Sleep power: It keeps you on your game

By Lyn Dean

id you know that even if you are moderately sleep-deprived—awake for 17-19 hours—your response time D and accuracy on simple tasks can be 50% lower than someone with a blood alcohol level (BAC) of 0.05%? Colorado law considers that BAC level “ability impaired.” With more awake hours, performance continues to decline. These findings were published by Occupational and Environmental Medicine (occenvmed. com) in 2000.

Take that in. Then consider one of the first things we do when we are busy and stressed with too much to do: We give up sleep!

Numerous studies in the recent years have linked sleep with work productivity, and physical and emotional health. Insufficient sleep causes a decline in all these factors. More than one third of Americans are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2016, the RAND Corporation found that sleep

deprivation costs the U.S. economy $411 billion a year and over one million lost workdays. Though it is hard to measure, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy drivers were responsible for 72,000 crashes, 44,000 injuries and 800 deaths in 2013. Harvard Mental Health Letter reports that sleep problems may increase both risk for developing particular mental illnesses, as well as result from mental disorders. Sleep deprivation is common and leads to more errors, no matter your job. Errors can be especially serious for workers in certain industries, such as the medical field. In the landscape industry, workers using heavy equipment and power tools can have serious consequences if sleep deprived.

Good sleep is good for us. The deepest stage of sleep produces physiological changes that help boost immune system functioning. Sleep.org suggests some lifestyles changes we can make to increase the amount and quality of sleep we get, which helps us to stay healthy and on top of our game. • Eliminate caffeine, alcohol and nicotine or avoid before bedtime. • Engage in physical activity. Physical activity during the day helps us fall asleep faster, spend more time in deep sleep, and awaken less often during the night. • Engage in “sleep hygiene,” which means maintaining a regular sleep-and-wake schedule and keeping the bedroom free of distractions like the computer, smartphone or TV. • Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation or restorative yoga.

Before putting in overtime hours and/or asking your employees to consistently work overtime to get the job done, you may want to pause and reflect on the quality and accuracy of the work as well as your personal safety and safety of your employees. | CG

RENT IT. COMPLETE IT. RETURN IT.

MATCH YOUR FLEET TO YOUR PROJECT LOAD.

Wagner Rents The Cat ® Rental Store offers a complete line of rental machines and work tool attachments that covers all of your project needs, including a wide range of aerial lift equipment, towable air compressors, portable and submersible pumps, full line of Caterpillar products and much more. • Customer service representatives dedicated to providing the right machine for the right job • Field service & mechanical support committed to eliminating downtime • Transport trucks for effi cient and on-time delivery & pickup of any machine • Technology support & solutions, with everything from information apps to GPS guidance systems for machine control Only we can offer so many different machine options at a price to fi t you – no hassle, no obligation – just great machines.

Contact your local Wagner Rents today for rental rates and availability. Call 1-800-RENT CAT (1-800-736-8228)

Visit www.WagnerRents.com