Sleep Deprivation and Workplace Accidents
Sleep Deprivation: What is it & how to identify it?
Sleep Deprivation is a self-imposed condition that many people suffer from due to a lack of adequate sleep. It is also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness but it is not the same as insomnia.
People who are sleep deprived are able to sleep, but they force their bodies to stay awake, but people suffering from insomnia are not able to sleep even if they want to sleep. do you know how to avoid Insomnia?
Sleep deprivation can be short-term as well as chronic. People suffering from short-term sleep deprivation can fulfil their sleeping requirements by sleeping more for a week or so. But people with chronic sleep deprivation often suffer from severe impacts of sleep deficiency.
Sleep deficiency can be identified easily, as a sleep-deprived person may have a strong urge to fall asleep. They may have microsleeps while working or reading which they are often unaware of.
People who suffer from sleep deprivation often feel drowsy during the day. They tend to feel more tired and may get irritated easily. Constant yawning and crawling for sugary or salty edibles can also be indications of sleep deprivation.
The Impact of Sleep Insufficiency on Workers at a Workplace:
Sleep deprivation is a common condition for all kinds of people. People can often see the obvious impact of their sleep insufficiency on their work.
This condition decreases the productivity of the person as a person’s information grasping capacity weakens when they are asleep. This condition can also diminish a person’s problem-solving skills and also lower their decision-making skills. Thus the work produced by a sleep-deprived person may be low in quality, it may be full of mistakes, or it may take more time than required.
Sleep-deprived people also tend to microsleep at work which can cause severe miscalculations or accidents at work which can impact the working structure of the workplace.
People who suffer from chronic sleep deficiency often tend to be irritable and may not be able to co-operate with their team members bringing down the productivity of the entire team.
Lack of adequate sleep for a long period of time can cause people to be absent at work more often due to weaker immune systems and fatigue caused by sleep deficiency.
The Link Between Workplace Accidents and Sleep Deprivation:
Various students indicate that many workplace accidents have been caused due to sleep deprivation.
People working with machines are often injured or tend to jeopardize the safety of their team members. There have been reports of pilots, trains, or locomotive drivers putting various passengers’ lives at risk due to lack of focus due to sleep deprivation.
Workplace accidents caused due to sleep-deprived workers handling delicate or intricate machines. This costs the employers as well as the employees. Many organizations have to bear the cost of mistakes made by sleep-deprived workers. If people with the responsibility for public life such as pilots, and locomotive drivers are sleep deprived, human lives are lost.
Major Causes of Sleep Deprivation:
Sleep Deprivation can be caused due to different reasons based on the reason for which a person forces themselves to stay awake.
A new mother is sleep-deprived as she is up most nights caring for her baby. Students stay up late at night to cram for their exams which can be one of the reasons that they are sleep deprived. Some people binge-watch media series by putting off sleep.
When it comes to working adults, long commutes, household responsibilities, lifestyle choices, and work obligations can be responsible for their lack of adequate sleep.
Some people may be sleep deprived due to medical conditions such as sleep apnea which prevents them from getting adequate sleep at night.
Can we treat Sleep Deprivation?
Short-term sleep deprivation can be treated easily by allowing the body to sleep for a few more hours for a couple of days or weeks.
But it is not so easy to treat chronic sleep deprivation, as the damage is deep there. Along with paying off their sleep debt, people suffering from chronic sleep deprivation may need to use doses such as Modalert and Modvigil 200 mg to fight out the symptoms of their sleep deprivation.
People suffering from sleep deficiency due to medical conditions such as sleep apnea are often prescribed Modafinil oral pills such as Modalert 200 mg.
Sleep deprivation can only be treated by practicing proper sleep hygiene over time and using medications for treating the symptoms if they are severe and unmanageable without any medication.
Conclusion:
The frequency of work accidents can significantly increase when combined with sleep-deprived. Individuals should pay attention to their sleeping requirements for boosting their careers. Organizations and businesses can cut down workplace accidents by screening out sleep-deprived workers, especially when failing to do so can put the lives of people at risk.