‘Running Out of Time’ is Important for Mental Health

A guest post by Public Safety Program Coordinator Lora Setter

A few weeks ago, I was scheduled to fly from Hartford, Connecticut to Minneapolis, and my flight was canceled. The pilots had "run out of time." 

For pilots, running out of time means they’ve reached their ten-hour fly time limit. When two pilots are flying together, they can fly up to ten hours. If they are flying solo, they are grounded at eight hours. 

Pilots’ hours are restricted because their job affects the safety of others. They need to be well rested to safely perform their job duties, as people’s lives depend on them. 

Many public safety departments routinely schedule their personnel for 10- to 12-hour shifts. Personnel are allowed to work up to 16 hours before they run out of time. This is twice the number of hours that a solo pilot is allowed to work. Organizations use these extended shifts because they provide economic benefit, as more hours can be covered with fewer people. Line-level people like these hours and "muscle through" long shifts because they know at the end of their work cycle that they’ll enjoy a longer stretch of time off.  

PTSD Awareness Month and sleep

June is PTSD Awareness Month. A time to acknowledge that PTSD (post- traumatic stress disorder) is preventable and treatable. Getting enough sleep is integral to maintaining positive mental health. Being fatigued creates opportunities for traumatic brain injuries, like PTSD, as well as other risks such as heart disease, cancer, depression, anxiety, etc. 

In this recent Minnesota Reformer article “Thanks to overtime, nearly three-fourths of Minneapolis cops made six-figure incomes last year,” reporter Deena Winter describes how long hours may have contributed to a tragic outcome:

“When former police officer Mohamed Noor clocked in for a 10-hour police shift on the night he shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk in south Minneapolis, he had just finished a seven-hour shift moonlighting as a security guard.

Noor had just 90 minutes off before clocking in for the shift that ended Ruszczyk’s life. He was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for manslaughter after his murder conviction was overturned.”

After World War II, the British government did a study of soldiers who had returned from the front and were suffering from PTSD, or “shell shock” as it was called then. The study revealed that these soldiers had witnessed great trauma and had been in the trenches too long, without getting enough sleep. 

Dr. Roxanne Prichard, an award-winning researcher, speaker, author, and professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of St. Thomas recently presented a League of Minnesota Cities-hosted webinar about “sleep health in the public safety community.” In her presentation, Dr. Prichard speaks about the consequences of poor sleep: physical and mental illnesses, PTSD, performance deficits, and motor vehicle accidents. 

She presents a compelling argument for public safety people to prioritize sleep for positive brain health. Public safety people aren’t superhuman, they have the same biological needs for sleep as pilots and everyone else. With the work they do and the traumas they experience, it’s important that police officers and firefighters aren’t held in the trenches too long — for their own health and because people’s lives depend on them. 

Dr. Prichard’s presentation can be found in the recorded webinars page on the League's website: Sleep Health in First Responders: A Community Safety Issue.

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful -

Lora