IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING FATIGUE

Healthy from the Start Resources for Shiftworkers

Fatigue is a common experience for many shiftworkers, and involves feelings of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. There are strategies available to limit fatigue – getting enough quality sleep each day, recovering between shifts, and looking after your nutrition and physical activity are all important.

If you’re already fatigued, you can manage these feelings with caffeine, napping, bright light exposure, or brief bursts of exercise. It’s important to remember that fatigue is a leading cause of errors, accidents, and injuries for shiftworkers, so ensure your workplace is supporting you to limit and manage your fatigue.

As a result of the sleep challenges for shiftworkers, fatigue is something that you may be familiar with. If so, you’re not alone - up to 90% of shiftworkers report feeling fatigued and sleepy while they’re at work.

Fatigue goes beyond sleepiness though, and is characterised by physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.

When you’re fatigued, it can make it harder to concentrate on your work, and be productive and efficient, which can put you at an increased risk of errors, accidents, and injuries (24,79).

Signs and symptoms of fatigue to watch out for (80):

  • Feeling drowsy or easily able to fall asleep when you are trying to stay awake

  • Constant yawning or microsleeps

  • Experiencing headaches, dizziness or blurred vision

  • Difficulty concentrating or easily forgetting things that have just happened

  • Struggling to follow or join in conversations

  • Difficulty making decisions or demonstrating good judgement

  • Poor hand-eye coordination, slower reflexes, or clumsiness

  • Changes in behaviour or mood

  • Frequent, unplanned absences from work

Organisations that employ shiftworkers have a duty of care to identify and manage fatigue in the workplace. Read more about approaches to rostering that can help with fatigue here. Your workplace should also provide you with tools to measure your own levels of fatigue, so it’s a good idea to speak to your manager or your workplace health and safety representative about fatigue calculators or detection technologies.

While fatigue may be a common experience for many shiftworkers, there are strategies you can implement to limit how fatigued you become and help to manage it if it does develop.

Limiting Fatigue:

  • Try to get 7-9 hours of quality sleep per 24 hours.

  • Ensure you’re resting and recovering between shifts and on days-off, particularly if you work a physically demanding job.

  • Review your roster to see if it aligns with best-practice rostering principles.

  • Eat a nutritious diet that meets your nutrient requirements.

Managing Fatigue (27,81,82):

  • Use caffeine before or during your shift but be mindful of consuming caffeine too close to bedtime as it can keep you awake.

  • Use naps for an energy boost (10-20 minutes) or to increase the amount of sleep you’re getting each day (90 minutes or longer).

  • Brief bursts of physical activity can help you to feel less fatigued, particularly if you work a more sedentary or desk-based job.

  • Exposure to bright light can help your brain to recognise that it’s time to be awake and active but be mindful of light exposure too close to bedtime as it can make it difficult to fall asleep.

  • Talk to your manager or workplace health and safety officer about fatigue detection tools and technology in your workplace.

While there are strategies you can use to limit or manage your fatigue, it’s important to pay close attention to how you’re feeling as a shiftworker.

Many of these strategies only allow for temporary boosts in alertness, and may not truly improve problems with safety and productivity over longer periods of time.