ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2020
Scheduled afternoon-evening sleep leads to better night shift performance in older adults.
Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Work schedule characteristics and sleepiness - a meta-analysis.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2026Pooled it
- Human data at odds and in confirmation of the two-process model of sleep regulation-a perspective.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2026Review
- Evaluation of sleep strategies between night shifts in actual shift workers.Sleep health · 2024Observational
- Feasibility, effectiveness, and acceptability of an afternoon-evening sleep schedule in older nightshift workers.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2024Article
- Effects of red light on sleep and mood in healthy subjects and individuals with insomnia disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders in Older Adults.Sleep medicine clinics · 2022Review
- Timing of Sleep in the Break Between Two Consecutive Night-Shifts: The Effect of Different Strategies on Daytime Sleep and Night-Time Neurobehavioural Function.Nature and science of sleep · 2022Article
- No Effect of Chronotype on Sleepiness, Alertness, and Sustained Attention during a Single Night Shift.Clocks & sleep · 2021Article
- Prediction of individual differences in circadian adaptation to night work among older adults: application of a mathematical model using individual sleep-wake and light exposure data.Chronobiology internationalArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThis study investigated whether an intervention designed to reduce homeostatic sleep pressure would improve night shift performance and alertness in older adults.
methodsNon-shift workers aged 57.9±4.6 (mean±SD) worked four day (07:00-15:00) and four night shifts (23:00-07:00). Two intervention groups were instructed to remain awake until ~13:00 after each night shift: the sleep timing group (ST; n=9) was instructed to spend 8 hours in bed attempting sleep, and the sleep ad-lib group (n=9) was given no further sleep instructions. A control group (n=9) from our previous study was not given any sleep instructions. Hourly Karolinska Sleepiness Scales and Psychomotor Vigilance Tasks assessed subjective sleepiness and performance.
resultsThe ST group maintained their day shift sleep durations on night shifts, whereas the control group slept less. The ST group were able to maintain stable performance and alertness across the initial part of the night shift, while the control group's alertness and performance declined across the entire night. Wake duration before a night shift negatively impacted sustained attention and self-reported sleepiness but not reaction time, whereas sleep duration before a night shift affected reaction time and ability to sustain attention but not self-reported sleepiness.
conclusionsA behavioural change under the control of the individual worker, spending 8 hours in bed and waking close to the start of the night shift, allowed participants to acquire more sleep and improved performance on the night shift in older adults. Both sleep duration and timing are important factors for night shift performance and self-reported sleepiness.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.