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Effects of a combination of napping and bright light pulses on shift workers' sleepiness at the wheel: a pilot study

To assess the effects of napping + bright light on shift work drivers sleepiness at the wheel, we performed a pilot study on nine shift workers on three shifts (morning, afternoon, night), driving on a private road circuit. Sleepiness at the wheel was measured by ambulatory polysomnography and assessed using 30‐s segments of recordings with a percentage of theta electroencephalogram of at least 50% (15 s) of the period recorded. Sleepiness was also assessed by the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS). Participants drove the same car on two similar 24‐h periods of work, with three drivers in each shift (morning, afternoon, night), separated by 3 weeks. During the baseline period, the subjects were told to manage their rest as usual. During the second experimental period, they had to rest lying in a dark room with two naps of 20 min and then exposed to bright light (5000 lux) for 10 min. Subjects showed a significantly decreased sleepiness at the wheel with an average of 10.7 ± 6.7 episodes of theta sleep during the baseline (766 ± 425 s) versus 1.0 ± 1.0 episode lasting 166 ± 96 s during the second period (P = 0.016; P = 0.0109). The percentage of driving asleep was also significantly reduced (3.7% ± 1.9% versus 0.9% ± 0.6%, P = 0.0077). The average SSS score in the group decreased from 2.76 ± 1.27 to 2.28 ± 0.74 (P = 0.09). In this pilot and preliminary study, a combination of napping and bright light pulses was powerful in decreasing sleepiness at the wheel of shift work drivers.