Thanks, Lancet. A nap is the “secret weapon” to surviving night float:
The European Working Time Directive means that in the UK almost all trainee doctors now work night shifts. Sleep deprivation, combined with fatigue and a poorly adapted body clock, is closely connected with clinical error. Therefore a new guide* for navigating night shifts, produced by Nicholas Horrocks and Roy Pounder at the Royal College of Physicians of London, is both timely and immensely valuable, states the editorial. In their guide Horrocks and Pounder state that naps as short as 20 to 45 minutes have been shown to provide positive benefits to shift workers.
