Is shift work detrimental to health?

There is a body of evidence that supports the statement that shift work can detrimentally impact on health, as well as, other factors that impact on human wellbeing and safety (i.e. alertness, fatigue, cognitive performance). It concludes, “that we have sufficient knowledge to conclude that shift work may indeed have detrimental consequences for health, despite…

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Sleep & physical activity

Do I exercise or just have a sleep? It is not uncommon for people experiencing fatigue to put this down to lack of sleep, when in actual fact there are……

Types of mood disorders

Mental health can generally can be seperated into three categories: stress, anxiety, and depression and can all directly or indirectly increase the risk of fatigue. They are all common and……

When should I sleep?

Our levels of alertness and attention are influenced by our circadian rhythms, as shown in the figure below. Circadian rhythms allow us to feel more alert during the day and……

Food quality & fatigue

You are what you repeatedly eat! The food that you eat provides the fuel for your body to do everything it needs to do, every second, of every single day.……

What type of exercise should you do?

When you are planning activity you don’t have to choose one activity. Think outside the square. The only limit to Active Living is safety. There are three types of training……

How much sleep do you need?

The amount of sleep that people require varies between individuals depending on many factors. Age is a major determinant of the quantity of sleep. The table below provides a general……

Sleep medication

Sleeping medication may be helpful to overcome short term needs or significant life events, such as grief or high stress events. Sleeping medication can be used to improve sleep quantity……

Meal type and fatigue

It is often promoted that foods high in carbohydrate make you drowsy because they increase the uptake of the amino acid tryptophan by the brain. Tryptophan is a chemical that……

Napping

Effective napping is a skill, which cannot be achieved by everyone. Napping cannot replace sleep, but can assist in times of sleep debt, extreme tiredness and/or when heightened alertness is……

What can you do to manage fatigue?

Taking action against fatigue happens in two forms: 1) the action you take when you experience fatigue; and 2) the action you take to prevent fatigue and therefore become more……