We all know the saying to help us remember to adjust our clocks for the daylight savings time changes (this Sunday in case you are wondering). But, what can we do to help workers adjust to the effects of the time change? A few studies have examined these issues but many questions remain on this topic including the best strategies to cope with the time changes.
 Experts say employees should be allowed to take a nap at work. Reuters Todays' post is shared from medicaldaily.com Fatigue is inevitable during any long work day, and sometimes coffee is just not enough to get most people through their midday slump. British sleep experts are now saying that bosses should allow their employees a nap during the day and the option to make their own schedule to help increase productivity. Millions of people fail to get enough sleep during their week and are forced to compensate over the weekend when their work has already suffered. “It’s best to give your brain downtime,” Vincent Walsh, professor of human brain research at University College London told Cheltenham Science Festival. “I have a nap every afternoon. It’s only since the industrial revolution we have been obsessed with squeezing all our sleep into the night rather than having one or two sleeps through the day.” A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health revealed that around 41 million American workers are not getting the seven to nine hours of sleep recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. Sleep deprivation is putting these people and their co-workers in danger of serious injury or death. Walsh says our obsession with sleeping only at night may be hindering our ability to be more creative. Most of our creative thoughts come to us during periods of relaxation when the brain makes new... |
By Tara Culp-Ressler on December 5, 2013 at 2:21 pm
"Sleep Deprivation Is A Public Health Issue That’s Deadlier Than You Think"  Indeed, by some researchers’ estimations, “drowsy driving” is just as dangerous as drunk driving. Both can double the risk of a traffic accident, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that about 100,000 of the annual car crashes in the U.S. directly result from driver fatigue. Teens are particularly at risk for driving while drowsy, a reality that’s led some parents to push to start high school later in the day. The issue is especially serious among transportation workers, who often literally have hundreds of lives in their hands. According to the Huffington Post, multiple public transportation accidents — not just on trains, but also on buses and airplanes — have been attributed to sleep-deprivation over the past decade. According to a 2012 survey from the National Sleep Foundation, about one fourth of these workers admit that a lack of sleep has affected their recent job performance. And many of them also acknowledge that this issue... |
) and CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/sleep).
