After a long day of difficult and draining activities, it is important to have enough sleep of between six to eight hours as this has a vast number of benefits on your health. Other than helping in maintaining good health for your immune system, having enough sleep also helps in maintaining good mental health. In addition, it helps in keeping your emotions in check and most importantly helps maintain the health of your heart.
Lack of enough sleep has a diverse number of effects on your health. Some of these effects may turn disastrous not only to yourself but to the people around you.
The following are some 10 disasters that were caused by sleep deprivation.
- Air France Flight 447.
On the first day of June 2009, a France air flight 447 plane left Rio de Janeiro for Paris only to crash four hours after taking off without any prior warning killing all that were onboard.
After the crash, details emerged that the crew which was responsible for flying the plane had come from Rio de Janeiro and they had not gotten enough rest. It was later revealed that the captain, Marc Dubois had only slept for an hour in during the night before he could fly the plane and his co-pilots were equally tired.
Everything was fine for the first four hours until the flight ran into turbulences and thunderstorms soon afterward. The tired captain who had been having a nap delayed going back to the pilot’s compartment.
The fatigued co-pilots overcorrected the sensors when iced over causing the autopilot to disengage and by the time the pilot reached the cockpit, it had become too late to gain control of the plane resulting in the death of all the 228 who were onboard together with the flight crew. - Great Heck High-Speed Train Crash
Garry hart who was the driver of a land rover that had been attached to a trailer fell asleep when driving causing his vehicle to lose control and veer off the roadway thereafter rolling down a steep before finally resting on the railway track
Luckily, he managed to come out of his land cruiser just a minute before a passenger train came and struck his vehicle causing a wreck. His attempts to call for immediate help were unsuccessful and this led to the loss of 10 lives; six passengers and four crew members. In addition, 80 people escaped with injuries.
He was later tried in a court of law and found guilty of dangerous driving, this led him to be imprisoned for five years. - Michigan Train Wreck
15th November 2001 has been recorded in history after two vehicles collided around Clarkston, Michigan. A southbound train that was moving at a speed of 21km/h proceeded into the mainline track after its operators failed to recognize the stop signals which were indicating that there was a train coming from the north side.
When facts were unfolded, it was discovered that the crew members’ fatigues were the main recipe for the accident that led to the death of the northbound engineer and the conductor. - Gas Leak in Bhopal.
On the morning of 3rd December 1984, some citizens of Bhopal never got up from sleep following the leakage of pesticide that happened at night. It was reported that a storage tank at union carbide India limited leaked after a faulty valve paved way for water into the tank, making the pressure rise to uncontrollable levels.
After an hour past midnight, a safety valve came out allowing plums of methyl isocyanate to find their way into the air leading to the instant death of 3800 persons.
It was later revealed that the workers were asleep at the time of the disaster which left approximately 15,000 dead and 600,000 injured. - Chernobyl
Mistakes by plant operators led to the disastrous Chornobyl accident that occurred on April 26, 1986. The massive chemical explosion was caused by an unexpected power surge after the operators had scheduled shutdown leading to the instant death of one person while another person died from serious injuries while receiving treatment in hospital and 20 others died a few months later from the effects of the chemical explosion.
The fatigued workers are said to have made a mistake that could be prevented contributing to this disastrous nuclear accident in the world. - American Airlines Flight 1420 Crash
Even though the poor weather made a major contribution to the crash of 1420, a sober active, and better-rested captain would have prevented the crash.
After the flight had left Dallas-Fort Worth international airport on 1st June 1999, the flight crew was informed when they had covered at least half of the journey about the bad weather which was accompanied by a thunderstorm on their roots.
The crew which was in a hurry of reaching their destination made some poor landing decisions which made them shoot the runway. They refused to discontinue their approach at Little Rock despite the storms and this led to a crash that claimed the lives of the first officer, flight attendant, and 10 passengers. - Three-Mile Island Accident
At around 4.00 am on 28th March 1979, a section of the plant began to leak coolant all over. The workers who were not aware of the root cause made a decision that fueled the disaster. It was later realized that the decision was made out of fatigue which was brought about by lack of sleep. This affected the company which has seized to be operational. - The Grounding Star Cruise of Princess Ship
A journey from Vancouver to Skagway which was to take seven days was stopped on day five after the ship ran into a Pound stone rock 40km from Juneau. Fortunately, neither the crew nor the 1568 passengers onboard were injured.
The national transportation and safety board later revealed that the pilot was experiencing fatigue after failing to have ample time for sleep. - The Challenger Explosion
The top managers who launched the challenger from Cape Town, Florida on January 28th, were from 1.00 am during the day of launch. They only managed to sleep for a few hours the night before the launch which is one of the factors that led to mistakes that claimed the lives of all seven people who were aboard.
The challenger exploded just seventy-three seconds after being installed. - Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
On March 24th, 1989, almost42 liters of oil found its way into prince William sound in Alaska. Captain Joseph Hazelwood who was navigating the ship is said to have taken some drinks which could not allow him to continue navigating the ship. He was then forced to delegate to his sleep-deprived third mate Gregory Cousins which led to the disaster.
No matter the number of activities at stake, you should always find time for sleep as this will help you avoid such disasters.
