Nearly half of truck drivers in a recently survey say they rarely or never get a good night's sleep, but that's not much worse than non-transportation workers and better than train operators and pilots.


That's among the findings of the National Sleep Foundation's 2012 Sleep in America poll, which asked transportation professionals, including pilots, train operators, truck, bus, taxi and limo drivers, about their sleep habits and work performance.

The results for professional truck drivers are as follows:

* 14% of truck drivers say that they have had a "near miss" due to sleepiness.

* 44% of truck drivers say they rarely or never get a good night's sleep

* 27% of truck drivers report that their current work schedule does not allow adequate time for sleep

* 16% of drivers say they take 3-5 naps during the workweek, and 42% of drivers report napping on work days.

* Truck drivers report having 12.1 hours off between shifts compared to 12.9 hours for pilots, 12.5 for train operators and 14.2 hours for non-transportation workers off between shifts.

Among all workers surveyed, train operators and pilots report the most work day sleep dissatisfaction. Almost two-thirds of train operators (57%) and one-half of pilots (50%) say they rarely or never get a good night's sleep on work nights, compared to 44% of truck drivers and 42% of non-transportation workers. Bus, taxi, and limo drivers report the best work day sleep satisfaction, with about one-third (29%) saying they rarely or never get a good night's sleep on work nights.

"Transportation workers have challenging schedules that compete with the natural need for sleep," says Thomas Balkin, Ph.D., a sleep researcher from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. "While I'm impressed that transportation professionals nap when they are off duty, we need to better understand how to use naps to reduce sleep deprivation and overcome scheduling issues."

Click here to read more results from the National Sleep Foundation's 2012 poll.