Fatigue – make the right decision Published Feb. 27, 2008 By the 52nd Fighter Wing Human Performance Team SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- Everyone has heard someone tell a story about a mishap or mistake and, as they go through the sequence of events, shake their head thinking, "Why would they do that? That was not a smart decision!" Everyone is susceptible to making poor decisions, especially when fatigued. Fatigue slows reaction time, affects your scanning ability and information processing skills. What does that mean? It means anyone can make bad decisions when tired. Fatigue affects people differently. It can be the physical discomfort of overworking a group of muscles, an inability to concentrate during a monotonous task, the challenge in catching important signals after working long or irregular hours or the difficulty many people have just in staying awake. Fatigue can come from many sources, both work and personal lifestyles. Constantly changing work schedules, long duty hours, even the decreasing hours of daylight can also add fuel to the fire. Supervisors and co-workers must recognize fatigue's signs and symptoms in others and themselves to avoid the negative impacts of fatigue. Fatigue impacts hand-eye coordination, communication and information processing, vigilance, memory, judgment and decision-making. Fatigue degrades a person's ability to drive a vehicle, monitor equipment, operate and maintain aircraft and perform medical procedures. Despite a person's effort to complete a job, both performance and the individual's "safety margin" are degraded by fatigue Fatigue affects performance like alcohol. Studies show that after 17 hours of sustained wakefulness, performance decreases to a level similar to a .05 blood alcohol content. After 24 hours of sustained wakefulness, performance decreases to a level similar to a .10 BAC. Fatigue also tends to cause an increase in risky behavior. Unfortunately, people are poor judges of their own performance levels and they accept lower standards as a result of fatigue. Lower alertness levels contribute to lapses in attention, taking longer to react to unsafe conditions, to shut down equipment and to avoid roadway obstructions. The ability to concentrate and keep a visual scan of instruments and gauges also suffers. Sometimes, people have an "I just want to get finished" attitude. They tend to press the envelope of safety because they are too tired to realize how much fatigue is affecting their performance. Supervisors must be on the look out for these attitudes. Everyone is task saturated these days but supervisors know that checking on their Airmen ensures they are doing it right the first time will take less time than dealing with a mishap investigation. What can be done to combat fatigue? Well, the short answer is sleep -- obviously much easier said than done. To ensure quality sleep, make the room dark, cool, noise free environment with uninterrupted sleep for at least seven to eight hours a night. To help get uninterrupted sleep before bed, talk to family members and friends to limit distractions/phone calls later. If living in a noisy environment, consider using white noise to block it off. The hum of a fan or low static on a radio can help drown out all the other sounds. Setting a bed time can help ensure in achieving required sleep each night, especially for those with a busy schedule. Avoid more than two beers or any caffeine before going to bed. A nap usually has a more positive effect on alertness than a cup of coffee, and it decreases the length of continuous wakefulness. Sleep is one way to combat fatigue but there are other things that can be done to keep from being tired. Eating a well balanced meal, keeping blood sugar levels stable and being fit will give people more energy. Dehydration also plays a part in how tired people feel. Dehydration leads to sluggishness that impacts decision making caused by mental fogginess, poor short term memory, dizziness and severe headaches. Those who do not get their needed sleep can stay awake with the help of strategic caffeine consumption and isometric exercises but it will not prevent poor or unsafe decisions. It normally takes about 30 minutes for caffeine to get into to system and lasts for about three to four hours. When driving, chewing gum, having an alert passenger or a full bladder can help drivers stay awake. People are generally not lazy -- physiological mechanisms underlie fatigue and sleep is a physiological need, just like food and water. Operations tempo can't be changed and the fatigue factor can not be eliminated but the impact of fatigue can be reduced. Editor's note: The 52nd Fighter Wing Human Performance Training Team is a resource and tool for the wing to address the "human system" in operations. The team provides strategies for maximizing war fighter performance while mitigating human factor risks through a variety of venues. For more information, call Capt. Sara Senechal or Master Sgt. Monica Desjardins at 452-6923. Sources for this article include the Center for Sleep Research, University of South Australia; NASA Ames Research Center, Fatigue Countermeasures Program and the National Sleep Foundation.