Fatigue: Research - National Safety Council

A lot of research exists in the areas of sleep deprivation and fatigue. The National Safety Council has compiled some of that eye-opening information here for you to share. You can help us end this deadly problem. Change begins with the individual.

Tired Drivers at Greater Risk for Crash

AAA Foundation in December 2016 released a report, Acute Sleep Deprivation and Risk of Motor Vehicle Crash Involvement. It found drivers have a significantly elevated crash risk if, in a 24-hour period, they have:

slept fewer than seven hours
shortened their usual amount of sleep by one or more hours

American Workers are Sleep-deprived

Thirty-eight percent of working Americans – more than 54 million people – report being sleep deprived, and night shift workers are most at risk for sleep problems. A majority of night-shift workers, 62%, experience short sleep duration, often the result of insomnia and difficulties falling asleep.

Dr. Geoffrey Calvert, team leader and senior medical epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, discusses shift work and sleep.

Adults Should Get at Least Seven Hours of Sleep Every Day

In 2015, the National Sleep Foundation released revised sleep duration recommendations established by a panel of sleep experts who recommend adults get seven to nine hours of sleep every day; see the scientific report here
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society also recently released sleep duration guidelines that suggest adults should sleep at least seven hours per day