Sleep Disorders may cause the deaths of up to 20,000 people each year in the United States, and lead to loss of health, poor quality of life, and decreased job productivity. Because of their career-long exposure to long work hours and frequent overnight shift duty, police officers are at extremely high risk of suffering sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, and shift work sleep disorder. Our research group has conducted numerous studies of sleep deprivation and interventions to reduce the adverse effects of sleep deprivation on safety, health, and performance of personnel in numerous occupational groups: police, physicians in training (residents), astronauts, air force pilots, nuclear power plant workers, truckers, and industrial workers. We have a successful track record of disseminating research results to inform local and national policy changes. We propose to conduct a randomized, prospective study of the effect of a novel Sleep Disorders Detection and Treatment Program - Operation Healthy Sleep. Because of the high prevalence of sleep disorders among police, and the profound effect of sleep disorders on performance, safety, and job experience, we hypothesize that implementation of Operation Healthy Sleep will: 1. improve the mean nightly sleep and alertness of police officers; 2. improve police officer safety, as determined by: a. decreased rates of motor vehicle crashes; b. decreased on-the-job injuries; 3. improve police officer productivity, as determined by: a. increased arrest and conviction rates; b. decreased response time and completion time (clear time) for calls on duty; c. decreased rates of civilian complaints and inappropriate use of force; 4. improve officers' and families' job satisfaction and ability to cope with shift work. By establishing a comprehensive sleep disorders detection and treatment program and rigorously testing its effects across a range of health, safety, and work outcomes, we hope to develop a model program that can be broadly replicated to improve the safety, health, and performance of police officers, as well as other shift workers, across the country.
| Ogeil, Rowan P; Barger, Laura K; Lockley, Steven W et al. (2018) Cross-sectional analysis of sleep-promoting and wake-promoting drug use on health, fatigue-related error, and near-crashes in police officers. BMJ Open 8:e022041 |
| Crowley, Kate E; Rajaratnam, Shantha M W; Shea, Steven A et al. (2013) Evaluation of a single-channel nasal pressure device to assess obstructive sleep apnea risk in laboratory and home environments. J Clin Sleep Med 9:109-16 |
| Rajaratnam, Shantha M W; Barger, Laura K; Lockley, Steven W et al. (2011) Sleep disorders, health, and safety in police officers. JAMA 306:2567-78 |
| Barger, Laura K; Lockley, Steven W; Rajaratnam, Shantha M W et al. (2009) Neurobehavioral, health, and safety consequences associated with shift work in safety-sensitive professions. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 9:155-64 |
