What are the effects of sleep deprivation on health and job performance? Sleep deprivation is becoming a widespread phenomenon among adults as technology advances and people become engrossed in a more active and unhealthy lifestyle. With the invention of the light bulb, people changed their habits as well and soon, even companies followed suit. When sunset used to connote the end of one's social activities for the day, now, sunset marks the start of a busy and eventful nightcap. Companies found an opportunity to create work shifts to ensure that the business runs 24/7. It seemed that, somehow, people were achieving a lifelong need of balancing work and life as workers began having nightlife after a "day" of work. However, as businesses prospered, the quality of life and job performance of employees suffered due to lack of sleep. According to studies, those in the transportation sector ("Sleepy Pilots, Train Operators and Drivers") and the military (Saletan) are oftentimes the victims of sleeplessness. Apart from adults, children also suffer from sleep deprivation, which results to development of medical conditions ("Depression and Sleep", "Sleepwalking"). Therefore, having quality sleep is crucial for individuals to remain healthy and in the performance of their jobs.
Sleepwalking is one of the effects of sleep deprivation. It is more common in children suffering from obstructive sleep apnea, who bed wet, and those who experience sleep terrors at night. On the other hand, adult somnambulism may also occur and manifest as "sitting up in bed and looking around, to walking around the room to leaving the house and driving while asleep" ("Sleepwalking"). Usually, sleepwalkers remain in deep sleep state and do not have any memories of what happened during the experience. It occurs in about 15% of the population and according to studies conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in 2004, Sleep in America Poll, about "1% of pre-school children and 2% of school aged children" sleepwalk several times in a week ("Sleepwalking").
Another consequence of sleep deprivation is depression. These two often go together as both are outcomes of the each other. Feelings of loneliness and melancholy often lead to lack of sleep. It may also happen the other way around where sleeplessness leads to depression (Martin 463). Based on research, incidences of depression are higher for people who suffer from lack of sleep (insomnia) and those who have problems staying awake (hypersomnia). Because of the nature of both sleep deprivation and depression, including their symptoms, the two are often mistaken as the same. In a different survey conducted by NSF in 2006, respondents were mostly 11-17 year old children. The survey showed that having sleep issues negatively affected the mood of individuals. In addition, those suffering from depression are most likely the women and the older adults who experience weight loss, weakened movements, and anhedonia. Childbearing aged women who suffer from depression may be the result of general anesthesia during the birthing process and some hormonal imbalances ("Depression and Sleep"). Depression affects everyone and as research implies, depression is also related to chronic health problems such as heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, and premature death (Epstein 471). General depression symptoms also manifest as forgetfulness, drastic changes in weight and libido, focus issues, and insomnia, among others, and could lead to heart problems (Martin 464).
Aside from health issues, sleeplessness affects most working people especially that advanced technologies help deprive individuals of their sleeping time. Nowadays, those who work too hard are the more successful people who think that any "idle time" equates to worthlessness. The gauge of success has changed and is now thought out as "busyness" and the capacity to "buy time" from others. In this light, sleep is considered as least productive activity. Therefore, people work hard and rob themselves of their precious time to sleep (Martin 464). As a result, their jobs suffer due to lack of sleep hours.
In 2012, NSF carried out another survey, which included "drivers" of several modes of transportation such as pilots, truck drivers, bus drivers and taxi drivers that focused on their sleeping habits and effect of sleeplessness while at work. The survey revealed that a quarter of the respondents (26% train operators and 23% pilots) admitted that sleeplessness has gotten in the way of their job execution at least once in a week ("Sleepy Pilots, Train Operators and Drivers"). In the same survey results, they also disclosed that because of their sleepiness on the job, the safety of their passengers have been compromised when they almost experienced accidents. Epstein claims that a 2006 study conducted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences showed that around "20% of car accidents and 57% of fatal accidents [account] for driver sleepiness" (471). In Dement and Vaughan's essay, Sleep Debt and the Mortgaged Mind, they provide a clear example on how sleep indebtedness contributes to road mishaps and slow reaction time (501). Although the Exxon Valdez accident was initially attributed to the captain's alcohol consumption, a year later, it was revealed that the real cause of the oil spill was the actions of the third mate who only had six hours of sleep in the last 48 hours (498). Despite repeated warnings from fellow sailors, the third mate's brain did not respond to instructions and was slow in reacting towards the danger (499).
Because of the nature of their job, including the fragility of the lives of human, transportation professionals report that, most of the time, they do not get enough sleep at night. Pilots, for instance, maintain various schedules unlike non-transportation professionals who follow an 8-5 working schedule. Thus, erratic sleeping hours contribute to feelings of sluggishness and sleepiness while at work. To address their sleepiness at work, transportation professionals report that they take naps during the execution of their jobs. More than 50% of the pilots and train operators admitted taking naps at least twice during workdays. Noting that transportation workers maintain challenging schedules that go against the normal sleeping hours, Thomas Balkin, sleep researcher from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, says there is a "need to better understand how to use naps to reduce sleep deprivation and overcome scheduling issues" (qtd. in "Sleepy Pilots, Train Operators and Divers").
