{"id":426,"date":"2011-05-02T16:00:18","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T20:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/?p=426"},"modified":"2013-04-01T18:35:57","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T22:35:57","slug":"sleep-policy-and-science-are-in-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/?p=426","title":{"rendered":"Sleep &#8211; Policy and Science are in Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Steering-the-Elephant12.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-427\" title=\"An Elephant Rider\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Steering-the-Elephant12-150x150.png\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Policy and science are in conflict. \u00a0A real life example.<\/p>\n<p>In the last two months, at least seven air traffic controllers have fallen asleep while working overnight shifts. \u00a0Air traffic controllers may choose their shifts, and many choose a shift schedule called <a title=\"Why Air Traffic Controllers Fall Asleep on the Job\" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052748704658704576275482890449352.html?mod=googlenews_wsj\">a 2-2-1, or the rattler shift<\/a> \u2013 two swing shifts, two daylight shifts and one night shift.\u00a0 A minimum of eight hours must be taken between the second day shift and the overnight shift. \u00a0Controllers choose this shift pattern because it allows them three days off between shifts.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the news of sleeping controllers, <a title=\"LaHood: We won't pay air traffic controllers to nap\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/stories\/2011\/04\/18\/earlyshow\/main20054835.shtml\">Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood<\/a>, insisted that air traffic controllers would be well rested and professional. \u00a0He increased the minimum time between shifts from eight to nine hours, but he also said that napping would not be tolerated.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Decision Making: A Review - 2000\" href=\"http:\/\/postcog.ucd.ie\/files\/Hrrison%20and%20horne.pdf\">Harrison and Horne<\/a> discuss the issues related to sleep deprivation. \u00a0Lack of sleep affects the pre frontal cortex in the following ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>impaired language skills-communications<\/li>\n<li>lack of innovation<\/li>\n<li>inflexibility of thought processes<\/li>\n<li>inappropriate attention to peripheral concerns or distractions<\/li>\n<li>over-reliance on previous strategies<\/li>\n<li>unwillingness to try out novel strategies<\/li>\n<li>unreliable memory for when events occurred<\/li>\n<li>change in mood including loss of empathy with colleagues<\/li>\n<li>inability to deal with surprise and the unexpected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Basically, the opposite of all the things you would want an air traffic controller to experience who might be watching your plane.<\/p>\n<p>Harrison and Horne also made this interesting observation. \u00a0The nuclear accidents at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Davis-Beese, and Rancho Seco were all made in the early morning. \u00a0In each case the managers on duty misdiagnosed the depth of the problem, and showed an inflexibility of thought process and an over-reliance on previous strategies.<\/p>\n<p>They also discuss the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.\u00a0 <a title=\"Volume 2: Appendix G - Human Factor Analysis, Report of the Presidential Commision on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident\" href=\"http:\/\/history.nasa.gov\/rogersrep\/v2appg.htm\">The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident<\/a> concluded that the decision to launch should have been made \u201cbased on engineering judgments \u2026 but that irregular hours and lack of sleep contributed significantly\u201d in the decision making process. \u00a0Further, <a title=\"See Figure 2 at bottom\" href=\"http:\/\/history.nasa.gov\/rogersrep\/v2appg.htm\">three of the 13 managers<\/a> in the decision making process to launch slept less than eight hours in the 48 hours between January 26 and January 28, with one sleeping less than five.<\/p>\n<p>Harrison and Horne also point out that the use of stimulants only marginally affects pre frontal cortex activity. \u00a0<a title=\"The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Decision Making: A Review, p.247\" href=\"http:\/\/postcog.ucd.ie\/files\/Hrrison%20and%20horne.pdf\">Coffee is not really an option.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Maybe you are not an air traffic controller or someone who works on the Space Shuttle. \u00a0Can you still work long hours without a degradation in performance?\u00a0 No \u2013 at some point lack of sleep affects us all.\u00a0 It does not matter what your job is. \u00a0Highly committed people tend to work long hours. \u00a0In fact, many of us take great pride in\u2014and get recognized by our superiors for\u2014 outworking everyone else in the room.<\/p>\n<p>The<a title=\"The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Decision Making: A Review, p. 247\" href=\"http:\/\/postcog.ucd.ie\/files\/Hrrison%20and%20horne.pdf\"> science shows<\/a> that while we can force ourselves to stay awake, we lose function fairly rapidly.\u00a0 We also tend to deny that we are having functional loss \u2013 we do not self-monitor well.\u00a0 When stating policy we are quite capable making dogmatic pronouncements such as, <a title=\"LaHood: We won't pay air traffic controllers to nap\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/stories\/2011\/04\/18\/earlyshow\/main20054835.shtml\">\u201cWe will not pay our employees to nap\u2026we expect them to be well rested and professional\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Crew Factors in Flight Operations X: Alertness Management in Flight Operations, p.20\" href=\"http:\/\/human-factors.arc.nasa.gov\/zteam\/PDF_pubs\/ETM.TM8_99rev.pdf\">Nasa research<\/a> in 1999 shows that we are built to want to sleep at two times during a 24 hour period \u2013 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm and 3:00 am to 5:00 am.\u00a0 Naps are quite helpful in countering these cycles. \u00a0<a title=\"The NASA Ames Fatigue Countermeasures Program: The Next Generation, p.2\" href=\"http:\/\/ntrs.nasa.gov\/archive\/nasa\/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov\/20020042348_2002069891.pdf\">A 1994 study performed by NASA<\/a> demonstrated that naps improve performance when compared to those who do not nap.<\/p>\n<p>Culturally, we tend to deride things that fall outside our definition of work.\u00a0 Unfortunately, sleep and rest are considered leisure activities, when in fact both are important components in maximizing our considerable mental, emotional, and physical abilities \u2013 all things needed to do our best work, consistently.<\/p>\n<p>Policy, in this case, should follow the science, not conflict with it. Let them nap\u2014just plan for it so it is done safely and purposefully.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Policy and science are in conflict. \u00a0A real life example. In the last two months, at least seven air traffic controllers have fallen asleep while working overnight shifts. \u00a0Air traffic controllers may choose their shifts, and many choose a shift schedule called a 2-2-1, or the rattler shift \u2013 two swing shifts, two daylight shifts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-executive-advising"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steeringtheelephant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}