Night Shift Recovery Calculator
Enter your shift end time and commute, and get precise countdowns for light exposure, caffeine cut-off and winding down, so your body clock works with you, not against you.
Last caffeine
01:00
6 hours before shift end, anything later is still active at bedtime.
Light defence zone begins
07:00
Sunglasses on from the moment you step outside. Morning light is the enemy.
Wind-down starts
08:00
Home by 07:30. Light meal, dim lights, no screens brighter than they need to be.
Lights out
09:00
Target: asleep within 90 minutes of leaving work, in a dark, masked room.
Why this matters on a real rota
The single biggest mistake night workers make is treating the journey home as 'off the clock'. It isn't. The 90 minutes between clocking off and getting into bed decide whether you get five broken hours or seven solid ones.
This calculator works backwards from your shift end time and commute to give you three hard deadlines: when your last caffeine should have been (hours before you even finish), when to start blocking morning light, and when to begin your wind-down routine at home.
Morning sunlight is the strongest body-clock signal there is. Catch a face full of it on the drive home and your brain reads it as 'wake up', exactly what you don't want. Sunglasses on the commute aren't a style choice for night workers; they're equipment.
How the calculator works
Enter your shift end time and door-to-door commute in minutes.
The calculator sets your caffeine cut-off at 6 hours before shift end, caffeine's half-life means a 4am coffee is still working against you at 10am.
Light-blocking starts the moment you step outside: it flags your commute window as a light-defence zone.
Your wind-down window begins 30 minutes after you get home, targeting lights-out within 90 minutes of leaving work.
Frequently asked questions
When should I stop drinking caffeine on a night shift?
Cut caffeine at least 6 hours before your shift ends. If you finish at 7am, your last coffee should be around 1am. Caffeine has a half-life of roughly 5–6 hours, so a late-shift coffee is still suppressing sleep pressure when you get into bed.
Should I wear sunglasses on the way home from a night shift?
Yes. Morning daylight is the most powerful body-clock reset signal there is. Wrap-around sunglasses on the commute home stop your brain reading sunrise as 'time to wake up', making it significantly easier to fall asleep once you're home.
How soon after a night shift should I go to bed?
Aim for lights-out within 90 minutes of leaving work. The longer you stay up in daylight, the more your body clock fights the sleep. Get home, eat something light, do a short wind-down, and get into a dark room fast.
Is it better to sleep straight away or split my daytime sleep?
For most people a single block straight after the shift beats a split. But if you consistently wake after 4–5 hours, a two-block pattern, main sleep in the morning plus a 90-minute top-up before your next shift, is a proven fallback used across prison, factory and logistics rotas.
FIELD tools are lifestyle and operational-safety aids for shift workers, built from real-world experience. They are not medical devices or diagnostic tools. If fatigue or sleep problems are affecting your health, speak to your GP.