No rewards for fighting fatigue
When I began my flying career, it was common for pilots to be derided for calling in sick or fatigued. In fact, management often made enough of a hassle for calling in fatigued that most pilots just called in sick.
The problem with this approach is that it obscured too many potential data points that could have furthered the understanding of fatigue and its causes.
While we all knew that fatigue existed, it was often either ignored, or was simply not discussed. Fortunately, science and common sense have made progress. Unfortunately, that progress has been stained with blood, as several accidents have driven home the importance of understanding fatigue. Colgan Air Flight 3407 is the best-known example, but not the only one.
We all know the causes of our fatigue. New parents learn that fatigue is a part of the challenge with new babies that care not a whit what their parents’ sleep schedule is or should be. If you stay up late and get up early for anything, odds are you’re going to be tired. When you travel for a living, you will have nights when sleep is fitful or a struggle for myriad reasons: room temperature (this is a huge one for me), pillows that are too hard/soft/big, noise in the hallways or outside the building, fire alarms, bomb threats—you name it, and I’ve probably dealt with it. Then there is the catch-all “I just couldn’t fall asleep” for whatever reason. Life stress, financial worries, illness, deaths, job loss, impending divorce—all can keep someone awake at night.
We are all different. Some of us like to go to bed early and wake up early, others are night owls who sleep until noon. As for me, it doesn’t matter what time I go to bed, I am waking up between 6 and 7 in the morning no matter what. If I’m tired enough, I may be able to fall asleep for a little while longer, but unless I am deathbed-sick, I will wake up at that time. As a result, I tend to be an early-to-bed kind of guy. My wife, on the other hand, likes to stay up late in part because she can sleep anytime, anywhere, under any conditions. It really isn’t fair.
I recently had two three-day trips scheduled back-to-back. The first trip was not my normal routine. I tend to do early starts (before 7 a.m. is common) that usually lead to finishing the day before 3 p.m. I usually finish early on the last day, which gets me home without spending an extra day at work. The first trip in this instance was the opposite in that it started late (around dinnertime) and ended late each day. I tried to get a nap on the first day with moderate success, but it wasn’t a great sleep. We finished on the West Coast around midnight body time, and true to form, I got a second wind that kept me up a bit, and I woke up early. I tried to get some more sleep, but it wasn’t in the cards. The workday was a short one, but the same issues hit me the second night, only now I was more out of whack. I slept well, but not as long as I’d have liked. The weather was good, and I got through the rest of the day by not overeating and having a good conversation with my first officer. But by the time we landed, I was making some small mistakes and asking air traffic control to repeat even the simplest instructions.
This is where the road forks.
Pilots are frequently admonished not to try and “predict” fatigue while also being reminded that sleep debt is cumulative. I have had 54 years of experience with my own body. I know what makes it tick, and I know when it needs attention. One thing I am very attuned to is my own need for sleep and rest, just like I can tell you well in advance when I’m going to be hungry or need a restroom. But predicting fatigue is frowned upon, because the airlines and the FAA want us to try to get some sleep first. That’s a noble cause—I guess—but when this trip was over, I was dragging. My eyes were heavy, my head hurt, and my trip the next day was an early report with multiple legs. Another sleep stressor for me is knowing that I need to get up early while also having a need to get sleep my body desperately needs. In those instances, I rarely sleep well. In fact, I often will sleep worse. I know this, and I know how my brain and body feel when anything less will only compound the problem.
I was done, and I knew it. I did the smart thing and called off my next trip and went home. Even my wife was surprised, because for me to do this is extremely rare. I got home and took it easy for the rest of the day. When I went to bed that night, I did so knowing that I didn’t have a reason to get up the next morning. I slept 12 hours. The following night I slept 10. I average about seven a night. Both mornings, I woke up alert, functional, and rested. I didn’t have to ease into being awake and I had no desire to close my eyes again. By the third night home, I was back on my normal sleep schedule and my overall energy level was restored. Sleep is the body’s own medicine.
Fatigue can be insidious. It can also come on rapidly. When it is at its worst, it can be bone-crushing, and studies have shown it can be as bad or worse than being drunk in terms of cognitive impairment. The symptoms are easy to define, but the effects on our own body aren’t always easy to recognize. In fact, we often do better at seeing the symptoms in another person than we do at seeing them in ourselves. There are no medals, award ceremonies, or bonuses earned from “powering through” to get the job done. If you succeed, nobody will notice, let alone care. But if you fail, odds are that you will be recognized in all the ways you do not want to be, and you may not even be around to defend yourself.
If you’re going to be a statistic, make sure you aren’t also a case study.
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