Confessions of a sleep-deprived mother

Okay I have a confession to make – I never get enough sleep. Usually, I am running on five or six hours a night, and I'm aware that this amount of shut-eye does not let me perform at my best.

Usually it is for noble reasons that I don’t get into bed at a decent hour – I have work to do, I have laundry to do, I have to watch Stephen Colbert…Inevitably, I am always turning off my light long after 1 a.m.

When my four-year-old daughter came into my room this morning at 5 a.m. - she just had to discuss her dream about a princess! – I started thinking about how fatigue and overextertion can hinder workplace safety.

(As a parent obsessed with my kids' safety, you'd think I take that into account, eh?)

Fatigue sometimes seems like an epidemic these days (or maybe with all the long hours we tend to log, it only feels like we're not rested enough?)

Just say no... to nighttime distractions

I like to think of workplace safety as a shared responsibility - yet somehow a lot of the responsibility seems to land on the shoulders of the employer.

Well, this is one area where we, the employees, need to step up to the plate ( or that is, to the bed) - and get enough sleep!

"Beauty sleep" is more than skin deep: When we don’t get enough zzzs, our brain function slows and we could be at risk of making more mistakes.

So, the next time you turn on your T.V. past midnight on a work night, ask yourself this: “Will this program change my life – or am I risking my life to watch it?”

I, for one, am going to sleep... Anyone got a blanket? I might just lay under my desk for a few hours.