Harvard-FRA program to aid sleep-deprived railroaders
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine announced that with the help of the Federal Railroad Administration, it will launch in 2011 “a large-scale educational web site specifically for railroaders and their families.”
The website will include “video, text, and interactive activities that help explain how your body’s clock works, how to make the best of available time for sleep, and how to know when you are getting the sleep you need.”
The Sleep Health and Safety for Railroaders project is a joint initiative funded by the FRA Office of Research and Development Human Factors Program, with the support of the FRA Office of Safety, the DOT’s Volpe Center, Harvard Medical School, and WGBH Education Foundation.
Led by sleep experts Dr. Laura Barger, Dr. Janis Anderson, and Dr. Stuart Quan, the project will include an anonymous sleep disorders screening survey that will allow individuals to determine if they are at risk for sleep disorder, and how to find help.
This project will build on work that the Division of Sleep Medicine has done with fire fighters, police officers, and other professions.
