Shift workers have to prioritise sleep with the rest of their schedule if they are to effectively perform on the job and fulfil responsibilities outside of work, according to a recently completed study by Central Queensland University. The report by researcher Gemma Clissold is published in this month's Contemporary Nurse. From a social perspective, the report indicates that a combination of shift work, family, and "outside" responsibilities can have a magnified effect on the wellbeing of the shift worker and his or her ability to maintain contact with the wider community.

"The loss of sleep -- the fatigue -- puts additional strain on individuals affecting their physical and psychological wellbeing... making it difficult to maintain healthy relationships," says Clissold.

The higher wages many shift workers receive for working odd hours may not be enough to make up for the social effects shiftwork, according to the research.

"A lot of us believe most night workers, for example, have the day off because they're not at work at 9am. That's not true," explains Clissold. "For them especially, work and non-work demands really squeeze sleep time." Clissold studied nurses in Central Queensland to determine the social affects of shift work. Traditionally, research in the field has focused on the effects of shiftwork in male dominated industries, such as mining and manufacturing. Three "types of nurses" were observed: single women, women who had a partner but no children, and women with a partner and children. All groups (on a 40-hour week) were losing sleep on night shifts and early shifts, indicating that they were all suffering from short-term fatigue. Nurses without children, and particularly those without partners where able to reduce the effect of fatigue by catching up on sleep when they worked afternoon shifts, therefore preventing chronic or long-term fatigue. The data showed other nurses could not recover that lost sleep because of non-work responsibilities.

"Yes, shift work has it advantages. The nurses said they could run errands and attend their children's school activities ... But they don't realize how much sleep they're really losing and the affect it has on them," said Clissold.

With this report, shift workers, their families and administrators now have the hard data needed to develop strategies to manage sleep and rest times, around work and non-work responsibilities. Now that the project is completed, it's back to work for Gemma Clissold. The researcher, from CQU's Faculty of Business and Law, is currently planning a follow-up regional study on the way people's non-work roles interact with the decisions they make on the job.

END Gemma is available for print and broadcast interviews.