Researchers found that police officers who sleep fewer six hours per night are more
susceptible to chronic fatigue and health problems, as being overweight or obese, and
contracting diabetes or heart disease. The study found that officers working the evening or
night shifts were 14 times likely to get less restful sleep than day-shift officers. The
good news this is correctable. There are approaches we can take to break the cascade of
poor sleep for officers.
The research is important because getting fewer than six hours of sleep affect officers'
ability to do their jobs, could affect public safety. It also boosts the risk for health
problems, which could affect staffing and could lead higher health costs borne by
taxpayers.
While officers working evening or night shifts were more likely to get fewer than six
hours of sleep, the researchers also found that policemen slept fewer than six hours were
twice as likely to sleep poorly. That finding is important, because poor can lead to "vital
exhaustion," or chronic fatigue, which can trigger additional health problems.