The Controllables of Sleep

Sleep is a major struggle in the fire service. A common sentiment is, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” but firefighters are starting to wake up to the fact that they need sleep. The challenge? Achieving quality sleep on shift work. While you can’t control calls or the anxiety of waiting for them, let’s talk about a few things you can control with sleep.

Nap When You Can

The general guideline of seven to nine hours per day might feel out of reach, but strive for at least six to seven hours. The good news is that naps count!

20- to 30-minute nap: Think of this as a “brain break.” Focus on breathing into the stomach and try box breathing (inhale for four seconds, hold for two seconds, exhale for four seconds).¹
20- to 30-minute “nap-puchino”: For shorter naps, supercharge with eight to 12 ounces of caffeinated coffee or tea (80-120 mg caffeine). After 20 to 30 minutes of sleep, you benefit from the caffeine and brain break. Avoid caffeine before sleeping periods lasting longer than 30 minutes.¹
90-minute nap: Plan longer naps or sleep cycles in 90-minute increments to optimize sleep cycles and reduce grogginess when waking.¹

Depending on your department, on-duty naptime may be something to advocate for. Safety naps, or “Operational Readiness Drills,” can relieve fatigue, reduce anxiety and burnout, improve post-shift recovery, and improve task performance in the evening.²

Pay Attention to the Sleep Environment

When off-duty, you have more control over your sleep environment and routine. Follow this checklist to optimize your sleep³:

Invest in blackout shades or curtains.
Black out any alarm clocks or other lights in the room. Look for blackout stickers on Amazon.
Try earplugs to reduce ambient noise (like pets scratching in the middle of the night).

Routine is also essential. Find a short, relaxing activity to complete consistently before bedtime. Try reading a book; doing five minutes of stretching, breathwork, or yoga; or taking a warm shower.³

Ditch the Phone

Scrolling on social media or playing a game may seem relaxing before bed, but it may kill your sleep quality. Research suggests that high phone use is associated with lower sleep quality.⁴ Not only are phones stimulating, but the blue light may impact natural melatonin secretion.

Reduced melatonin secretion can increase alertness, making it difficult to wind down. Switch your phone’s display settings to “night shift” or “eye comfort shield.” This will change the screen lighting to an orange hue, reducing the impact of blue light on melatonin secretion.

Watch the Caffeine

Fine. Burn me at the stake for this one. Unfortunately, the reality is that too much caffeine can make you feel more tired and anxious. How? Part of this comes down to timing. Consuming caffeine too close to bedtime may not impact your ability to fall asleep, but it can affect sleep cycles.⁵ This leads to more fatigue (and more caffeine) the next day.

Aim to leave a four- to five-hour buffer between your last caffeinated beverage and bedtime. If bedtime is 9:00 p.m., stop caffeine by 4:00 p.m. and see how you feel.⁵ Some people genetically process caffeine slower than others, so you may need to restrict it earlier (e.g., 2:00 p.m.). Some medications, like oral contraceptives, can increase caffeine processing time.⁶

Limiting caffeine intake doesn’t mean you have to eliminate it. Keep caffeine to 400 mg daily, or three to four cups of coffee.⁵ Of course, there are days when this will creep higher. Watch the energy drinks and preworkout supplements, especially those clocking in at 300-450 mg of caffeine. Only use energy drinks as needed, and opt for 200 mg of caffeine or less in a sitting.

Alcohol and Nicotine

You may notice a trend that everything fun impacts sleep. While you can’t enjoy alcohol on shift, your intake off shift can wreck sleep cycles. While alcohol does have sedative effects, it reduces REM sleep and causes sleep disruptions.^7,9 Even one drink can decrease sleep quality by 24%. This leads to excessive daytime sleepiness and a desire to counteract it with caffeine. To reduce the impact of alcohol on sleep, leave a three-hour buffer between your last drink and bedtime.⁷

Nicotine also impacts sleep, leading to less time in deep sleep, more frequent wakings, and sleeping fewer hours.⁹ Tobacco smoking may be less common, but use of vapes and flavored nicotine pouches, such as Zyn, is on the rise. Vapes and pouches can cause nicotine addiction in those who are not already addicted to it.⁸ Can you guess one of the big symptoms of nicotine withdrawal? Fatigue and headaches for two to 20 days.⁸ It’s best not to use nicotine at all, but at the very least, stop using it four to five hours before bedtime.⁸

Food and Reflux

Research is limited concerning foods that can improve sleep, but certain foods can cause flare-ups of reflux or heartburn, leading to discomfort and poor sleep quality. Reflux is often a raw or burning feeling in the chest and throat. Large, high-fat meals are significant culprits of heartburn. Big meals cause the stomach to expand and place pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter, splashing stomach contents back up the esophagus.¹⁰

Other foods that cause reflux include caffeine, alcohol, tomato, vinegar, chocolate, citrus, and fried foods.¹⁰ Leave a two- to three-hour buffer between your last big meal and bed. If that doesn’t help, consider sleeping elevated on a wedge pillow.¹⁰

Summary

Naps count! Stick to 20-30 minutes or 90 minutes.
Pay attention to your sleep environment when off duty.
Stop screen use one hour before bedtime.
Leave a two- to three-hour buffer between bedtime and large meals/alcohol.
Leave a four- to five-hour buffer between bedtime and caffeine/nicotine.

Bio:

Megan Lautz is a registered dietitian and coach who specializes in firefighter nutrition. Her mission is to help firefighters perform better; recover faster; and enjoy long, healthy retirements. Lautz owns RescueRD LLC, which provides nutrition seminars and coaching for tactical athletes nationwide. Check out @Rescue.RD on Facebook and Instagram.

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Sinha S, Dhooria S, Sasi A, Tomer A, Thejeswar N, Kumar S, Gupta G, Pandey RM, Behera D, Mohan A, Sharma SK. A study on the effect of mobile phone use on sleep. Indian J Med Res. 2022 Mar;155(3&4):380-386. doi: 10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_2221_21. PMID: 35946229; PMCID: PMC9707689.
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Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Military Nutrition Research. Caffeine for the Sustainment of Mental Task Performance: Formulations for Military Operations. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2001. 2, Pharmacology of Caffeine. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223808/.
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Newsom, R. & Adavadkar, P. (2023). Nicotine and sleep. Sleep Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/nicotine-and-sleep#references-78984.
Spadola, C. E., Guo, N., Johnson, D. A., Sofer, T., Bertisch, S. M., Jackson, C. L., Rueschman, M., Mittleman, M. A., Wilson, J. G., & Redline, S. (2019). Evening intake of alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine: night-to-night associations with sleep duration and continuity among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Sleep Study. Sleep, 42(11), zsz136..https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31386152/.
Sherrell, Z. (2023). Foods to eat, and foods to avoid with GERD and acid reflux. Medical News Today. Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314690.