Night shifts, travel & time away
When your work keeps odd hours or takes you far away, your mind and your people need a plan too.
Working against the clock
Night shifts and long hours wear down mood, health and family time.
Your body runs on an internal 24-hour clock called the circadian rhythm. Night shifts and rotating schedules push sleep out of step with that clock, so even a full day’s sleep may not feel restful.
NIOSH, the U.S. institute for worker safety, counts any schedule outside 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. as shift work, and any shift over 8.5 hours or week over 40 hours as long hours. Nurses, factory workers, security guards, drivers, cleaners, flight crews and many others work these schedules.
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Shift work and long hours raise health and safety risks by disturbing sleep and the body clock, and by reducing time for family and life outside work. They can bring stress, fatigue, low mood and unhealthy habits like poor eating and less exercise.
Not enough sleep is linked to crashes, worker errors, heart disease, diabetes and poorer mental health. Long, unsocial or inflexible hours are also a known work stressor.
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What can help
- Ask about more predictable schedules
- Avoid driving when very drowsy
- Keep a similar sleep time on days off when you can
- Treat sleep as a basic need, like food and water
- Use blackout curtains and earplugs to sleep in the day
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Fatigue-related mistakes can reach beyond work, including crashes on the commute. Night workers are often most tired at the end of a shift.
Ideas
- Carpool or take transit when you can
- Nap before driving if you’re very sleepy
- Pull over somewhere safe if you start to drift
Life out of sync
Sleeping while others are awake, and missing the moments that matter.
Odd hours don’t only affect sleep. They can mean missing dinners, games, school plays and nights out. Conflict between work and family demands is one of the known effects of shift work and long hours.
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Shift workers can slowly drift from friends who live on a daytime schedule. Limited support from others is a known risk for mental health, so it’s worth working to keep connections going.
Ideas
- Find coworkers on your schedule to spend time with
- Plan one regular get-together that fits your hours
- Share your schedule with friends so they know when to reach you
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When partners work different hours, time together can shrink to a few tired minutes. Small, planned moments matter more than long ones.
Ideas
- A shared calendar so you both see the week ahead
- A note or message when one of you leaves
- One protected meal or activity together each week
- Talking about chores and childcare openly, without keeping score
Flight attendants & aviation
Time zones, long days and a job that’s always “on.”
Flight attendants, pilots, gate agents and ground crews keep travel safe and running. Their work can mean early starts, overnight trips, crossing time zones and days away from home.
In a 2007 survey of flight attendants from two U.S. airlines, they reported 2 to 5.7 times more sleep disorders, depression and fatigue than the general U.S. population. Depression and anxiety were also more common the longer people had worked as flight attendants. These were self-reported answers, so the study shows a link, not a cause.
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Often reported
- Being responsible for safety in emergencies
- Having to look calm and cheerful all the time
- Irregular schedules that make plans and sleep hard
- Jet lag and body-clock disruption
- Rude, drunk or aggressive passengers
- Time away from family and friends
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Ideas
- Debrief with crew after an incident with a difficult passenger
- Eat real meals and drink water on long duty days
- Get daylight at times that help your body adjust
- Keep a regular call time with people at home
- Protect sleep on layovers with a dark, cool room and a steady wind-down routine
- Use your union or employer’s peer support or EAP
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After a frightening event on board, like a medical emergency or a violent passenger, it’s normal to feel shaky, jumpy or unable to sleep for a few days. If these reactions don’t ease after a few weeks, talk with a clinical provider.
Seafarers & mariners
Months at sea, far from family, with little time off.
Seafarers crew the ships that carry most of the world’s goods, along with fishing boats, tugs and ferries. They may spend months on board, working long hours with the same small group of people and limited contact with home.
A 2022 review of 24 studies found that stress, low mood, burnout, anxiety, loneliness and fatigue were the main mental health problems among seafarers. Across studies, depressive symptoms were reported by 14% to 49% of seafarers. The wide range shows how much conditions differ from ship to ship.
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In the review
- Feeling that effort isn’t rewarded, or that the company doesn’t care
- Long voyages and contracts
- Long working hours, often more than 9 hours a day
- Night work and noise or vibration that disturbs sleep
- Poor sleep
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In the review
- A crew that sticks together
- Feeling cared for by officers and the company
- Practical support on board
- Resilience and coping skills
- Shorter contracts with regular shifts
On board, small things can make a big difference: shared meals, a movie night, exercise together, and officers who check in.
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SeafarerHelp, run by the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), is a free, confidential, multilingual helpline for seafarers and their families, open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Phone: +44 20 7323 2737, or visit seafarerhelp.org.
Remote sites & rotations
Oil rigs, mines, camps and other jobs weeks away from home.
Some people work weeks on and weeks off at remote sites: offshore platforms, mines, pipelines, research stations or work camps. Long-haul drivers and farmers can also go days without real conversation. Limited support from colleagues is a known risk for mental health.
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Rotations can mean living two lives: one at the site, focused on work, and one at home, where life went on without you. Leaving can feel hard each time, and fitting back in at home can take a while. Both are normal.
