Ways of Being: Life Coaching to Heal Your Life!
Marlene Shiple, Ph.D. The Life Coach Dr.: Heal Your Past + Heal Your Thoughts + Heal Your Self => Heal Your Life!

Apr

18

Risk to Health: Odd Work Schedules

Filed Under Life Coaching, Physical Healing

Recent reports of sleeping air-traffic controllers have brought to light a well-known — often ignored — hazard:  Night shift workers can have extreme difficulty concentrating and staying awake.

“Government officials haven’t recognized that people routinely fall asleep at night when they’re doing shift word,” reports Dr. Charles Czeisler.  Dr. Czeisler is chief of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.  Sleep: Safety Benefits of SleepAccording to Dr. Czeisler, studies have shown that 30% to 50% of night-shift workers report falling asleep at least once a week while on the job.  He calls it “preposterous” that this has happened only a few times among the thousands of controllers that work nights.

Dr. Czeisler points out that the danger isn’t limited to air traffic controllers.  The same hazard can apply to truck and bus drivers, airline pilots, and those working in the maritime industry.  It also affects police, firefighters, emergency workers, factory workers, nurses and doctors, people in the media, cooks, hotel employees, and others on night or changing shifts.

“We live in a very sleep-deprived society where many people are burning the candle at both ends, “Dr. Czeisler explained.  While a half-century ago, just 2% of people slept six hours or less per night, today it’s risen to 28%.

So what is the solution?  “There should be sanctioned on-shift napping. That’s the way to handle night shift work,” said Gregory Belenky, a sleep expert at Washington State University in Spokane.

A NASA study suggested that pilots on long-distance flights would perform much better if given a chance to take a scheduled nap, as long the rest was planned and the both pilots didn’t sleep at the same time.  Yet FAA rules prohibit sleeping on the job, even during breaks.

Other possible solutions include making a point to get extra sleep, to counter the effects of sleep deprivation.  In other words, knowing that this can be a significant problem calls for proactive solutions from those who engage in shift work and late-night work-hours.

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