Biology 1615-F15

Judy Bunkall
Taiana Fine

INTRODUCTION
Do you have good sleep refreshing you for your daily work? These are some questions
to determine productivity and fulfilling a better aspect of working life. There is plenty of
evidence that reveal the inefficient sleep workers are facing on a daily basis. Its a well
known truth that rest and health are closely related.
Drowsiness affects out daily activities and keeps us from performing our best work.
Fatigue lessens the ability to think fast, make important decisions and affects short-term
memory. This leads to personal error with possible exposure to accidents or injury.
Insufficient sleep in the working society could be a sign of an underlying health condition
that should be addressed. Daytime sleepiness can also indicate a disorder like insomnia
or sleep apnea,that prevents sleeping well at night and is a high risk for stroke or heart
attack. Therefore, sleep is crucial for workers health and welfare as well as for their
safety and productivity in the workplace.
A cross-sectional survey in small scale enterprises was conducted which mainly consisted
of manufacturing plants (88%). Socio-demographics, lifestyle, physical/ psychological
conditions were included as confounding factors. Therefore, it was decided to study
fatigue and sleepiness in a group of workers & the incidence of accidents was studied in
relation to fatigue and sleepiness so as to help plan better preventable measures.
Researcher analyzed males and females individually in addition to both combined, since

males are reported to have a higher incidence of injury compared to females (DimichWard et al 2004).
SUBJECTS & METHODS
The data were collected in a cross-sectional study with a self-rating questionnaire from
May to December 2008. The study subjects were small scale enterprises (1 to 135
workers) in two District of Uttar Pradesh, India.
A total of 920 workers from both districts responded to the questionnaires for an overall
response rate 70.23
MEASUREMENT METHODS
Sleep Questionnaire
The sleep assessments was based on eight questions about sleep habits developed by
Akinori. (2005)
Occupational Injury Data
A question to assess occupational injury was Have you ever been injured during your
work, including, minor scratches, and cuts, in the previous year? The possible response
was either yes or no.
CONCLUSION
The present study showed that poor nocturnal sleep, such as difficulty maintaining sleep,
insomnia symptoms, sleeping poorly at night , and insufficient sleep are related to
occupational injury, which may have direct impact on safety at work and long term
business productivity. Feasible strategies such as taking a brief nap for 1520 min during
lunch time (Takahashi et al 2004, Takahashi 2003, Takahashi & Arito 2000) or reducing
job stress (Nakata et al 2004, Nakata et al 2001) may be helpful in preventing sleep-

related injuries at work.

Sleepiness has a stronger relationship with occupational injury and this is also true with
workers in the Indian Traditional Industries; sleepiness reduced levels of alertness during
operations are realities with potential safety risks.
Reflective Writing:
This assignment has helped me acquire substantive knowledge by learning how
insufficient sleep can lead to less productivity in the workplace and eventually lead to
occupational injuries. I also learned that its important to get a good nights rest for your
own health and welfare and that lifestyle and physical conditions were confounding
factors in the cross-sectional survey.
It has also helped me learn how to communicate effectively by trying to put this
review in my own words. I had to think of other words I could use that had the same
meaning. Communicating effectively will help me in the long run especially in the career
Im pursing as a Radiologist. It will be very important to communicate with your coworkers so that your patients are treated properly and to the best of your knowledge. It
will also be effective if you are ever asked to speak to a large group of people, you will
have the skills needed to communicate your presentation effectively and in a way that
both you and the group are edified.