How to sleep well if you have to stay up late

Most sleep advice is (understandably) predicated on the idea that people are awake during the day and asleep at night, honoring the body’s circadian rhythms.

Sometimes, though, our schedules are not our own. Maybe you’re a physician in residency; maybe the lab or the rehearsal room you need is only available in the late evenings. Maybe you’re an RA with overnight on-call duties. It’s tough and it’s not ideal, but it is the reality for a lot of students and trainees.

Here is some advice on how to navigate getting the rest you need when you are working a late shift. These tips are adapted from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

1. Take naps during the day. For true night shift workers, a minimum of a 90-minute nap before the shift is recommended to reduce sleep debt. If you’re going to be up late and want to boost alertness and performance but aren’t working a full night shift, a 20-30 minute nap is better. Naps less than 15 minutes are likely to be too short to help. Try to avoid longer naps in the four-hour range before your main sleep, as it may make it more difficult to fall asleep.
2. Space out meals to keep energy coming into your body all day. Your eating schedule should align with your waking hours. Try eating a higher-protein meal or snack (i.e. protein bar, nuts, soy protein or lean meat) before starting a shift. Consider eating higher fat items like fried food, full-fat dairy, or fatty meats during the period of your awake cycle that aligns with daylight. Where possible, limit food intake overnight, prioritizing smaller, lighter meals and snacks. Your last meal prior to sleep should help keep your digestive system occupied for longer, as hunger negatively impacts sleep. But so does indigestion, so exercise caution if you find yourself choosing foods high in fat, salt, and sugar after night shifts. If you’re having trouble finding the right balance, contact the university dietitian, Rayven Nairn.
3. Adjust your sleep schedule to accommodate new bedtime hours. Going to bed at 2:00am? Set your alarm for later than your typical wake-up time, i.e. 10:00am, and plan a nap for the next day. Your individual sleep needs may differ, but research shows that 7 to 9 hours is the amount of sleep most healthy adults require. This may be achieved as one single sleep period, or as a briefer main sleep supplemented by shorter naps.
4. Remember that caffeine does not replace sleep. Caffeine can be helpful with fatigue and alertness management, but too much can block the neurochemical messaging that tells your brain that it needs sleep. You can reset your caffeine tolerance if you’ve ended up more dependent on it than you like; for optimal health, stick to about 200 mg of caffeine per day and avoid it during the six-hour window before bedtime, whenever that bedtime may be.
5. Use light therapy as the evening progresses. When your eyes are exposed to natural sunlight, it can delay the production of melatonin (the hormone that makes you sleepy). Avoiding light right before sleep (i.e. sunglasses when heading home after a night shift) and/or using a light therapy light to help you wake up the next day can make it easier to adjust to a new schedule.
6. If working nights is a regular occurrence, build a routine that eases you into and then out of a late night. For example: You have to work until midnight on Wednesday, but your normal bedtime is 10 pm. You will likely get into bed at 1:00 AM Wednesday night (Thursday morning). Try the following schedule:
   • Monday: go to sleep at 11:00 PM
   • Tuesday: go to sleep at 12:00 PM
   • Wednesday: go to sleep at 1:00 AM
   • Thursday: go to sleep at 12:00 AM
   • Friday: go to sleep at 11:00 PM
   • Saturday: go to sleep at 10:00 PM

If you want to learn more about sleep, consider reaching out to the Office of Health Promotion & Well-Being to talk with one of our health educators for a well-being consultation. Sweet dreams!

Many thanks to SOM faculty member Dr. Amelia Pousson, MD, MPH, who reviewed and contributed to this article.