What can help
- Keep a small routine that grounds you, like a morning walk
- Plan regular calls with people you care about
- Find online communities of people in your field
- Join crew or community events when you’re back
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Long work hours increase exposure to workplace hazards and reduce recovery time. On rotations, there may be no real day off for weeks.
Ideas
- Protect a set sleep window, even on short turnarounds
- Use gym, games or quiet spaces on site
- Look out for crewmates who go quiet
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Long-haul drivers face isolation, irregular sleep and time away from family.
Staying close from far away
Small, regular contact keeps relationships strong.
When you’re away a lot, small, regular contact matters more than long calls. A quick voice message each morning, a photo of your day or a set time to say goodnight to the kids can keep you part of everyday life at home.
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Ideas
- A set call time that works across time zones
- A shared photo album or family group chat
- Reading a bedtime story to the kids over video
- Sending a small surprise home from the road
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Ideas
- A calendar where children can count down to your return
- Explaining your job and why you’re away in simple, honest words for their age
- Leaving a small item of yours with them while you’re gone
- Recording short videos they can watch any time
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Some ships, sites and schedules make contact hard. Agree ahead of time what you’ll do if you can’t call, so no one worries. A short written message, saved and sent when you can, still counts.
For families at home
Holding things together while someone is away or asleep all day.
Partners and children of people with odd hours or long trips feel the effects too: missed holidays, a parent who sleeps all day, and running the home alone for weeks. These feelings are normal.
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Ideas
- Agree on “quiet hours” the whole family knows
- Keep the bedroom dark and cool
- Put a sign on the door, and keep phones and doorbells quiet
- Save non-urgent questions for when they’re awake
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Ideas
- Keep your own friendships and routines going
- Ask for and accept practical help
- Talk openly about how the job affects home life, without blame
- Seek help for yourself if you’re struggling
Coming home
Landing back into family life takes time.
Whether it’s after a long trip, a month at sea or a week of nights, coming home is a change. People often come back tired and need a day to “land.” Be patient with yourself and your loved ones.
A good landing
- Plan a calm first evening, not a full schedule
- Share what’s been going on at home without a flood of problems at the door
- Ease back into routines and decisions instead of taking over
- Make time for each child one-on-one
- Talk about what was hard and what went well while you were apart
What employers can do
Smarter schedules protect workers, and everyone they serve.
Health experts say the most important changes are to how work is designed and managed. Flexible working is one of the steps WHO recommends to reduce work risks.
Steps NIOSH suggests
- Keep lighting, heating and cooling good at all hours
- Move demanding tasks away from high-fatigue times, like 2 to 6 a.m. on night shifts
- Schedule at least two workers per area on hard shifts, so they can help each other stay alert
- Schedule meetings, training and health services so night staff don’t lose sleep
Other ideas
- Make the EAP easy to reach at any hour
- Post schedules early and limit last-minute changes
- Shorter contracts and regular shifts for crews away from home
By the numbers
What studies show about odd hours and time away.
Studies
Definitions
When and where to get help
Signs it’s time to reach out, and where to go.
Reach out to a clinical provider, therapist or your EAP if
- You can’t sleep even when you have the chance, for weeks
- You feel very sleepy at work or on the drive home
- You feel low, hopeless or cut off from the people you love
- You’re drinking or using more to sleep or to cope
- Relationships at home are under strain you can’t fix alone
Where to start
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, 24/7. For Spanish, call 988 and press 2.
- Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.
- SeafarerHelp (seafarers and their families, worldwide): +44 20 7323 2737, 24/7, or seafarerhelp.org.
- Your Employee Assistance Program (EAP), if your workplace has one.
- Outside the U.S.: findahelpline.com lists free, confidential helplines by country.
📝 Worksheets for this guide
Fill these in privately in the app. Your answers stay on your phone.
Sources
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH). Work Hour Training for Nurses: Sleep and health
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) (2023). NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours: Module 1
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) (2023). NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours: Module 2, How shift work and long hours increase risks
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) (2023). NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours: Module 5, Workplace strategies
- World Health Organization (WHO). Mental health at work (fact sheet)
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH). Stress and Work
- McNeely et al. (peer-reviewed) (2014). The self-reported health of U.S. flight attendants compared to the general population (Environmental Health)
- Jonglertmontree et al. (peer-reviewed) (2022). Mental health problems and their related factors among seafarers: a scoping review (BMC Public Health)
- International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN). SeafarerHelp
- Merchant Navy Welfare Board (2026). Port Information Leaflet (Seafarers’ Telephone Helpline)
- Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice. What is Vicarious Trauma? (Vicarious Trauma Toolkit)
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). What is an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)?
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Is the 988 Lifeline available in other languages?
- Crisis Text Line. Crisis Text Line
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Crisis Text Line
- Find A Helpline (ThroughLine). Find A Helpline
This guide is for education and self-care. It is not a diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. Please talk to a counselor or clinical provider about your health. Reviewed October 2026.
