Sleep Calculator Shift Workers Mode

Shift workers mode in the Infinity Sleep Calculator plans sleep around your shift instead of the clock. After a shift, it adds your travel time and 15 minutes to settle in to find your bedtime, then counts forward whole 90-minute sleep cycles to suggest alarm times. Before a shift, it works back from your start time.

Example: a night shift ends at 7:00 AM and the trip home takes 30 minutes. Be in bed by 7:45 AM and set your alarm for 5:00 PM (six cycles), 3:30 PM (five cycles) or 2:00 PM (four cycles).

Go to bed soon after you get home and make the room as dark and quiet as you can. Blackout curtains are a great solution when you have to sleep while the sun is up (National Sleep Foundation). Earplugs or white noise cover daytime sounds, and going to sleep and waking up at the same times every day helps (National Sleep Foundation). Our guide Sleeping after a night shift has more tips.

Anchor sleep is a block of about 4 hours taken at the same time every day, on work days and days off. In a 1981 study, a regular 4-hour anchor sleep helped keep body rhythms close to a 24-hour cycle even when the rest of the sleep schedule was irregular (Minors & Waterhouse, 1981).

Often, yes. A nap of a few hours before a night shift, sometimes called a prophylactic nap, can reduce the drop in alertness during the night (NIOSH), and for shift workers, naps can improve alertness and reaction times (National Sleep Foundation). Finish it early enough to wake up fully before you start work.

Be careful. People who work early mornings, late nights or alternating shifts have a higher chance of drowsy driving (National Sleep Foundation), and less than 6 hours of sleep triples your risk of falling asleep at the wheel (National Sleep Foundation). If you feel very drowsy, take a short nap before you leave or get a ride home.