Sleep schedule for police officers on 8-hour night shifts
By the My Circadian Health editorial team. Reviewed by Brandon Korenek, Founder.
If you work 8-hour night shifts (11 PM – 7 AM), here is a sample schedule built around one main sleep window on work days and an overlapping window on days off. Court dates and overtime often land in your sleep window, so guard the hours you can control.
- Shift
- 11 PM – 7 AM
- Sleep on work days
- 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM
- Nap
- 20–30 minutes around 9 PM, before you leave for work
- Sleep on days off
- 3 AM – 11 AM
Why this schedule works
Sleeping at the same time after every shift gives your body clock a fixed target to adjust to. On days off, sleeping in a window that overlaps your work-day sleep, sometimes called anchor sleep, keeps you from flipping all the way back to a day schedule and starting over each week.
Before your first night shift
Sleep normally the night before, sleep in if you can, and take a nap of about 90 minutes in the afternoon before you go in.
Switching back after your last night
Sleep for only a few hours after your last shift, get up by early afternoon, and spend time in daylight. Then go to bed at a normal time that night.
Tips that make it easier
- Make your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool: blackout curtains, earplugs or white noise, and your phone on do not disturb.
- Keep caffeine to the first half of your shift so it has worn off by the time you sleep.
- Get bright light early in your shift, and wear sunglasses on the way home so morning sunlight doesn’t tell your body it is time to wake up.
- Never drive home drowsy. If you are fighting to stay awake, take a short nap first or get a ride.
- Tell the people you live with when you sleep, and treat that window like a work shift.
When it’s more than scheduling
If you still can’t sleep during your sleep window, or feel very sleepy at work even with a steady schedule, you may have shift work disorder. It is common and treatable, and worth raising with a clinician.
This is general information, not medical advice. The times are examples; shift them to fit your commute and household.