Research
Mixed
Rapid shift rotation (shifts separated by less than 11 hours off duty) is a significant risk factor for Shift Work Disorder symptoms, independent of the total number of night shifts.
Avoid scheduling shifts that start less than 11 hours after your previous shift ends. This rapid turnover is a key driver of sleep disorders, even if you don't work many nights.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
We also found a positive relationship between SWD and number of shifts separated by less than 11 hours, in both the crude and adjusted analyses, which is in line with earlier findings [22].
Why this rating
Statistically significant in adjusted models, but based on self-reported schedule data.
Source
Shift Work Disorder in Nurses – Assessment, Prevalence and Related Health Problems
Elisabeth Flo et al. · PLoS ONE · 2012
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0033981
cross_sectional · n=1968Cited 320×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Night shift work schedules are significantly associated with symptoms of Shift Work Disorder (SWD), including insomnia and excessive sleepiness, with prevalence rates reaching 44.3% for three-shift rotations compared to 6.2% for day work only.Good
- Female gender is associated with a lower risk of Shift Work Disorder symptoms compared to male gender in this nursing population.Moderate
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