A career as a police officer, which includes evening and night shifts for many officers, could have a negative impact on sleep. Researchers at the University of Iowa conducted a study and found that police officers who worked the night or evening shifts were 14 times more likely to get less 6 hours of sleep a day, compared with people who work during the day. Plus, those who slept less than 6 hours a day had more than double the risk of getting a bad sleep quality.
Their study included surveys from 85 male police officers who were part of 3 different Iowa police departments, aged 22 to 63 and worked about 46 hours a week, on average. Researchers used an equal number of daytime workers as well as an equal number of evening and night shift works for comparison. Participants were asked about their stress and fatigue levels, their height and weight. C-reactive protein levels were also measured as it is a sign of inflammation.
A trend was spotted among the officers. 83% of them said they have had to, at least on occasion, get up early for work the next day after working a night or evening shift. This study confirmed the impact of shift work on law enforcement and the importance of sleep as a risk factor for officers.
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