Question: Is Insufficient Sleep a Public Health Epidemic?
Answer: Yes. The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently announced that insufficient sleep is a public health “epidemic” and that they will increase their surveillance of sleep-related behaviors in Americans.
In the announcement, the CDC highlighted that insufficient sleep is linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters and medical and other occupational errors.
Additionally, in a survey of over 74,000 adult respondents, the CDC found that:
- 35.3% were not getting enough sleep (defined as less than 7 hours of sleep during a typical 24-hour period),
- 37.9% reported unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least once in the preceding month,
- 4.7% reported nodding off or falling asleep while driving at least once in the preceding month.
According to CIRCADIAN's database of shiftworkers, the number of people working the night shift that are not getting enough sleep jumps to over 50%.
So what can you do to help shiftworkers get better sleep?
A good starting point is to provide training and education to your workforce on managing shiftwork and getting better sleep. Some options we offer, include:
- Classroom training on Managing a Shiftwork Lifestyle
- Working Nights Newsletter
- Working Nights Health & Safety Guide
- Fatigue Training Online: Shiftworker Training in Managing Fatigue Risk
Source:
Retrieved on 4/4/2014 from: http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssleep/
Next Steps:
- On-Site Workshop: Developing and Implementing an Effective Fatigue Risk Management System: Whether you are just beginning to learn about FRMS or are in the middle of implementing a comprehensive plan, our dynamic on-site seminar will show you how to drive down the costs and risks of employee fatigue in your company
- White Paper Homepage - CIRCADIAN offers its white papers for free to shift work managers and others interested in improving the health, safety and productivity of the 24/7 workforce
Have a Question? Need Help?
For over 30 years, CIRCADIAN has been helping shiftwork operations around the world. Feel free to contact us by clicking here.
