Fatigue and Sleep Disruption

The introduction of electric light and other technologies such as the computer and the internet leads to the increase of nightime activities, especially in workplace such as manufacturing and 24-hours/day service sector. Extended working hours and night shift are two major contributors of fatigue and sleep disruption. Lockley (as cited in Lerman, 2012) reported that nurses who work more than 12.5 hours have a greater risk of decreased vigilance on the job, suffer occupationl injuries and tend to make medical errors. It has been found that as sleep hour decreases, injury rates increases. Moreover, night shifts are found to result in greater loss of total sleep and is associated with sleep problems. Drake et.al. (2004) found that 32% of night shifts workers reported experiencing long-term insomnia and excessive sleepiness.