How to manage Christmas and the cotton season: tips from fatigue and sleep expert, Prof. Siobahn Banks

14/12/2025 20 min Temporada 4 Episodio 24
How to manage Christmas and the cotton season: tips from fatigue and sleep expert, Prof. Siobahn Banks

Listen "How to manage Christmas and the cotton season: tips from fatigue and sleep expert, Prof. Siobahn Banks"

Episode Synopsis

Send us a textWhile it's a much looked forward to time of year, there's no getting around the fact that the silly season coincides with one of the busiest times of the cotton season.In this episode we chat with Professor Siobahn Banks from UniSA about how cotton growers and farm managers can best manage the demands of the summer months.Her research to date has focused on the impact of sleep deprivation and shift work on psychological and physiological functioning and how countermeasures may be used to prevent the negative effects of disturbed sleep, in particular work schedules, novel technologies, dietary interventions, napping and caffeine.We cover all of this and more, including some tips for sleep health during busy periods of the cotton season!Resources mentioned:Sleep Health Foundation | Australia's Leading Advocate for Healthy Sleep*Stay tuned for a follow-up discussion on fatigue after the Christmas break about the joint initiative being led by the Rural Safety & Health Alliance (RSHA) - supported by CRDC - the Farming and Fatigue: Growing Sensible Solutions project.This work aims to guide the ag industry to understand, measure and manage fatigue on-farm and there are plenty of key insights available specifically to the cotton industry.