Here is the bottom line. If you are not getting sufficient sleep, you are suffering from fatigue. While this is not my area of expertise, I know people who know this stuff inside and out. Fatigue impacts decision-making. Fatigue impacts critical-thinking skills. Fatigue impacts judgment. Fatigue impacts coordination and balance. Fatigue impacts your length of life!
The guru on fatigue in public safety is Dr. Bryan Vila, former professor of criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University. I met this fellow way back in the 70s when he was Deputy Sheriff Bryan Vila with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office. We were both going to school in our “spare” time; he was studying something called evolutionary ecology. Bryan ended up with his PhD and ultimately started a program at WSU Spokane to study sleep deprivation issues in police work.
About a decade ago, Dr. Vila wrote a book about “tired cops” – he called it Tired Cops – and for me that was a wakeup call (no pun intended) on this issue. I bought a lot of copies and gave them to people who had control in their agencies and could do something about it.