Sleepiness and driving events in shift workers: The impact of circadian and homeostatic factors

Abstract

We aimed to characterize objective and subjective sleepiness and driving events during short work commutes and examine the impact of circadian and homeostatic factors across different shift types in a shift worker population. Thirty-three nurses were monitored for 2 weeks over day (07:00-15:30), evening (13:00-21:30), and night shifts (21:00-07:30). Sleep was measured via daily sleep logs and wrist actigraphy. Driving logs were completed for each work commute, reporting driving events and a predrive Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). Ocular data from a subset of participants (n = 11) assessed objective sleepiness using infrared oculography during commutes. Circadian phase was assessed at thr..