Sleep, or lack of, is a major player in the many accidents that EMS face every day.  This is not just motor vehicle accidents but also minor ones that you make in everyday life just because you have not had enough sleep.

 

The human body follows a 24-hour cycle that involves periods of wakefulness and sleepiness.  Each of us has an internal clock that, not surprisingly, is closely linked to nature’s cycle of night and day.  This internal clock plays a major role in the regulation of our metabolism body temperature, heart rate and hormone production, as well as other body functions.

 

For most, the desire to go to sleep is strongest between the hours of midnight and 6am.  In addition, most people are alert in the morning, with a natural reduction in alertness in the middle of the afternoon.  Although, some people are just NOT morning persons.  When our clock is forced into resetting itself, the body responds, frequently with undesirable results.  Thus, accidents occur because of not thinking clearly.

 

For example, when a person flies across a number of time zones and then attempts to function without giving their body time to acclimate, they can suffer from jet lag, a condition that impacts both their physical well-being and their mental capabilities.  Why?  Because there has been a disruption of their sleep rhythm coupled with sleep deprivation– the person is unable to reset their internal sleep clock.

 

In the US, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) focuses on a variety of sleep-related issues.  It found that more than one-third of Americans indicated that they are getting less sleep now than five years ago, with seven out of ten saying they experience frequent sleep problems.  More than 80% said they would sleep more if they knew that they would be healthier, 85%, if they could perform in a safer way and could avoid injuries, 83%, if it would improve memory.  It is common knowledge that most adults need eight hours of sleep a night.  While some may make do with less and some need a little more, it averages out that about one-third of each day should be spent sleeping so that our bodies and minds function at peak capacity.

 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimate that approximately 1000,000 police-reported crashes annually, or about 1.5% of all crashes, have drowsiness/fatigue as the primary causative factor.  The NHTSA report was mirrored in a 1999 NSF poll in which 27% of the respondents reported that they had, at some time, dozed off while driving.  The average “nod-off” time is about 12 seconds, much can occur in that amount of time.  Persons who find themselves thrust into shift work are at even greater risk.  NSF studies suggest that as high as 30% of people working non-traditional schedules had a fatigue related mishap within the last year.

 

Given the information above, consider the following: Would you like to be on board a fully loaded 747 that encountered adverse flying conditions under the command of a pilot who was in the 23d hour of his 24 hour shift?  This is the extreme, small and large accidents do occur with lack of sleep, keep you and your family safe, get the sleep you need before you take that long distance drive for the holidays or climbing the ladder to put the star on top of the tree.

See ya pam