ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Sleep Problems

Guys,
I was watching a documentary last night on TV here that talked about sleep deprivation and it's effects on the Human Body.
You can go without food or even water a lot longer than what the body will accept going without sleep.
This doco talked about the effects of not having a reasonable night's sleep, as in not being able to function properly.
The brain needs a certain amount of down-time to repair itself.
Apparently the record for not sleeping is 11 days, but I'm told that Hallucenations(sp?) occur after just 48 hours.
The question is, do you get enought sleep?, and is it quality sleep?.

Lack of sleep can be a killer. Last year, (2 years ago? time flies!) a guy who hadn't slept for over 24 hours drove his landrover and trailer onto a grass verge, when he dropped off momentarily. At that point in the road, an Armco barrier swept the vehicle down onto a main rail line, where it was struck by an express. Quite a few deaths and a prison term for the driver, who had got out just before impact. Self-inflicted lack of sleep being deemed as a failure to take due care and attention to others, ie manslaughter/(3rd degree?). It used to pee me off at work when young-bucks turned up on a Monday hungover and exhausted after a weekend on the ale and only a snatched hour or two before clocking on. Then we had to 'carry' the useless buggers while they dropped b*ll*cks or had minor accidents all day and stunk like badgers.
Alan

Fatigue is probably the least appreciated impairment out there. The most dangerous aspect is that, long before your body shuts down, your judgement goes away.
I have seen many disasters happen simply because someone wasn't thinking clearly, and insisted on 'pushing on.'

I have what I call the "three strikes" rule...after a few 'stupid attacks' in succession- which may be something as silly as reading a tape measure wrong- I stop, take a break, catch my breath before I try again. The more major the 'stupid attack,' the more quickly I take that pause, and re-consider.
Unfortunately, I have seen a number of employers who have no understanding of thism and get mighty upset if they see you sitting down at other than the official break times.
There's more to safety than wearing a hard-hat.

I like to get a good 8 hours every night. Then, a nice cup of tea in bed, then the three 'S'es and I'm ready for a pot of coffee!.

Ben Franklin 1706-1790 on sleep.
(Ol' Ben had an epithet for every occasion)-

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.

He that rises late trots all day.

I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall arise refreshed in the morning.

Rather go to bed without dinner than rise in debt.

Plow deep while sluggards sleep.

I wake up every morning at nine and grab the morning paper. Then I look in the obituary page. If I'm not in it, I get up!

What a man!

Alan

Working "24's" at the Fire Department really wreaks havoc with a "normal" sleep schedule. I tend to sleep lighter at work (so I can hear the alarm phone ring).

Usually it's not too bad, (if I'm not on the ambulance) but if we're running all night, I might call in late to my foreman if I'm working at a shop. If it's just my own work, I'll usually pre-schedule the morning after my shift off so I can catch a few hours before working, then I'll bust out till late that day.

If we're getting close to inspection and I have to be there in the morning, I've also been known to catch a nap in the truck during lunch.

Doug,
I certainly know what you mean there.
With being called out at all hours of the night with the PoCo and the Fire Service (sometimes both), it leaves you feeling really out of wack at the end of the week.
John,
Darned good point John, I used to work with a guy that would be working away slowly and you wouldn't know that he was slipping in and out of a semi-conscious state.
He went to get some help as he was not sleeping well at night, it turned out he had a thing called Sleep Apnoea.
It's caused by your breathing being interrupted constantly through the night.
This condition is quite nasty so I'm told, it basically means that even though you do sleep at night the amount and the quality of the sleep that you get is practically nil, due to constantly awaking, so you end up more tired in the morning than what you were the night before.

Wow!,
Sounds like good advice to me.

Ben Franklin said:
"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Lesser known, his drinking buddy Frank Benjamin said:
"Early to rise and late to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy....and dead!"