How night shift work affects your mental health
HOW NIGHT SHIFT WORK AFFECTS
YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
Working shifts can take a toll on your mind and body in ways that aren’t always obvious at first. Whether you’re working through the night, rotating between early and late shifts or managing irregular hours, your sleep pattern is often the first thing to suffer. And when sleep is disrupted, your mental health can quickly follow.
Sleep and mental health are closely intertwined in what psychologists call a bidirectional relationship: poor sleep can worsen mental health, and poor mental health can make it harder to sleep. It’s not always clear which comes first, but one thing is certain – when one suffers, the other does too.
For example, research shows that symptoms such as low mood and irritability often improve when sleep quality improves. Conversely, persistent sleep problems can be one of the earliest warning signs of depression or anxiety. It’s a delicate balance – and shift work can make maintaining that balance even harder.
Bringing an awareness of that balance between sleep and mood is a significant part of the curriculum we’ve designed at Night Club to support the health and wellbeing of shift workers – the following is a taster of the knowledge and practical strategies our experts bring directly to shift workers in their workplace as part of our award-winning initiative.
The vicious cycle of sleep and stress
When you’re sleep-deprived, life’s challenges can feel much bigger than they really are. Small frustrations can spiral into bigger problems, and your ability to cope effectively diminishes. You might find yourself snapping at colleagues or loved ones, making poorer decisions, or feeling overwhelmed by situations that wouldn’t normally faze you.
This emotional and cognitive fog can then create more stress – and stress, in turn, makes it even harder to switch off and sleep well. The result is a vicious cycle that can be difficult to break: exhaustion fuels stress, stress fuels sleeplessness, and sleeplessness fuels exhaustion.
Breaking this cycle starts with awareness. Learning to notice when your sleep and mood are starting to decline – and understanding the link between the two – can help you take action before things worsen.
Why shift work makes sleep so tricky
Our bodies are designed to follow a natural rhythm, known as the circadian rhythm. This internal clock regulates our sleep-wake cycle, hormones and even mood, aligning our energy levels with daylight and darkness.
Shift work disrupts this rhythm. Working at night or changing schedules means you’re often awake when your body expects to be asleep and trying to rest when your body expects to be awake. This misalignment can cause:
Difficulty falling or staying asleep
Poor-quality sleep, even when you do get enough hours
Daytime fatigue and “brain fog”
Mood changes, including irritability, anxiety or low mood
Over time, chronic sleep disruption can increase the risk of depression, anxiety and burnout. It can also make it harder to regulate emotions, leaving you more sensitive to stress and less able to find motivation or joy in daily life.
Reconnecting with what supports your mental health
When your schedule constantly shifts, it’s easy for the things that make you feel good – hobbies, social connections, time outdoors – to fall away. Yet these are exactly the activities that protect and strengthen your mental health.
Here are some practical ways to support your wellbeing while managing shift work:
1. Interact with others at work
It’s common to feel less sociable during night shifts, when your body’s natural mood and energy levels are lower. But making an effort to connect with colleagues can boost alertness, energy and morale. Even a brief chat during a break can make a difference.
2. Spend time with loved ones
Shift work can easily put you out of sync with friends and family. While it might take extra effort to coordinate schedules, maintaining those relationships is crucial. Quality time – even short catch-ups or shared meals – helps anchor you emotionally and reminds you of your support network.
3. Do what lifts your spirits
Whether it’s exercise, a creative hobby, being outdoors or spending time with someone who makes you laugh, make sure your “feel-good” activities don’t disappear from your routine. Especially in winter, when mood can naturally dip, prioritising these uplifting habits is essential for emotional balance.
Tackling negative thoughts
How we think about situations and the power we give our thoughts can make a big difference to how we deal with challenges and how we feel. Using practical tools to take control of our negative thoughts can have a very clear knock-on effect on how we feel and behave.
If you struggle with negative thoughts throughout the day, try experimenting with one of these approaches, as recommended by clinical psychologist Zahra Khaki:
1. Share – If you can, share your fears with friends or family. Sharing your worries can help them feel more manageable.
2. Write it down – Getting your thoughts down on paper can help make it easier to tackle them one by one. Writing your thoughts down can also free up your brain to concentrate on other tasks and help you feel more productive.
3. Set aside some worry time – If you notice that worries are taking over a lot of your time during the day, set aside a short period of “worry time” (eg. 10-15 minutes) at a specific time of day to concentrate on your worries, write them down and try to problem solve. When a worry pops up in your mind during the day, make a note of it and set it aside for your worry time.
Calming your mind for sleep
We hear from many shift workers that negative thoughts tend to overwhelm them most as they lie down to sleep. Their minds start racing with thoughts about work and responsibilities – even small worries can keep your brain buzzing when you most need it to rest.
If that sounds familiar, here are a couple more tips you could try specifically at bedtime to calm your mind for sleep:
1.Distraction – Gently steer your mind away from unhelpful thoughts. Read a familiar, comforting book or mentally list items in a category (for example, fruits and vegetables starting with each letter of the alphabet). This gives your brain something neutral to focus on until you drift off.
2.Mindfulness – Techniques such as box breathing can calm your body and refocus your mind. Inhale through your nose for four seconds, hold for four, exhale through your mouth for four, hold again for four – and repeat. This simple rhythm helps reduce physiological stress and encourages relaxation.
Small steps, big difference
Improving sleep while managing shift work isn’t about perfection – it’s about progress. Even small adjustments to your habits and routines can have a real impact on your mental health.
Start by noticing patterns: when does your sleep feel at its worst? What habits or stressors seem to affect it most? From there, experiment with small, realistic changes – like adjusting your sleep environment (darker, cooler rooms usually help), keeping a consistent wind-down routine, or limiting caffeine later in your shift.
And remember, if you have a persistently low mood that is affecting your sleep, appetite and enjoyment of life, please contact your GP or use Mind’s guide to seeking help for your mental health. You don’t have to navigate the challenges of shift work alone.