Study - Cops suffer sleep disorders

**countybear** · 06-24-07, 10:47 PM

Many Cops Have Troubled Sleep
June 13, 2007 08:40:43 PM PST
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

Yahoo! Health: Bioterrorism News

WEDNESDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep disorders strike more than a third of police officers, new research suggests.

Unrecognized sleep disorders affect health and can lead to chronic sleep loss, which can increase the risk of accidents and injuries. These problems are common in shift workers such as police officers, many of whom experience chronic sleep loss because of ever-shifting schedules, the researchers noted. This latest finding was to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.

"This study is long overdue," said Michael L. Perlis, director of the Sleep Research Laboratory at the University of Rochester, who was not involved in the study. "The police force is probably one of the largest populations of shift workers and most vulnerable to sleep loss and sleep deprivation."

In the study, Shantha M.W. Rajaratnam, from Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, collected data on 4,471 police officers. The researchers asked the officers about sleep problems such as obstructive sleep apnea alone, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, shift work sleep disorder and narcolepsy.

They found that 38.4 percent reported having a sleep disorder. Among the officers, 35.1 had sleep apnea, 6.8 percent had insomnia, 0.7 percent had restless leg syndrome, 2 percent had shift work sleep disorder and 0.5 percent had narcolepsy.

"Based on these data, sleep disorders appear to be highly prevalent in the present sample of police officers," Rajaratnam said in a prepared statement. "Sleep disorder screening and treatment programs may potentially improve police officer health, safety and productivity."

Lack of sleep affects physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance. Recent studies have linked the lack of sleep with serious health problems such as depression, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

"Sleep deprivation and the cognitive impairments that come with sleep problems coupled with the difficulty of their work -- the need for snap judgments that may mean life and death -- makes identification and treatment an urgent thing for this group of workers," Perlis said.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/176343

**Terminator** · 06-24-07, 10:49 PM

Sign me up...this job gave me major sleeping problems.

**jmur5074** · 06-24-07, 10:49 PM

well.....duh.

**Sapper_132** · 06-24-07, 10:55 PM

I take sleep meds to sleep!

**Tony** · 06-24-07, 11:00 PM

My boss had his large bowel removed last year and has a claim in as shift work is a contributing factor to his illness. It's was sort of a class action, with more than 10 members lodging claims in the past 6 months. The insurance company that handle these claims have offered $40,000 as a 1st offer to those members who have lodged one.

The illness he suffers normally effect 5000:1 in the general public, I think that's the figure, it may have been 3000:1, but within our dept (11,000) the rate is 350:1. There's more and more research pointing to the adverse health effects on cops and really, another reason why you should be paid accordingly. So there's more than sleep issues.

**Autumn2009** · 06-24-07, 11:19 PM

They had to do a study?

**Tony** · 06-24-07, 11:32 PM

Originally Posted by Autumn2009

They had to do a study?

Yes Autumn, academics need data and numbers to crunch for it to be real. Remember, they don't live in our world.

**Autumn2009** · 06-24-07, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by Wombat650

Yes Autumn, academics need data and numbers to crunch for it to be real. Remember, they don't live in our world.

Well they should live in our world, it's way more fun.

**Beans** · 06-24-07, 11:57 PM

I can't sleep for shit. Glad my doctor gave me Ambien.

**Tony** · 06-25-07, 12:00 AM

Originally Posted by Autumn2009

Well they should live in our world, it's way more fun.

I think they are too busy sleeping!!!

**Autumn2009** · 06-25-07, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by Wombat650

I think they are too busy sleeping!!!

I wish I was too busy sleeping right now.

**Tony** · 06-25-07, 12:04 AM

Originally Posted by Autumn2009

I wish I was too busy sleeping right now.

It's 2pm here and I'm at work, so no sleeping for me.

Originally Posted by Beans

I can't sleep for shit. Glad my doctor gave me Ambien.

Do you have any side effects with it? Are you waking refreshed or still a bit groggy? Does it take its time to help you sleep and does it work quickly?

**Ducky** · 06-25-07, 12:30 AM

Originally Posted by jmur5074

well.....duh.

That was exactly my reaction.

