Greece crisis: what are the effects of sleep deprivation on decision-making?

Greece and its eurozone creditors have reached a deal after all-night talks, but can we trust the decisions and deals of sleep-deprived politicians?

The Greek government and its eurozone creditors have reached a deal after marathon all-night talks, but can we trust the decisions and deals of sleep-deprived politicians?

Were the negotiators sleep deprived?

Journalist takes picture of cameraman filming journalist sleeping pic.twitter.com/0TKfVl2SSP

The improvement of workers' safety, hygiene and health at work is an objective which should not be subordinated to purely economic considerations.

All workers should have adequate rest periods. The concept of 'rest' must be expressed in units of time, i.e. in days, hours and/or fractions thereof. Community workers must be granted minimum daily, weekly and annual periods of rest and adequate breaks. It is also necessary in this context to place a maximum limit on weekly working hours.

Research has shown that the human body is more sensitive at night to environmental disturbances and also to certain burdensome forms of work organisation and that long periods of night work can be detrimental to the health of workers and can endanger safety at the workplace " Night workers whose work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain do not work more than eight hours in any period of 24 hours during which they perform night work.