Work can truncate the nights to such an extent that the deprivation can be fatal. Lack of sleep can also, conversely, impact professional life.
A few days after Prince’s death, his brother-in-law revealed that the singer would have done more than 150 hours of work in his recording studio, before dying suddenly. The autopsy will not be released for several weeks, but the creator of Purple Rain may well have died of exhaustion.
Far from this extreme case, the lack of sleep is however becoming a chronic problem in our modern societies. In France, one in three working people sleep less than 6 hours per night, instead of the recommended 7 to 8 hours, according to thinktank terra nova sleep report. Thus, we are the biggest European consumers of sleeping pills. Lack of sleep weighs on active life, and causes drowsiness. But work is also a cause of insomnia, and can be responsible for serious health problems.
the karoshi, literally “death by overwork”, is now a recognized pathology in Japan. Since 1er November 2014, it is possible to file a complaint against an employer on this ground. A few days after the law took effect, the family of a 24-year-old man filed a complaint against his employer, a restaurant chain. This manager had worked more than 190 hours of overtime per month over the 7 months preceding his suicide.
Dr Valérie Langevin, from the National Institute for Research and Security: “ People invest so much in their work with the idea of getting a job in a big company …“
A real health risk
When work takes on such temporal and psychological importance, sleep loses its place. So the karoshi kills several hundred people a year, by suicide or other health reasons. It may have cost Prince his life.
Because dying from lack of sleep is possible. “Extreme sleep deprivation can cause severe metabolic and heart problems,” explains Dr. Royant-Parola, president of the Morphée network. Experiments with severe sleep deprivation in animals have resulted in deaths in a picture that combines infections, heart risk disorders and stroke. “
Dr Royant-Parola, director of the Morphée network: “ Infections, cardiac arrhythmias and strokes that lead to death …“
Daily troubles
Beyond these extreme situations, chronic sleep deprivation also has an impact on health. “Thermal regulation problems, heart rhythm disturbances, discomfort and dizziness are the main signs of lack of sleep”, continues Dr Royant-Parola.
The immune system weakens, and health problems arising from indirect causes appear. First of all, traffic accidents. About a third of road fatalities could be traced to drowsiness, which is the leading cause of highway crashes. Figures difficult to verify, because the police cannot officially consider drowsiness as an accident factor.
Sleep deprivation also doubles the risk of accidents at work, and increases the risk of drowsiness on the job by 40 times. On this World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the subject should mobilize politicians, because it is a real public health issue, believes Terra nova. “Professional pressure, the intensification of tasks, the lengthening of commuting times between home and work” are among the main systemic causes, estimates the thinktank in his report published last Monday. He recalls that 62% of French people say they suffer from a sleep disorder. They consumed 131 million boxes of benzodiazepines (a sleeping pill) in 2013.
Less than five hours of sleep per night
UFC-What to Choose has done a survey of its readers. Of the 3,884 who answered the questions, 83% said they did not get enough sleep! This proportion should be qualified, because people suffering from insomnia are more likely to answer a questionnaire on lack of sleep. But almost 1,000 of them said they slept less than 5 hours a night.
Results of the UFC-Que Choisir reader survey
A real burden on a daily basis, since 40% of people with insomniacs believe that this problem is “important”. Nocturnal or early awakenings, difficulty falling asleep… The need to go to the bathroom and stress are cited as the main causes.
To remedy this, 28% have been taking sleeping pills, including one in two on a regular basis for more than a month. Others use infusions, food supplements based on melatonin, or homeopathy. Relaxation techniques are also popular, for nearly a third of owls: relaxation, meditation, sophrology or hypnosis are popular, but only 37% of the people who use them are completely satisfied.
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