TPT November 2007

C ontents

Sleepless in Chicago? Hopefully not Although Margaret Thatcher claimed to have survived on only four hours sleep a night during her time as the UK’s prime minister, it is not possible for the majority of us lesser mortals to function with serious fatigue. The general consensus says that 7-9 hours of sleep a night is the ideal to ensure a tip-top condition the next day. According to a US study in Business Week magazine, sleep deprivation costs ‘$45 billion a year in lost productivity, health-care bills and expenses relating to traffic accidents’ . The National Sleep Foundation, in its last study of adult sleep in the USA, found that 75 per cent of respondents reported having some form of sleep problem, with 44 per cent stating that it had a negative impact on their daily activities. There is clearly a correlation between sleep problems and the turbulence of modern living (take, for example, the current concern over the global economy). Sleep is a great leveller, and quality sleep is just as important to the operator of a tube cutting line as a company’s busy managing director. Like the natural instinct for sleep, bad decisions due to fatigue are universal. For those in our industry travelling frequently on business – especially attending the many tube and pipe exhibitions each year – it is even more important to get a good night’s sleep. Jetlag can be one of the worst causes of insomnia, sleep apnoea and other sleeping troubles. Sleep experts advising business travellers recommend optimum lighting, good room temperatures, sensible drinking, cat-naps and business class air travel.

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So those like me travelling to this year’s Fabtech exhibition in Chicago should all make a concerted effort to sleep well, so that nothing gets in the way of doing business. Rich Sears Editor • Email: richard@intras.co.uk

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