Military personnel also suffer the same fate as transportation professionals. When soldiers are in the battlefield, it is highly probable that these individuals do not get enough sleep as well as sleep-conducive quarters. Thus, their military effectiveness decreases and could even lead to drastic results, where more casualties of war are sacrificed. Because sleep pushes individuals to perform better as they conduct their work, opponents who had "significant sleep advantage [could] pose a serious threat" (Saletan) to fatigued military forces. Therefore, careful planning of battlefield strategy must include planning on how soldiers can sleep longer and replenish their energy before the enemy comes and attacks. For successful results, battlefield commanders must "maximally exploit the state of exhaustion of one's enemy" (Saletan). Because of this, ideas about sleep modification are believed to be "the gateway app for cognitive military enhancement" (Saletan). As soldiers always need to get enough sleep, finding ways to increase job productivity will help topple the enemy. One way to address this is by taking supplements that will greatly help improve physical performance and body condition of soldiers, but will reduce their need for sleep. This could result to fewer war casualties, thus, this is widely seen as a viable option for military personnel.
Saletan concedes that there are hesitations as to whether it would pose a medical issue to soldiers' health condition. However, this is already practiced in the US, "but not endorsed, by the US military" (Saletan). The biotechnology that could restructure the nature of sleep is gaining widespread attention, but of course, the US does not want to be known as the one that started the battle of pharmaceutical firms in coming up with a tested solution to sleep reduction. Instead, the US prefers to think of its efforts as preparation in case "[the] enemies [already] enhance theirs first" (Saletan). Thus, the military highly encourages observing and getting all information about the enemy's attempts at sleep research.
While getting by without sleep for a day or two may not pose a huge health risk especially when done sporadically, those who experience complete sleep deprivation, or about 16-17 hours of wakefulness (Epstein 479), typically experience "hallucinations, paranoia, [and] disorientation" (Lane and Wheeler) as displayed by contestants in the TV show, Shattered. Craig North, a former contestant on the show, said, "It was like torture being deprived of sleep. It's not every day you try to spend 180 hours without any sleep" (qtd. in Lane and Wheeler). In a bid to win £100,000, contestants stay awake for a week and the one who stays awake the longest, wins the prize.
Forceful sleep deprivation was a form of torture during the Second World War, which were the KGB and the Japanese's preferred way of torturing people. Even the British Army allegedly used "sleep deprivation to extract information from suspected IRA members" (Lane and Wheeler). John Schlapobersky, consultant psychotherapist at the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture, was himself a victim of sleep deprivation in the 1960s. He says that losing sleep forcefully makes way for psychotic behaviors, as it is similar to administering the torture victims with medication that inhibits sleep, but without the actual medicine at hand.
"It demeans the experiences of those who have involuntarily gone through this form of torture After two nights without sleep, the hallucinations start, and after three minutes, people are having dreams while fairly awake, which is a form of psychosis. [By the end of the week], people lose their orientation in place and time – the people you're speaking to become people from your past; a window might become a view of the sea seen in your younger days. To deprive someone of sleep is to tamper with their equilibrium and their sanity" (qtd. in Lane and Wheeler).
Similar experiences were reported in various parts of the world as allegedly used as torture method in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, China, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. These were heavily denied by supposed perpetrators, but the victims themselves spoke about their experiences (Lane and Wheeler). The KGB allegedly tortured Menachem Begin as a young man, which he detailed in his book, White Nights: The Story of a Prisoner in Russia. In the book, Begin shared how he lost the determination to defy and stand up for himself because of sleep deprivation. He further adds, "in the head of the interrogated prisoner, a haze begins to form [the] spirit is wearied to death legs are unsteady, and [the] sole desire [is] to sleep" (qtd in Lane and Wheeler).
Works Cited
Dement, William, C., & Vaughan, Christopher. "Sleep Debt and the Mortgaged Mind." Writing and Reading across the Curriculum. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. ed. Boston: Longman-Pearson, 2011. 497-05. Print.
"Depression and Sleep." National Sleep Foundation. n.d. Web. 4 Mar 2013.
Epstein, Lawrence. "Improving Sleep." Writing and Reading across the Curriculum. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. ed. Boston: Longman-Pearson, 2011. 471-82. Print.
Lane, Megan, and Brian Wheeler. "The real victims of sleep deprivation." BBC News Online Magazine. 2004. Web. 4 Mar 2013.
Martin, Paul. "A Third of Life." Writing and Reading across the Curriculum. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. ed. Boston: Longman-Pearson, 2011. 462-70. Print.
Saletan, William. "Night of the Living Meds." Slate. 2008. Web. 4 Mar 2013.
"Sleepwalking." National Sleep Foundation. n.d. Web. 4 Mar 2013.
"Sleepy Pilots, Train Operators and Drivers." National Sleep Foundation. 2012. Web. 4 Mar 2013.