**Star Man** · 06-25-07, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by news story

Many Cops Have Troubled Sleep
Sleep disorders strike more than a third of police officers, new research suggests.

I'll give you a quick guess what shift this refers to. How about the 1/3 on mids? 10 years on mids and I know I am in this category. If it isn't family, work around the house, or trying to socialize with civilian friends then I'm in friggin court. Then I go back to work while the world sleeps.....

**mfranklin01** · 06-25-07, 12:48 AM

id like to see them work dog shift. (which i think is what star man was refering to

) we work all night long, then when the sun comes up we TRY to go to sleep, which usually involves waiting until you are so tired that you just pass out. then in the afternoon while you have been asleep for like 4hrs people start calling you, or your wife wants you to get up and help do stuff around the house. and by the time all thats done and you think you can rest for a couple more hours...its time to go back to work. man i love dog shift.

**TXCharlie** · 06-25-07, 01:15 AM

Originally Posted by Beans

I can't sleep for shit. Glad my doctor gave me Ambien.

Watch out for side-effects with that Ambien... I tried Ambien, but it seemed to make me forgetful during the day, even though I felt great. People have also been known to sleep-walk, and even drive while sleeping when they're taking that stuff

I have trouble sleeping because my feet hurt at night... Not a lot, just enough to keep me awake. Tylenol & Ibuprofen doesn't phase it for some reason, and the Over-The-Counter sleep aids make my legs restless.

Now I'm taking Tramadol at night for the pain, which is supposed to be non-narcotic, but I wonder because it kinda makes me feel good and makes me a little ditsy. Anything that feels good is bad, right? I just took two a few hours ago, so I guess you could say I'm PUI right now

I'm also trying Lunesta to help me sleep, because the Tramadol seems to make the pain go away but keeps me awake by itself. The Lunesta doesn't work as good as the Ambien, and I'm a lot more groggy in the morning, so I think I need to switch.

I was taking Vicodin at night after my knee operation, which worked great for my feet - but of course they won't prescribe that for very long, and I'm sure since it's a narcotic, a police department would frown on taking it even at night. It also made me itch.

Ho hum... I'm just a toxic waste dump of drugs and junk food. All I need to do now to do an Elvis impersonation is to get a white jumpsuit and grab a microphone.

Cheech · 06-25-07, 05:53 AM

I have major sleep apnea. I had surgery for it. I think Term may remember my speaking about it. My sleep is soo horrible. Its not due to the job, but the job only makes it worse. I have a deviated septum. I had surgery and it made it worse. I now gasp for breath when I sleep.

**Star Man** · 06-25-07, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by mfranklin01

id like to see them work dog shift. (which i think is what star man was refering to

) we work all night long, then when the sun comes up we TRY to go to sleep, which usually involves waiting until you are so tired that you just pass out. then in the afternoon while you have been asleep for like 4hrs people start calling you, or your wife wants you to get up and help do stuff around the house. and by the time all thats done and you think you can rest for a couple more hours...its time to go back to work. man i love dog shift.

Yep, never heard it called dog shift though. Just over nights, mids/midnights, graveyard shift, wee hours 'o da mornin, 3rd shift, etc. Boy the working till sun up then passing out because your so tired is exactly how it goes with me. I love the cold winter months when the sunlight is shorter and I can sometimes get into bed before it gets light out. Then I can trick my brain into thinking it's still night time and I get decent sleep. Summers are rough because it doesn't get dark until later so it feels like I am going in to work early. In the winter there's several hours of dark before I go in. In the summer it's like 1 hour of dark. Then the sun peeks out at 530-6am and I am still on for at least another hour.

**kjlaw** · 06-25-07, 03:35 PM

I was one of the officers who participated in this study and I knew before starting it that cops slept like shit but after a year of tracking the number of hours worked hours slept and soforth I was even shocked as to how little sleep I get.

**E-man** · 06-25-07, 06:28 PM

No shit, why just today I got home at 0715 hrs after a rather boring night shift.
Then had to get up at1230 because I had court.
SO I drag ass to the court for a 5 minute hearing.
Then off back to home to sleep for a few more hours.
What other job makes us work these crappy hours???

THank G-d for coffee...and central air