A Dangerous Epidemic of Sleepy Workers
News Desk
conditions ... This Toronto Syndrome consists of "a self ... the
consulting group know as Fatigue Solutions International ...
Tuesday, Jun. 20, 2006 Posted: 2:32:47PM EST
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According to a Statistics Canada four-year study reported in the
National Post, men working on evening, rotating or irregular shifts had
higher odds of developing chronic health conditions than men working
regular daytime shifts. In Montreal, a University of Laval researcher
discovered a connection between sleep deprivation and obesity.
According to the National Post article by reporter Gabreille Bauer on
work-related sleep deprivation (December 24, 2005), some Canadian sleep
researchers have coined the term, "Toronto Syndrome" after
Canada's largest and most driven city. This Toronto Syndrome consists
of "a self-imposed sleep deficit stemming from long working hours
followed by voluntarily long evenings of family time or pub-time with
corporate cronies." Bauer also notes that people who work at home
often burn the midnight candle, when the house is quiet and then
can't sleep afterwards.
Dr. Adam Moscovitch, medical director of the Canadian Sleep Institute
in Calgary says the cost of sleep-deprived errors and accidents rang up
a total cost of $75 billion in North America in one year. Dr.
Moscovitich has launched the consulting group know as Fatigue Solutions
International to develop practical solutions to these problems and
plans to launch a similar project in Toronto.
According to Dr. Moscovitch, the worldwide human error/accidents peak
periods occur between 2 and 4 AM, during the first and second night
shift, during the first and second days back to work and within a few
hours of starting a shift, especially on shift starts before 7:30 AM
and finally, on the commute home from a night shift.
According to the Workmen's Compensation Board, work-related injuries
triple during the overnight hours. Dr. Moscovitch believes that it is
crucial to be proactive about identifying and managing root causes of
fatigue in the workplace.
"Sleep deprivation has to be thought of as joint personal and
corporate responsibility," he told Bauer in an interview.
Melatonin is often beneficial to shift workers as is a completely
darkened room to mimic our normal light-dark cycle.
It is becoming increasingly clear that humans do not do well when their
basic diurnal rhythms are disturbed by unnatural sleep wake cycles and
excess light, noise or other disruptions.
If all else fails, a wide range of sleep medications, including
short-acting drugs, anti-anxiety drugs and anti-depressants may be
necessary. Once you recognize the sleep problem, book an appointment to
discuss possible solutions with your family doctor.
Dr. Judith Davidson, an assistant professor in psychology at Queen's
University uses behavioral techniques to help people sleep better. She
described these techniques in a chapter in a new book, Encyclopedia of
Behavior Modification and Therapy. The therapy is known as stimulus
control therapy.
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Carolyn DeMarco
Christian Post Contributor
http://www.christianpost.com/article/life/3590/section/a.dangerous.epidemic.of.sleepy.workers/1.htm