Sleep disorders plague police officers
- A new Brigham and Women’s Hospital study found that 40 percent of officers have a chronic sleep problem, which in most cases had previously been undiagnosed.
So, as protestors around the US ask police how they sleep at night, the answer turns out to be ‘not great, actually’.
“Sleep deprivation not only slows down reaction time but decreases a person’s ability to stay vigilant with focused attention,’’ Grandner said. “It also impairs the ability to make well thought out decisions’’
It’s really interesting that the rates of these things among cops is much higher than the general population — the article suggests shift work, stress of dealing with criminals, and the higher incidence of obesity in police forces as some sources for the sleep disorders.
While Massachusetts enjoys the fourth-lowest obesity rate in the nation, Czeisler said the State Police on-the-job fitness program, one of a handful in the country, probably also plays a key role.
Two decades ago, the Legislature mandated that State Police officers periodically pass a fitness test, consisting of dragging a dummy in a rescue mission and taking down a suspect by scaling walls and running through an obstacle course.
To get and stay in shape for the test, police are allowed to set aside four hours of work time every week to exercise in a local fitness facility or gym onsite. They can also earn bonuses for their test performance.
That sounds great, because I would like police officers to be alert and clear thinking just about 100% of the time they are not the job, and not demonstrably sleepier that the general population. The mandated exercise probably has lots of other benefits, mental and physical, for the officers in Massachusetts.
If I had any sense, this would motivate me to mandate some exercise for myself. I just… I don’t know how to use any of the machines at the gym and they look like they could kill you.
