Sleep Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sleep - Research Paper Example The literature reviewed in this paper also confirmed that working women have the potential to experience common stressors, putting them at risk for compromised sleep quality. Table of Contents Sleep Deprivation, Shift work and Women Introduction During the agricultural era, humans structured their sleep-wake patterns with nature's dark-light cycle. They worked during the day and slept at night. Dramatic changes in this natural pattern occurred with the discovery of artificial light and the productivity of the industrial era. Artificial light made it possible for industry to operate 24 hours a day. Thus, employees were scheduled into varying shifts, including evening, night, and rotating shifts. With the information era, carne the reality of cyberspace, and it became possible to work anytime, anywhere. The workplace expanded into homes, and disrupted family and leisure time as well as sleep. Natural sleep-wake patterns were compromised and America evolved into a sleep-deprived society (LeBlond, 2008). Background Between 50 million and 70 million individuals experience frequent sleep problems (LeBlond, 2008), and significant number of workers compromise their health and safety because they mismanage or do not know how to manage sleep. Significant number of Americans are categorized as shift-workers, and most report both decreased quantity and quality of sleep, plus family and social life disruption, and impaired physical and emotional health (Bridges, 2008).Medically, problems with decreased quantity and quality of sleep associated with shift-work are diagnosed as Shift-Work Sleep Disorder, and are clinically diagnosed, by professional nurses, as Sleep Pattern Disturbance (LeBlond, 2008). The ability to cope with shift-work is influenced by a variety of inter-, intra-, and extra-personal factors, including (a) one's attitudes and beliefs about sleep, (b) one's biological clock, (c) domestic and social circumstances, and (d) sleep factors (Monk, 2000). Shift-work specifically impacts biological rhythms, negatively influences the shift-worker's quality of sleep, and disrupts family and social life. In reverse, the quality of sleep, social, and domestic demands influence the shift-worker's ability to cope with an unnatural sleep pattern (Monk, 2000; Bridges, 2008). Problem Statement Shift-workers have been reported to experience decreased quality of sleep comparable to people suffering from jet lag, except shift-workers chronically live at odds with natural sleep-wake patterns. Shift-workers predominantly report increased sleep problems, and many shift-workers may exhibit pathological sleepiness levels on the way to and from work as well as during the work shift (Sekine et al., 2006). The most common problems reported are an increased tendency to fall asleep, increased risk of accidents, impaired mood, and reduced psychomotor performance. Shift-workers, who are able to work away from domestic and social obligations, such as on oil-rigs, report adjusting to this unnatural schedule in 5-7 days. However, shift-workers with domestic and social obligations have major difficulty adjusting, leaving them at high risk for suffering the consequences of poor quantity and quality of sleep (Bridges, 2008; Taskar & Hirshkowitz, 2003). At first, men made up most of the American workforce, but women joined the ranks of the employed during World War II (WWII), and by the 1990's, women's employment patterns replicated men’