Shift Work Sleep Planner
Tell it when your next 12 starts — get the wind-down, bedtime, nap and wake windows that make the shift survivable. Day shift and night shift plans, computed in one tap.
General guidance, not medical advice — shift your windows to fit your commute and family reality, and keep the sequence (wind-down → sleep → wake) intact.
Why shift sleep needs a plan
A normal worker's clock is anchored by one thing: lights-out at roughly the same time every night. Shift work breaks that anchor by design — which is why "just sleep when you get home" fails so often. What works instead is treating sleep like part of the shift: fixed windows, protected darkness, and naps placed deliberately rather than grabbed by accident.
The night-shift pattern this planner builds
- Pre-shift nap — short, alarm-protected, ending a few hours before start so you arrive fresh instead of sedated.
- The shift itself — with the end time computed from your actual shift length, not a guess.
- Main sleep block — as soon as practical after home: blackout room, phone in another room, a solid block before the world wakes up.
- Evening second nap — normal and useful mid-stretch; skip it if you can sleep a long morning block instead.
Across a multi-night stretch (a DuPont night block, or permanent 4-on 4-off nights), keep the post-shift block anchored at the same time every day — consistency matters more than perfection.
The day-shift pattern
Day shifts are simpler but still worth computing backwards: wake about an hour before you need to move, protect a 7.5-hour runway before that, and dim the last hour. The most common day-shift failure is not bedtime — it is the 11 PM "one more episode" that quietly turns a 10:30 target into midnight. The timeline gives you the number to defend.
FAQ
- How should I sleep before a night shift?
- Two windows matter. Before the shift: a short nap (roughly 90 minutes) that ends a few hours before start time, so you wake rested but groggy-free. After the shift: one main sleep block as soon as practical after getting home, in a dark, cool room — then a second short nap in the early evening if the stretch continues tomorrow.
- What time should I go to bed before a day shift?
- Work backwards from your shift start: leave about 7.5 hours for sleep plus roughly an hour to wake and get moving. A 07:00 shift points to a bedtime around 10:30 PM with a 06:00 wake-up. The planner computes your exact windows from your start time.
- What is anchor sleep on night shifts?
- Anchor sleep is a core block of sleep you protect at the same time every day across a run of night shifts, even if you add or shorten naps around it. Keeping a fixed anchor stabilizes your rhythm during a stretch that otherwise flips your clock nightly.
- How long should a pre-shift nap be?
- Keep it short enough to wake from cleanly — around 90 minutes or less — and time it to end a few hours before the shift starts. Long naps late in the day fight your main sleep block and leave you heavier, not fresher.
- Does this planner store my data?
- No. It runs entirely in your browser. If you have saved a roster on this device it prefills your next shift type and start time, but nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
General guidance only — not medical advice. Persistent sleep problems deserve a real clinician.