SAD Light Therapy for Night Shift Working

Using Light Boxes as a Natural Sleep Aid Treatment for SWSD

Nov 11, 2009

A natural treatment for shift work sleep disorder, or SWSD, and help for those working the night shift can be found with light therapy.

Working against the body’s natural circadian rhythm can disrupt the body’s workings, causing similar disruptions to the body as jet lag. But working irregular and antisocial hours on a regular basis can cause symptoms such as:

When these symptoms become chronic, the shift worker may be suffering from SWSD.

Natural Sleep Aid for Shift Work Schedule

Almost 15 million Americans work irregular or antisocial hours, including those in healthcare, emergency services and factories. Loss of concentration can have impact upon safety, increasing the likelihood of accidents (“Shift Work Sleep Disorder Fact Sheet” Cephalon, 2009). Of these, around 15 to 25% suffer from SWSD or similar disturbance to bodily patterns.

Adjusting to the graveyard shift can be difficult, but using SAD lamps, traditionally used to treat seasonal affective disorder, can help reset the body clock when required. However, adjusting the work pattern to one that is more suitable will compliment the effectiveness of light therapy. Rotating work patterns require extra care.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's “How Shift Workers can Improve Job Performance and Implement Realistic Sleep Schedule” (Dec 8 2008), a study into light therapy has shown to help shift workers improve performance, alertness and ease SWSD.

Light Box Treatment for the Graveyard Shift

During the study, subjects underwent several nights of night shift work patterns, from 11pm to 7 am with two days off. They slept in dark bedrooms during scheduled times of the day, and were exposed to five 15 minute periods of light therapy and wore dark glasses when outside. The control group received no treatment and had uncontrolled patterns of sleep.

The performance of the subjects were measured via Automated Neurophysioloical Assessment Metrics (ANAM), which gauged reaction times, memory and mental calculations.

The results showed that the control group had slower or more variable reaction times than the experimental group, and was in fact, was close to performance expected during normal waking hours. Furthermore, the body temperatures and melatonin levels (a sleep hormone) had shifted to a later time in the experimental group, falling within the sleep phase, suggesting an effective treatment for SWSD, as well as for those with general disruption to sleep patterns. Night shift workers who were exposed to bright light at strategic times were able to shift their circadian rhythms to suit the hours of the shift.

Which Light Boxes?

There are many light boxes on the market, providing the 10000 lux light therapy required and the critical blue light therapy that simulates daylight. Litebook, Apollo Golite P1 and Litepod, for instance, have built in calculators to work out when and the length of light exposure required for optimum results.

How to Increase Productivity of Night Workers

Light therapy has been shown to improve performance of night shift workers by strategically exposing them to bright light and avoiding light at other times. This would also suggest an effective treatment for SWSD.

The copyright of the article SAD Light Therapy for Night Shift Working in Natural Medicine is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish SAD Light Therapy for Night Shift Working in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.