💡 Key points to remember :
Nurses are particularly exposed to sleep disorders, due to shifting working hours, stress and inadequate rest conditions. These problems impact on their health, alertness and quality of care. To prevent them, it is essential to raise nurses’ awareness of sleep issues, optimize their schedules, and create suitable recovery areas in healthcare establishments.
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In the hospital world, healthcare professionals are at the heart of the care system. Their day-to-day commitment, their presence day and night, and the constant pressure they are under, make them particularly vulnerable to sleep disorders. And yet, quality sleep is essential both for their health and for patient safety.
So how can we prevent sleep disorders and improve their quality of life at work in healthcare establishments?
Understanding sleep disorders
Sleep disorders are defined as a lack or poor quality of sleep that affects the following day’s physical, mental and social activities (Amélie – 2025).
They can manifest themselves in different ways:
- Insomnia: difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
- Non-restorative sleep: feeling tired when waking up, despite getting enough sleep
- Hypersomnia: excessive daytime sleepiness
- Parasomnias: disorders such as nightmares, sleepwalking, etc.
- Circadian rhythm disorders: desynchronization between the biological clock and the environment
Why are nurses particularly hard hit?
According to a study by INSV, almost 40% of nursing staff sleep less than 6 hours a night. This chronic shortfall is detrimental to their physical and mental health.
- Shift and night work
The human body is naturally programmed to sleep at night. Working night shifts or 2 x 12-hour shifts disrupts this biological rhythm, reducing the quality and quantity of sleep. - Stress and mental workload
Between urgency, vital responsibilities and staff shortages, psychological pressure is constant. Stress delays sleep onset and alters the deep phases of sleep. Find out how to reduce your mental workload. - Environments not conducive to rest
In hospitals and clinics, it’s hard to find a quiet place to rest. Breaks are often rare or interrupted, making effective recuperation almost impossible. - A culture of self-giving, to the detriment of the self
Many nurses put their mission before their own health. Sleep can be perceived as a luxury in some departments, instead of being recognized as a necessity.
Among nurses, sleep disorders, fragmented sleep and chronic sleep debt are the most common problems. In the long term, these imbalances increase the risk of :
- Attention disorders and medical errors
- Mood disorders (irritability, anxiety, depression)
- Metabolic disorders (weight gain, diabetes)
- Cardiovascular disease
- Occupational burn-out
Active prevention of sleep deprivation
Fortunately, there are practical solutions to prevent and limit sleep disorders among healthcare professionals:
1. Raise awareness and provide training in sleep hygiene
Healthcare establishments can organize workshops to raise caregivers’ awareness of the best practices to adopt: limiting screens before bedtime, optimizing the bedroom environment, having bedtime rituals even during the day, etc.
2. Create intelligent schedules
Limiting too-rapid rotation, avoiding night/day shifts and including sufficient rest days between two shifts are important levers for respecting the biological rhythms of your care teams.
3. Encourage on-site recovery time
Incorporating quiet, accessible and comfortable rest areas dedicated to care teams is essential.
Encouraging the practice of micro-napping, even for 10 to 20 minutes, is scientifically proven to improve alertness, memory, mood and performance. With Nap&Up nap cocoons, designed to facilitate a quality break, even in hospital environments.
To find out more about napping in the workplace, discover Nap&Up micro-nap cocoons.
4. Encourage a culture of rest and well-being
Too often, rest is perceived as a weakness in the healthcare professions. It’s urgent to change this culture. Rest is a resource, not a waste of time. For example, you can publicly promote healthy behaviors by sharing tips on how to take care of yourself (rest, therapy, sport, vacations…) at meetings or in internal newsletters.
Highlighting recovery and integrating well-being into HR policies improves talent retention and reduces absenteeism.
Conclusion
Preventing sleep disorders among healthcare professionals means investing in the health of those who care for others. It also means guaranteeing a safer, more humane and more efficient healthcare system. At Nap&Up, we are convinced that sleep is a powerful lever for quality of life at work within healthcare establishments.
