Napquest

Posted by James A Dunny 
 
Sleeping on the job?  Napping on breaks is beginning to be recognized as good for business.  Mark Rosekind, president and chief scientist for Alertness Systems, a California consulting firm, sets up workplace napping programs.  Rosekind, says that many of his companies 150 clients are in "safety-sensitive industryies" such as law-enforcement, airlings and trucking. "Most of our clients who use nappping are doing it as a safety strategy," he explains.
hits counter Rosekind worked with NASA before starting his company and was involved in sleep studies with pilots.  The research showed that allowing pilots a 40 minute nap increased alertness by 54 percent and inproved performance by 34 percent.

Rosekind says that pilots who weren't allowed naps experienced "microsleeps" lapses of consciousness that last for five or more seconds. "People are already sleeping at work," he says.  "It's just that their basses don't know it, or they're choosing to ignore it. The question for employers is, would you rather edo a planned program or have people do their napping covertly?"

Many people are sleep deprived.  Rosekind say's: "We know that if you lose sleep, you can degrade every aspect human capability: reaction time, judgement, memory, concentration, mood.  It only takes (getting) two hours less sleep than you need to be impaird toat the equivalent of a .05 blood alcohol level.  Four hours gets you to the equivalent of .08."

This article points up the importance of employees getting a chance to nap on their own time and have this behavior supported by employers. This is definitely not "sleeping on the job." 

To read more about this see the article in the July 2009 Rotarian or on the web at:



Napquest