As Olympic fever takes hold, we would like to take the opportunity to highlight research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that relates directly or indirectly to the athletes or their events.
I’m not sure about you, but when I don’t sleep well, I can be pretty miserable. I’m not much fun to be around and I don’t work well – I can’t sustain my focus. We already know that sleep deprivation among workers is a billion-dollar problem across the globe. But how about the absence of sleep quality for your leaders – what impact does it have on subordinates?
Working night shifts leads to sleep and metabolic disorders, and even severe diseases, according to a study published on 22 June by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES).
We all need it, even crave it, but many of us find it difficult to get the recommended amount for our health: it is sleep. Healthy People 2020, which outlines the national health goals for the next decade, recommends that adults get 7 or more hours of sleep each day.
One session at the AIHce focused on the increasingly popular topic of fatigue management. It’s a product of the 24/7 economy. It’s estimated today 40-60 percent of workers in North America find themselves in non-traditional shiftwork, and the traditional 9 to 5 worker is now in the minority.
People have been griping about the accelerating pace of working life and its effects on attention and well-being for 150 years, basically since industrialization, and probably before. Why this intensifying focus now on how best to cope in the workplace?
Some senior business people skillfully and consciously manage their sleep, emerging refreshed and alert after crossing multiple time zones or working late into the night. Yet we all know caffeinated and careworn executives who, after hours of wakeful slumber, struggle to recall simple facts, seem disengaged and uninspired, lack patience with others, and can’t think through problems or reach clear-cut decisions.
Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in partnership with Imperial College London and King's College London have found that long-term exposure to moderately loud or very loud traffic sounds during the daytime — the kind you'd experience after months to years of city dwelling — contributed to the risk of a shorter life expectancy.
Are you getting enough quality sleep? Are you sleeping longer than you should? Poor sleep habits may put you at higher risk for early signs of heart disease when compared to those who get adequate, good quality sleep, according to a study published in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
If we have properly engaged leadership and stakeholders, and gone through a rigorous assessment, we should have a fairly clear picture of the size and shape of our fatigue problem. This makes defining our set of solutions a bit simpler.
