|
...that the "useless" time away from work represented by sleep can be eliminated, with no negative consequences.
There is long history of such thinking. Thomas Alva Edison considered excessive sleep (which he interpreted as eight or more hours a night) to be a waste of time and a sign of laziness, stupidity, and moral weakness. Edison believed that by providing cheap and efficient electric light, he could remove darkness as a common "excuse" for sleeping rather than working.
Edison and other inventors have been successful. The average young adult today reports sleeping about 7 to 7.5 hours each night. In 1910 (before Edison's cheap coiled tungsten filament light bulb was available), the average person slept 9 hours each night. This means that we sleep 1.5 to 2 hours less than our forebears did early in the 20th century (Coren 1997).
We are working a lot longer as well. A recent European Union survey (Costa et al. 2004) found that 84 percent of self-employed workers and 44 percent of employees are working more than 40 hours a week, while 64 percent of the self-employed and 26 percent of employees are working longer than 10 hours each day (and many are working on weekends).
We now live in a world where electric lighting keeps factories, supermarkets, and airports operating around the clock. Trains, planes, and trucks are driven all night and hospitals work on a 24-hour basis. This requires employees to work shifts, which are often variable and long, or to work overtime.
Generally speaking, shift workers can be considered to be a chronically sleep-deprived population. There is substantial evidence that shift work disrupts sleep patterns and substantially reduces the amount of sleep that workers obtain, especially those working evening and night shifts (e.g., Akerstedt 1998). Furthermore, the effects of shift work linger and even disturb sleep on days off work. The level of the disturbance is similar to that seen in clinical insomnia, and the mechanism seems to be a disruption of the normal circadian cycle of sleep and activity
HOW MUCH SLEEP DO WE NEED?
Some people...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from The Journal of Employee Assistance
Health, wellness, and productivity: best practice requires EAP involve..., October 01, 2005
A "big tent" approach to wellness: bringing EAPs, safety pro..., October 01, 2005
Comprehensive wellness programming and EAPs: employee assistance profe..., October 01, 2005
New guide helps clinicians care for alcohol abusers.(Info Sources)(Bri..., October 01, 2005
Government launches website for disability information, resources.(Inf..., October 01, 2005
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
