Sleep issues have become an “epidemic” among shift workers, but The Globe and Mail says they don’t have to stunt career aspirations.

Mr. Briggs remembers his tiring early days as a flight attendant. A few weeks into working standby and other shifts for domestic destinations – common for being low on the seniority list – he asked schedulers for overseas opportunities.

“That’s when I ended up going on my first trip to London. I remember looking out the window, and flying by Windsor Castle, and saying, ‘This is unbelievable.’ A week later, I went back to London … and then went to Frankfurt for the first time, and had a Venice layover – but when you come home from those trips, you’re basically exhausted.”