or to maintain their health long-term. This class guides shift workers through creating their own Optimal Sleep Plan.

Areas Covered in the Session:

• Basics of how sleep and our body clocks work
• The challenge of daytime sleep
• The challenge of mid-night alertness
• Design your Optimal Sleep Plan for work days and days off
• Plan effective strategies to improve alertness
• Discuss long-term health effects and health care to decrease them

• Shift workers
• Shift work supervisors