How to plan your sleep around a 12-hour night shift

The aim is a daytime sleep schedule you can repeat. HSE's guidance for shift workers is to identify a suitable schedule and keep to it once you find it, and notes that most adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep a day. Its examples include going to bed soon after you arrive home or staying up and sleeping before the next shift. Both can work, and the planner shows what each choice does to the rest of your day.

The second example shows the squeeze: a longer commute and an extra hour of sleep leave only 2 hours of the day for meals, family, errands and everything else. That is the most useful thing to see before agreeing a rota, a second job or a long commute. Before your first night of a run, HSE suggests a short sleep beforehand. Coming off nights, it suggests a short sleep and then an earlier bedtime that night. Our night shift sleep guide and guide to switching between days and nights cover this in more depth.

Do night workers get a free health assessment?

Yes. Regulation 7 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 says an employer must not assign an adult worker to work that makes them a night worker unless the worker has had the opportunity of a free health assessment, and must give each night worker the opportunity of a free assessment at regular intervals. It is free if it costs you nothing. The assessment is confidential: it can only be passed to someone else with your written consent, other than a statement that you are fit for the work.

The regulation also says that if a registered medical practitioner advises your employer that you have health problems connected to night work, and it is possible to move you to suitable work that would stop you being a night worker, the employer must transfer you. This is the legal basis behind searches such as "night shift worker medical" and it is separate from the occupational health checks done when you are recruited (see NHS occupational health checks explained) and from referrals once you are in post (occupational health referrals explained). Ask HR or occupational health how your trust offers the night worker assessment. For the health evidence, see long-term health effects of night shift work.

Who counts as a night worker, and what are the limits?

• Definition. Staff who regularly work at least 3 hours in the night period are night workers. The night period is 11pm to 6am unless a different seven-hour period including midnight to 5am is agreed in writing (gov.uk).
• Average hours. No more than an average of 8 hours in 24, usually averaged over 17 weeks, with no opt-out. Work involving special hazards or mental or physical strain has a stricter 8-hour cap, subject to risk assessment (gov.uk). Ask HR how this applies to your shift pattern.
• Daily rest. 11 hours between working days (gov.uk). A 12-hour night repeated every 24 hours leaves 12.
• Weekly rest. Either 24 hours without work each week or 48 hours each fortnight (gov.uk).

A 19:00 to 09:00 shift is 14 hours and leaves 10 hours before the same shift the next day, which is below the 11-hour minimum, so the planner flags it. The regulations have limited exceptions, so a flag is a prompt to ask questions, not a finding that your employer is breaking the law. Our Working Time Regulations guide covers the full rules.

Driving home after a night shift

NHS Employers says fatigue after a night shift can produce effects similar to driving at the legal alcohol limit, and that surveys of healthcare workers show more than half have had a near miss driving home. HSE suggests public transport or a taxi, sharing the driving, driving carefully and without hurrying, and stopping for a short nap if you feel sleepy and it is safe to. NHS Employers says employers should offer somewhere to rest before driving or cycling home. Our driving home safely guide has more.

Power naps and caffeine on nights

NHS Employers describes a 15 to 20 minute nap in a quiet, dark space away from the ward or work area, with an alarm or a colleague to wake you, and says that simply lying back and resting has its own benefit even if you do not sleep. It adds that caffeine taken as you lie down takes about 15 to 20 minutes to act, so it kicks in as you wake. HSE adds that caffeine should only be used occasionally, not relied on, and avoided for a few hours before bed. Whether you can nap depends on your trust and your breaks.

What to eat on night shifts

HSE recommends regular light meals and snacks over a single heavy meal, easy-to-digest foods, plenty of fluid, and not going to bed hungry or after a heavy, fatty or spicy meal. See the night shift diet and eating guide.

What do night shifts pay?

Night work attracts an unsocial hours enhancement under Section 2 (maintaining round the clock services) of the Agenda for Change terms, covered in our night shift pay explained and unsocial hours payments guides. To see what a particular pattern is worth to you after tax, use the free Unsocial Hours Calculator or the Rota Take-Home Calculator.

Sources and how the planner works

• HSE, Hints and tips for shift-workers and Fatigue.
• NHS Employers, Sleep, fatigue and the workplace.
• gov.uk, Night working hours and Rest breaks at work.
• legislation.gov.uk, Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 7.
• The timeline is arithmetic on your inputs: travel, shift, wind-down and sleep are laid end to end and the remainder of the 24 hours is shown as your own time. Night-period hours are counted minute by minute between 23:00 and 06:00.

How we check our work: editorial policy. Last updated October 2026.