[Effects of day shift work on quality of life and vigilance in Tunisia]

Alternate work is known to cause physical and mental health disorders for employees that can alter their quality of life and sleep.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate workers quality of life and sleep in situations of alternate work.

In total, 391 workers answered the questionnaire. According to the type of schedule, 320 employees worked alternately on a 2×8 shift schedule and 71 worked on a permanent night shift schedule. The group of employees working at night had a better quality of life than the group of employees working in 2×8 in terms of both their physical and mental scores (P < 10-3). Type 2×8 workers were found to have excessive daytime sleepiness as compared to those on fixed night schedules.

Shortly, we can deduce from this study that alternating day shift work causes a deterioration of workers' quality of life of and generates sleep disorders..