Many Grouchy, Error-Prone Workers Just Need More Sleep

Many Grouchy, Error-Prone Workers Just Need More Sleep Enlarge this image toggle caption Hill Street Studios/Blend Images/Getty Images Hill Street Studios/Blend Images/Getty Images Hey! Sleepy workers can make lethal mistakes; a 2007 report in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety found, among other problems, that medical residents who worked 24-hour shifts made five times as many "serious diagnostic errors" as those who were able to get more sleep. Regulators impose daily and weekly driving limits on truckers, he says, but "even more important than limiting work time is the quality of sleep, the length of sleep, and you can't regulate that." "I'm definitely pretty stressed, and it's difficult to sleep," says Ari Koelle-Pittel, a senior at Drexel University who also works as a writing tutor. "Employees wind up becoming irritable, and they're less likely to socialize with one another outside of work, which is really critical in building relationships," he says.