Shift Workers Need Naps

TONY EASTLEY: Now for some good news, sleeping on the job isn't necessarily a bad thing.New research, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, is advocating sleep breaks or "power naps" for shift workers to improve alertness and performance.The Adelaide Institute of Sleep Health says medical professionals who work night shift should have a scheduled 10-minute power nap for their own benefit and for the sake of patient safety.

LINDY KERIN: It used to be a coffee break or a cigarette break.Now researchers say a sleep break or power nap, should become a normal part of a shift worker's schedule.Professor Dr Doug McEvoy from the Adelaide Institute of Sleep Health says the impact of fatigue on a shift worker's performance is similar to having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05.His research published in today's Medical Journal of Australia says for the sake of their own health and the safety of their patients, medical professionals need power naps.

DOUG MCEVOY: The optimal period is around, between about 10 to15 minutes.If you sleep longer than that, it does have more restorative features but the problem is as you wake up from a longer sleep, say, 30 minutes to an hour, you have this so-called sleep inertia, or grogginess as you wake up that can last for quite some time.You have a sleep and then you wake up and for a time you're actually probably as bad, if not worse, than before you went to sleep.

LINDY KERIN: Professor McEvoy says a strategically placed power nap during a shift would go a long way to solving the problems of tiredness and slow performance.

DOUG MCEVOY: If there's no relief, and you've got a job that requires you being on the job all the time, then that's a problem obviously.But if there are... if it's possible to schedule these short breaks, presumably it should be possible to provide a cot or a bed or something like that in the work environment, particularly if safety is paramount.

LINDY KERIN: The Australian Medical Association's National President Mukesh Haikerwal says coping with intense long hours is one of the biggest issues facing the country's medical professionals.He says it's important to be looking at strategies to overcome the problem and he can see the benefits of a scheduled sleep break.

MUKESH HAIKERWAL: If we can keep people sharper by allowing a certain amount of time for a power nap or specifically time to down tools, that may well be a way of keeping people working effectively.The manner in which we work in the medical field doesn't allow for a strict laying down of such a break.But the awareness that such a break can be of benefit may well give colleagues to cover each other during their shift so that one can take a break, and then another can take a break, and then continue to work effectively and efficiently.

TONY EASTLEY: The AMA's President Mukesh Haikerwal speaking there about new research published in the Medical Journal of Australia, advocating sleep breaks or power naps for shift workers to improve performance and alertness.

AM - Research finds shiftworkers need to nap

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