Sleepy Football Fans Play Dangerous Game at Work

Broadcast in over two hundred countries, the FIFA World Cup is one of the most popular sporting events in the world. But not everybody will be watching the matches in the same time zone as tournament hosts South Africa. For fans in China, this means virtually staying up all night for their love of the game. But, as CRI's Dominic Swire finds out, this may lead to a significant drop in performance in the workplace.

REPORT
In total there will be 64 matches played at the world cup. But, because of the time difference, most of the games will be broadcast late into the night here in China, with around half of them, including the final, kicking off at 2:30am in the morning.

Clearly this poses a problem for the dedicated football fan who dares not watch a recording of the game for fear of accidentally discovering the final score beforehand. But for those who are planning to go without sleep for their love of the game, they should be aware of the risks involved.

Professor Drew Dawson is Director of the centre of sleep research at the University of South Australia.

"At the emotional level they get irritable, tired, grumpy, short, they're terse with other people, they tend to speak less, tend to be more withdrawn. At the cognitive or mental level, then we see what's referred to in the scientific world as attentional tunneling, that is they're less aware of the environment around them and they engage in a process of what's called cognitive disengagement. That's entirely normal because as you become more tired the brain says I need to go and rest so it disengages from the world around. The difficulty is, if you're doing job while that happens, that can lead to potential errors, accidents and injuries."

With regard to getting enough rest, Professor Dawson says a good rule of thumb is to make sure you've slept at least 5 of the past 24 hours, or 12 of the past 48 hours. If your sleep levels drop below this then it means a significant drop in performance and therefore increased risk of accidents.

"In Australia we have a very simple rule which is less than 5 in the prior 24, less than 12 in the prior 48 or if you've been awake for longer than you've been asleep in the 48 hours prior to starting work, the yellow card is up!"

One tactic Chinese employees may use to stay awake in the work place is splitting their sleep into a game of two halves, getting a few hours rest both before and after the matches. Professor Dawson says this is a plan that could work.

"It's entirely possible to sleep before and after the match and there's no clear suggestion that that isn't a perfectly reasonable strategy. Only improved upon by the use of the video recorder – although you do sometimes know the outcome, so that's less exciting."

So with sensible planning, it seems it is possible to watch the midnight games and get sufficient rest. But with the World Cup final broadcast in China at 2:30am on the night of Sunday 11 July, it's possible the country may experience a slight dip in productivity the following Monday.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire