Sleep, safety and the Quest for Zero goals Published Sept. 24, 2015 By Steve Serrette 72nd Air Base Wing Safety Office TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Occupational safety is influenced to a very large degree by what workers do -- or don't do -- before ever coming in to work. Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston surveyed more than 10,000 people in the U.S. and found that that insomnia is responsible for 274,000 workplace accidents and errors each year, adding up to $31 billion in extra costs. Study participants who reported having insomnia said they caused accidents or made errors at work that cost at least $500, such as getting into a vehicular accident while on the job, or causing an assembly line to be shut down. Numerous additional studies show that sleep loss and poor-quality sleep are definite root-causes that contribute to accidents and injuries on the job. In one study, workers who complained about excessive daytime sleepiness had significantly more work accidents, particularly repeated work accidents. They also had more sick days per accident. While the research isn't conclusive, and depends upon recollections, it does suggest a tight connection between lack of sleep and workplace errors and accidents. The importance of sleep is widely ignored, especially in the U.S. where working around the clock is still glorified. The ultimate cost is rarely considered, even though it actually includes reduced work productivity and an increased risk of serious accidents on and off the job. For example, tired drivers are as dangerous as drunk or drugged ones. Experts believe sleep deprivation may have played a role in the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Staten Island ferry crash and the Three-Mile Island nuclear meltdown. Sleep deprivation can and frequently does critically impair worker job performance, sometimes with disastrous long-term consequences. The modern-day pressures of society have placed (and continue to place) increasing demands on time, and more than ever people are making up for those demands by cutting back on sleep. According to the 2013 International Bedroom Poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 25 percent of Americans report having to cut down on sleep due to long workdays. But even when long work hours aren't an excuse, many fail to get enough rest. According to the featured documentary, "Sleepless in America," at least 40 percent of Americans are sleep deprived and many get less than five hours of sleep per night. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that lack of sleep is a public health epidemic, noting that insufficient sleep has been linked to a wide variety of health problems. Always remembering that "association does not mean causation," sleep deprivation can by association lead to very serious health problems, such as heart disease, heart attacks, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes. Getting less than seven hours sleep has been shown to "raise your risk" of weight gain, by increasing levels of appetite-inducing hormones. The most immediate and visible negative effect of sleep deprivation is sleepiness, which may be experienced by general fatigue, lack of motivation or even the experience of nodding off. Getting less than six hours of sleep leaves you cognitively impaired, which can have major repercussions both at home, at work and on the road. Even a single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly the next day. Considering how important sleep is for survival, very little is known about how much sleep humans actually get each night. Surveys have been done, of course, but most of these rely on self-reporting of sleep time, which can be notoriously inaccurate. If you go to bed at 10 p.m. and awaken at 7 a.m., you might say you've slept for nine hours. In reality, you probably spent at least 15-30 minutes or more falling asleep and may have woken at least once during the night. One major U.S. company collected world-wide data from 1 million people revealing a "year in sleep." There were some differences by country, but three events seemed to influence sleep patterns the most in all countries tracked: · Sporting events · Time changes · Holidays In the U.S., for instance, Americans tend to sleep longer on three-day weekends and holidays. Nine fascinating facts were derived from this study, and are worth mentioning: United States: The practice of moving clocks ahead one hour for "daylight saving time" in the spring leads to the worst sleep of the year (with Americans losing about 13 minutes of sleep that night). Canada: Canadians woke up 39 minutes early and lost 30 minutes of sleep to watch hockey during the Winter Olympics hockey finals. Germany: Germans lost about an hour of sleep the night their team won the 2014 World Cup. Italy and France: Residents of these countries sleep in much later during the week in August, when most take vacation and businesses often shut down. Russia: The country made a permanent switch to "winter time" in October 2014, allowing Russians to wake about a half-hour later each day. Japan: People in Japan lost sleep during the World Cup matches, as they had to get up very early to watch the games. Australia: Australians tend to have earlier bedtimes and later wake times in August, and the opposite during December. United Arab Emirates: During the holy month of Ramadan, people stay up close to two hours later because eating before sundown is forbidden. United Kingdom: The worst night of sleep in the U.K. was June 14, the night of the England-Italy match during the World Cup. Residents lost an average of 23 minutes of sleep. So, just how much sleep are you getting? You may be surprised at how little sleep it actually is. Here's a hint: If you're tired during the day, there's a good chance you need to get more sleep. Even if you think can "get by" on five or six hours a night, you're not fooling your body. Remember, studies show that sleep loss and poor-quality sleep definitely lead to accidents and injuries on the job. In one study, workers who complained about excessive daytime sleepiness had significantly more work accidents, particularly repeated work accidents. They also had more sick days per accident. Sleep loss is also a big public safety hazard every day on the road. Drowsiness can slow reaction time as much as driving drunk. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that fatigue is a cause in approximately 100,000 auto crashes and 1,550 crash-related deaths a year in the U.S. The problem is greatest among people under 25 years old. What happens to you when you are sleep deprived? According to the Traffic Research Center, these are the influences of sleep deprivation on performance: · Slower reaction time: Sleepless-ness slows down your reflexes; reaction time slows down, preventing you from stopping in times of danger. · Decrease in concentration levels: When you are overly tired, your attention span decreases. Most people are subject to a decrease in attention every 90 to 120 minutes; however, sleepiness makes this decrease even worse and it can cause accidents when you fall asleep at the wheel. · Disorder in information processing: Sleepiness is very much like being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. When you are sleepy, your mental and psychomotor skills diminish. In one study, a group of subjects were kept awake for 28 hours; another group was given alcoholic drinks every half hour. When both groups were tested for hand-eye coordination, the ones who were sleep deprived performed equally bad as the ones with a 0.5 blood alcohol level. What are the factors that have a direct effect on a driver's tiredness? · The amount of time the driver has been on the road. When a driver has been on the road for eight or more hours, his driving performance is impaired. The risk of accidents increases. · The amount of sleep the driver had the night before. Not having any sleep for 16 hours has a serious impact on driving performance. Research shows that the sleeping period of drivers who are involved in road accidents are shorter than the ones of those who had sufficient sleep. · Long shifts and other factors that result in sleep loss have safety consequences for our highways as well. A National Sleep Foundation survey has revealed that 60 percent of adult drivers -- about 168 million people -- say they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and that more than one-third (103 million people) have actually fallen asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately, many of these situations end in tragedy. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year, and they consider this a conservative estimate. More recent data suggests that the true number is likely much higher. The Institute of Medicine estimates -- based on recent high quality naturalistic and epidemiologic studies -- that drowsy driving is responsible for fully 20 percent of all motor vehicle crashes. That would mean that drowsy driving causes approximately 1 million crashes, 500,000 injuries, and 8,000 deaths each year in the U.S. As we continue on the Quest for Zero year-round campaign, think about and apply what you have just read, get proper rest and stay alive. (Some parts of this article thanks to: webmd.com, Dr. Jim Mercola and healthysleep.med)