Many police officers are putting themselves--and the public--at risk by failing to address their sleep problems and excessive fatigue, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests.
"Of the nearly 5,000 officers surveyed, 40% screened positive for a sleep disorder, and four out of five of these individuals were undiagnosed and untreated," says lead author Dr. Charles A. Czeisler, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, in Boston. "This is a very important clarion call (号召,召唤) to initiate these kinds of workplace screening programs,not just in police forces but in workplaces throughout the nation."
The study is the first to examine the rate of sleep disorders among police. The participants weren’t necessarily representative of police officers as a whole, nor did the study include people in other professions. The rate among the officers in the study, however, was much higher than those seen in the general population, Dr. Czeisler says.
The long hours and irregular shifts often required in police work may partly explain the unusually high rates. Fif percent of the officers reported working 14 to 16 hours at a stretch, and roughly one-quarter worked rotating day and night shifts, which can disrupt sleep-wake cycles and lead to a condition--known as shift work disorder.
Promoting better sleep among police officers--or people in any line of work--will require dissuading (劝阻) employers,employees and the public in general from the idea that sleep deprivation is a mark of strength or dedication, says Michael A. Grandner, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology.
The study findings do offer a clue to how local governments might encourage healthy sleep habits in police officers, Dr. Czeisler says. One of the departments that participated in the survey, the Massachusetts State Police, had lower rates of sleep disorders and obesity than the study population as a whole, perhaps because the department limits pay increases to fitness testing, provides a gym in every barracks (兵营), and offers one hour of paid exercise time on every shift.
What can we learn from the new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association