On the Perils of Work-Related Fatigue
Spending time around someone who constantly lacks sleep is not a pleasant experience. My family could tell a few tales about me recently – irritability, weight gain, poor decision making and an immune system that seems to invite every small illness that’s floating around. This week has been particularly difficult for them, with work dragging me ever further away from the fabled land of Nod. But at least I have time to rest and reflect on the weekend, time to change my ways. What about people don’t?
As I’ve mentioned before, there are many tens of thousands of migrant workers here in Hong Kong who work around 18 hours a day, 6 days a week. Or, to put it another way, they sleep 6 hours or less a night. How does that affect their work and their health? And what are the long-term consequences of contract-inspired sleep loss? First, allow me to set the scene with a story I know well.
My sister-in-law is the domestic helper to a wealthy family who quite frankly don’t need to be waited on hand and foot. But such is their acquired dependence on children woken, breakfast made and late-night snacks prepared by someone else that she rarely sleeps before midnight and rises by six. On Sunday she visits my family and me, sleeping a few hours until she leaves at 6 pm to beat a draconian curfew. At dinner she’s back at work, and won’t rest again until late at night. Each week her fatigue combined with hard work becomes a little more difficult to endure. But ask if she’s coping and she’ll tell you she is.
Clearly the need to sleep during the day on Sunday suggests she’s wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Mike Poole 
