Is Adequate Sleep Becoming Outlandish Among Healthcare Professionals? - A Review on Its Toll on Their Health

Abstract

Sleep deprivation has been hinted to have a deleterious effect on health workers who are involved in multitude of life saving tasks, which often require more attention and concentration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the national health portal (Government of India) have now recognized sleep deprivation as a public health epidemic. The main effects of sleep deprivation include physical effects (sleepiness, fatigue, or hypertension), cognitive impairment (deterioration of performance, attention, concentration and intellectual capacity and increase of the likelihood of accidents) and mental health complications. Rotational night shift work is often accompanied by insufficient sleep and disruption of circadian phase, each related to repeated errors on task performance as a result of lapses in attention and increased reaction time. Maintaining good quality of sleep is vital for the establishment of positive health and physical/mental well-being; nonetheless, lifestyle and environmental factors are progressively causing hitches in sleeping. Individuals with shift work sleep disorders need a customized and comprehensive therapy that includes counselling, yoga/meditation and behavioural therapy along with requisite pharmacological management, as and when warranted.