1185 Real-World Feasibility of Anchor Sleep in Night Shift Workers

Abstract Introduction Irregular and insufficient sleep is a widespread challenge for individuals working nightshift and rotating schedules and can exacerbate circadian misalignment. Anchor sleep is a strategy that establishes a consistent 3–4-hour window of overlapping sleep across workdays and non-workdays and has emerged as a promising strategy to improve sleep quality. This study examines whether anchor sleep is more readily implemented among individuals with fewer familial or social obligations. We hypothesized that those with fewer home-related demands will show stronger adherence to an anchor sleep intervention. Methods Data collection included participant-reported sleep diaries and demographic profiles from a hybrid type I effectiveness-implementation trial in a sample of night shift workers with Shift Work Disorder (N = 87). The trial tested a mobile application that presented behavioral recommendations to reduce circadian misalignment via anchor sleep. Only those in the active condition were included in this analysis. Successful implementation of anchor sleep was defined as starting out of phase and reporting a “lights out” time between averaging between 2:00a and 6:00a in post intervention sleep diaries. Demographic information included household and personal characteristics such as household size, number of dependents, and relationship status. Results 33.33% of participants who were not initially implementing anchor sleep were able to achieve it during at least one timepoint, and 26.44% of participants maintained it throughout the entire study. 40.23% were never able to implement anchor sleep or started but could not maintain it. Contrary to our hypothesis, results did not indicate a difference in achieving anchor sleep between those with and without dependents (χ2 =0.19, df=1, p= 0.66), or having a domestic partner (χ2 =0.61, df=1, p= 0.44). No differences were found by household size (χ2 =6.25, df=4, p= 0.18). Conclusion These findings suggest that the feasibility of achieving anchor sleep is not driven by partner status, dependents, or household size. There are likely other barriers preventing adherence to a consistent 3–4-hour sleep window. Future directions may account for additional social factors such as partner work schedules, quantitative measure of familial obligation, and support level from partners. Support (if any) NIH R42HL163783 awarded to Dr. Philip Cheng.