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03/10/2008Sleep as basic human need

As life gets busier, the combination of urban life and increasing noise pollution means people all over the world are reporting sleep problems.

As life gets busier, the combination of urban life and increasing noise pollution means people all over the world are reporting sleep problems. Having so many tired people around is no snoozing matter. It costs billions in lost work productivity and fatigue has been partly to blame in major calamities like the Exxon Valdez Oil spill and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. And then there's the personal cost to one's mental and physical health.
Sleep professor Kevin Morgan
Someone who knows all about this is Professor Kevin Morgan, Director of the Clinical Sleep Research Unit at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. Professor Morgan says the tension between one's personal needs and the needs of  business were undeniable.
"On the one hand the modern world tends to be, certainly in its urban form, noisy - traffic noise, aircraft noise. On the other hand there are requirements for individuals, there are levels of noise which are simply incompatible with sleep. 
Photo above right: Sleep professor Kevin Morgan 

I think personally this is a broader social health issue. People have the right to access facilities that will deliver quality of life and quality of sleep is one of the fundamental pillars of quality of life. If we want society to function properly and if we want individuals to function properly in society, we have got to safeguard their sleep."

Japan
Commenting on the situation in Japan where people work such long hours they are at risk of karoshi, or death from overwork, Professor Morgan says there's a fundamental paradox.
"One of the interesting cultural features of Japan that makes it quite distinct from Northern Europe, for example, is the tolerance of sleep in what...would be considered inappropriate times and inappropriate places [by other cultures]. People in Japan are quite happy to sleep almost anywhere. 


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2 reactions to this article

Grimne posted: 08-10-2008 | 3:56 PM

You stated: "fatigue has been partly to blame in major calamities like ... the Chernobyl nuclear disaster"

Can you provide a reference on this? Where have you read this statement? Is it backed up by any evidence or research?

Grimne posted: 08-10-2008 | 3:56 PM

You stated: "fatigue has been partly to blame in major calamities like ... the Chernobyl nuclear disaster"

Can you provide a reference on this? Where have you read this statement? Is it backed up by any evidence or research?

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