When people see flowers blooming in a fire-ravaged forest, they may think of renewal and resilience. However, they may not consider the fact that the seeds were planted before the disaster occurred.¹

Working odd hours, especially rotating shifts, creates exponential health issues among officers. Shift work usually involves short sleep schedules because officers seek time to work, enjoy leisure activities, and spend time with family and friends.² This article will explore the relationship of shift work to health and wellness and discuss methods to mitigate its damaging effects.

Cumulative Stress

Law enforcement officers face high-risk critical incidents. Trauma can stem from domestic violence calls, dangerous traffic stops or pursuits, terrorism, and mass disasters.³ For many officers, these events are also a positive source of adrenaline and endorphins, making the job exciting. Officers chasing this high may not recognize the cumulative toll these stressors take on their wellness.

While critical incidents can cause acute stress for officers, the daily accumulation of smaller burdens claims the highest tax in the long run. The main stressor stems from agencies’ requirement to provide 24-hour, 365-day coverage and service to citizens. Shift work — working a schedule outside of standard daytime nine-to-five hours — directly results from this obligation. It is also the source of myriad physical and mental wellness issues.⁴

Negative Effects

Shift work makes it difficult to have a healthy amount of quality sleep.⁵ Officers who work nontraditional hours likely get fewer hours of sleep, and it is less restful and adequate. Further, “the human body is not designed to constantly stay awake during nighttime hours.”⁶

When officers force themselves to stay awake when their body tells them to sleep, they disrupt their sleep-wake, or circadian, rhythm — a person’s internal clock.⁷ Controlled by the brain’s hypothalamus, it regulates appetite, hormone secretion, water intake, body temperature, and sleep-wake schedules.⁸ Opposing the circadian rhythm disrupts all these functions, leading to a multitude of health issues.

One possible negative health effect is shift work disorder,⁹ a mismatch between the internal sleep-wake cycle and the demands of an odd-hour schedule.¹⁰ Insomnia and excessive sleepiness are the most common associated complaints. This disorder is becoming more prevalent among shift work populations.

Shift workers also have an increased risk for and susceptibility to various diseases, gastrointestinal issues, and metabolic disorders.¹¹ They may develop digestive issues due to eating meals at hours biologically at odds with their circadian rhythm. Cluster headaches have also been linked to shift work. Sleep apnea and other sleep deprivation disorders are also prevalent.¹² Additionally, over time, sleep deprivation results in oxidative stress,¹³ which contributes to conditions such as liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and premature aging.

Further, behavioral issues, productivity problems, and absenteeism at work have been linked to sleep deprivation and shift work.¹⁴ Lack of sleep can also lead to a drop in mental alertness and an increased rate of accidents on the job or while driving home from work. 

Sleep issues are even more prevalent among officers working a rotating shift schedule.¹⁵ When officers cycle through various shifts, they have more sleep difficulties than those assigned to permanent shifts.¹⁶ Shift workers required to rotate across schedules suffer more sickness and are more prone to missed days, reduced productivity, safety issues, and accidents than their counterparts working normal daytime hours.¹⁷

Shift work and the resulting sleep issues can also cause problems at home. Unusual work hours impact relationships with family and friends as it becomes difficult to make and keep plans.¹⁸ Additional demands of smaller departments, promotions, or specialty positions — where an officer must answer calls even when off duty — only compound these issues. Further, the biological, psychological, and emotional toll of shift work on officers affects their families.

Law enforcement agencies would see a rise in productivity and morale and a decrease in risk and accidents if they could operate only during “normal” daytime hours. However, law enforcement is not a nine-to-five service; of course, crimes occur around the clock. Shift work is necessary to provide operational service and coverage 24 hours a day. Therefore, agencies must help officers counteract the negative effects of shift work.

Wellness and Resilience

One of the easiest ways to at least lessen the impact on officers is to eliminate rotating shifts, which exacerbate the wellness problems officers face. If rotating shifts must be utilized, the longer the cycle between rotations the better. Steady schedules over a long period may allow officers’ circadian rhythms to adjust.¹⁹

Officers who engage in shift work have no choice when it comes to their schedule. However, they do have control over many other aspects of their health and wellness. Exercise has a positive impact on sleep issues caused by shift rotation.²⁰ Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise helps increase sleep quality and duration. Additionally, better results are seen the longer an officer sticks with this routine. Providing an incentive for officers to incorporate regular exercise into their daily schedule is one way to improve agency wellness.

Adjusting attitudes and mindsets is important when attempting to change behaviors. The most important attribute determining an officer’s resilience is a positive attitude.²¹ A study of high-risk occupation subjects from law enforcement, including special and tactical operations officers, determined the keys to stress immunity are a positive attitude and a healthy lifestyle.²² For many officers, making healthy choices is not a priority. High stress, burnout, lack of time, and low motivation make it difficult for them to adhere to exercise routines.²³

To reach these officers, leaders need to create a culture of resilience.²⁴ In one study of law enforcement and tactical operators, several conditions were commonly found in resilient organizations. Leaders acting as role models and setting good examples, providing meaningful and challenging goals, magnifying positive results with recognition, and communicating a high level of respect were all shown to increase mental hardiness.²⁵ Wellness programs that include physical fitness incentives, challenges, and goals combined with leaders who set the example by taking part in these programs are essential to help officers make healthy choices.²⁶

Conclusion

Optimizing officer wellness means taking a proactive stance to mitigate the stress officers carry every day. Wellness programs help them with stress resistance, resilience, and recovery. Resilience and resistance work together to create psychological and behavioral immunity against the distress and dysfunction caused by cumulative stress and critical incidents.²⁷

Increasing resilience in officers will help law enforcement agencies limit shift work’s impact on officer health. By putting wellness first, officers are provided with the tools they need to combat sleep issues and the resulting health problems. Additionally, creating a culture where leadership models healthy behavior and incentivizes officers to do the same can help to mitigate the stress officers incur when working shift schedules.