Police Officers’ Sleep Disorders

Introduction

The paper involves the provision of illustrations or rather detailed descriptions of facts, which have been found in the article “The Cost of Poor Sleep: Workplace Productivity Loss and Associated Costs”. It is true to indicate that sleep disorders are the most popular challenge, which is reported by physicians all over the country. Among sleep disorders related to poor job performance, there are insomnia and sleep apnea. The paper involves the examination of the extent, to which poor sleep or rather sleep disorders have an impact on the job performance of workers, such as police officers. In the United States, the disorder was found out to be greatly associated with the lack of enough hours of sleep, especially among the working population as a whole.

Purpose Section

The major goal of the article under study “The Cost of Poor Sleep: Workplace Productivity Loss and Associated Costs” was to expound on the resultant effects, which sleep interruptions had on the working life of a victim. In a more general term, the research included the effects that sleep disorders had on the specific personnel when they were indulging in their respective areas of working. Researchers concentrated on at least four forms of disorders, namely insomnia, insufficient sleep syndrome, at-risk and good sleep. The article further postulates on the data, which have been gathered in order to determine the relation, which the effects of sleep disorders have on health, individual well-being, as well as job performance and productivity in general. The article further stipulates that sleep disorders possess numerous counts of consequences, which are categorized into both individualistic and societal in their nature.

Execution Section

Researchers of the article conducted surveys, dubbed as “a web-based anonymous survey, which was sponsored entirely by the Sanofi-Aventis (Bridgewater) Company. The survey involves four companies, based in the United States. It was conducted by Alertness Solutions in the period, which extended from November 2006 to March 2009. The survey was conducted with the help of questionnaires, which classified respondents into those, who experienced sleep disturbances, those with secondary forms of insomnia and those, who experienced insufficient sleep syndrome. Another work limitations questionnaire was utilized to find out health-related limitations, which aided the ability to perform the task well in relation to the associated costs incurred by respective employers. It should be noted that four companies, which were used in the study were chosen to represent at least four industries, which operated within the economy of the U.S. These industries are healthcare, manufacturing, air-based and ground-based transportation (Rosekind, Gregory, Melissa, Brandt, Seal & Lerner ,2010).

What Have the Researchers Done:

A rift of employees from each of the four companies was randomly selected and in turn, could receive electronic mails from respective coordinators. They were provided with instructions, which postulated the objectives of the survey and requested for their respective cooperation as well. At two of the four companies under study, there were two employees elected to carry out the mandate of providing participation inducements. The survey did not record the names and addresses of participants. The filled out the survey was returned to the researchers through electronic mails and was then recorded on a log of files, which had already been established for the purpose of the research at hand. The questionnaire had a total of 55 questions, which took approximately 20 minutes to fill. 55 questions were sub-divided into two parts, which involved a section dealing with demographics and specifically with general information of participants (Rosekind et al, 2010). Another set of questions was established to find out challenges associated with job performance, such as concentration, memory and decision-making problems as a whole. The research also utilized statistical methodologies, whereby participants of the survey were later analyzed using a variance model for continuous data to be developed. Such statistical software as Microsoft Excel and JMP was used for processing and evaluating the data collected.

Results Section

The research established that among 26,817 employees, who were requested to undertake the survey, only 4,188 could execute the request as a whole. In order to be eligible to undertake the survey, the employee was obligated to have worked for the company for the period between 7 years, 3 months and 7 years, 8 months. When the survey was conducted, at least 31 % were in managerial positions, 22 % of them were involved in the work-on-hand section, and 18% were directly linked with executive administration positions, while 295 of respondents were perceived to hold other positions within the company. In terms of job productivity, those respondents, who were perceived to be suffering from insomnia and insufficient sleep were placed at the lowest level in terms of conducting work tasks with an insomnia group as the worst affected group altogether. In terms of the performance of the task, the group, which postulated the greatest levels of negative effects, was termed to be diagnosed with insomnia, whereby people were specifically affected by memory loss, fatigue and poor motivation at work. The most interesting facet, which intrigued the researchers, was the level of safety as depicted by these groups. It was noted that the sleep disturbance group was wholly impaired as compared to insomnia and good-sleep groups. Insufficient sleep had a vast record of unintentional sleep, while at work, and was associated with the nodding-off, while they were still driving to work (Rosekind et al, 2010).

Limitations Section

First, in carrying out the survey, there were no systematic approaches utilized when selecting companies under study. It is also not known whether the sample population utilized for the study represented the whole of the United States population. The sample size ignored the ethnicity fact, which commonly contributed to researches. Secondly, the survey deployed far too many methods when conducting the research so that for other companies there was an element of motivation to carry out the survey, while others were not given these incentives. As I have understood, the research study could have been limited in the sense that the sample size was to have been reduced to a significant and manageable size in order to aid easier manipulation of figures. A figure of up to 700 respondents could have been enough to represent the population of the study. The fact that the researchers took to include four variables in conducting the study was somehow complex in nature. Variables could have been reduced to two, so that we had those individuals, who had good sleep and those, who suffered from insomnia. It should be noted that the fact that the researchers had embarked on categorizing individuals with insufficient sleep was somehow illogical, since the term “insufficient” was relative in its meaning and definition. “Insufficient” is not a measurable variable.

Relation to Professional Field

As a police officer, I am entitled to this information in the sense that it will enhance my exposure to the rightful kind of information and various effects sleep can cause in my line of duty. For instance, as a police officer, I am expected to possess a good memory to enable me to memorize crime offenders, as well as their respective crimes, which fall under my jurisdiction. I also need enough sleep in order to make decisions wisely. Enough sleep clears the mind and makes it fresh again facilitating easier thinking. As a police officer, I am always on the road requiring careful driving, and when I am not getting enough sleep or insufficient in that matter, it means that my nodding off will cause accidents. Effective work management requires an individual to concentrate on the underlying task so that in essence it is executed well to facilitate both efficiency and effectiveness (Mutter, 2009).

All in all, the article has expounded on the matter providing a clear and concise assistance in my line of duty. I have developed relevant expertise, which I will use to enhance and conduct my duties perfectly well.