In this episode, Werner Stipp - Consultant in Occupational Health and member of the SOM Special Interest Group in Sleep - joins host Steve Randall to discuss the critical intersection of sleep health and workplace performance.

Stipp outlines how OH professionals can utilize sleep assessments to improve worker wellbeing and mitigate safety risks, particularly in safety-critical roles like train driving. The conversation covers the physiology of REM sleep, and the unique challenges faced by shift workers.  

Key Takeaways

• The Sleep-Stress Cycle: There is an inverse relationship between stress and sleep health; stress leads to poor sleep, which in turn reduces a person's ability to manage daily pressures.
• Physiological Benefits of Deep Sleep: During sleep, support cells in the brain act as a "pump" to wash out stress hormones through five 90-minute "ultradian" cycles.
• The Myth of "Catching Up": Sleep debt is like a mortgage that cannot be easily paid off; sleeping in on weekends is often a sign of "decompensation" rather than a solution.   ·        Shift Work Strategies: Successful shift workers often wait to sleep until they are truly tired after a night shift rather than forcing immediate rest.
• Screening for "Red Flags": OH professionals should first exclude treatable conditions like narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnoea, which affects an estimated 8 million people in the UK.  

Connect with Werner Stipp on LinkedIn.


The SOM podcast is sponsored by Orchid Live - specialist occupational health software used by a number of SOM members to run every aspect of their occupational health operations. They hold healthcare records for over 1 million UK workers and work with both in-house OH teams and OH providers. You can find out more at OrchidLive.com.