Sleeping at work could become part of the job
Sleeping on the job may become the norm for Australia’s million plus shift-workers if research by RMIT sleep expert Dr Melinda Jackson gets the nod.
Sleeping on the job may become the norm for Australia’s million plus shift-workers if research by RMIT sleep expert Dr Melinda Jackson gets the nod.
A registered psychologist who specialises in sleep disorders, Dr Jackson claims there is mounting evidence that a nap during a night shift can improve production and safety at work.
“There is mounting evidence that napping during a shift can improve alertness and help maintain performance in the early hours,’’ she says.
“But critical to the beneficial effect of the nap is the length of the sleep and working out the best times to take a nap.’’
Dr Jackson’s on-going sleep research is likely to be paramount to shift workers around the world.
It canvasses the consequences of sleep disturbance and shift work on cognition, mood and brain function.
She was part of a team of researchers whose work at the Washington State University revealed how sleep loss impacted on people making critical decisions in real-world situations.
The results of those findings – that sleep loss impedes important decisions – are a lesson in industries in which workers such as nurses, doctors, soldiers and emergency service workers must make life and death decisions under stress and while deprived of sleep.
Dr Jackson says far from being a worry for employers, sleeping on the job is already encouraged in some industries.
“In industries like aged care and hospitals, health professionals on long shifts are actively encouraged to sleep,” she says.
“And in Australia where long distances are the norm, power naps are to be actively encouraged by people driving long distances.’’
Dr Jackson is a National Health and Medical Research Council Peter Doherty Research Fellow and RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow based in the School of Health Sciences and Health Innovations Research Institute.
