title: The influence of break timing on the sleep quantity and quality of fly-in, fly-out shiftworkers.
abstract: Although shift and break timing is known to affect the sleep of shiftworkers, this has not been demonstrated in Fly-in, Fly-out (FIFO) settings which, compared to residential based settings, may be favourable for sleep. This study investigated the sleep quantity and quality of shiftworkers working a FIFO operation comprising of shifts, and therefore breaks, across the 24-h day. The sleep of 24 males (50.43 ± 8.57 yr) was measured using actigraphy and sleep diaries. Morning breaks were associated with less sleep (09:00-12:00 h; 4.4 ± 1.3 h) and a poorer sleep quality (06:00-09:00 h; 3.1 ± 1.0, "average") compared to breaks beginning between 00:00 h and 03:00 h (6.8 ± 1.7 h; 2.2 ± 0.9, "good"). Sleep efficiency remained constant regardless of break timing (85.9 ± 5.0% to 89.9 ± 3.5%). Results indicate that even in operations such as FIFO where sleeping conditions are near-optimal and the break duration is held constant, the influence of the endogenous circadian pacemaker on sleep duration is evident.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Sleep Research, University of South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Gemma M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Paech
authors.forename: Sally A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: Siobhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banks
authors.forename: Jillian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dorrian
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Roach
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D000328:Adult; D057906:Circadian Clocks; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*