--- title: How Not To Fall Asleep on the Job and Get Stuck in a Plane: A Tutorial description: 45% of Americans say that poor or insufficient sleep affected their daily activities at least once in the past seven days. canonical: https://time.com/3829474/falling-asleep-on-the-job/ author: Annie Murphy Paul article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-21T20:17:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:32:44.294Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How Not To Fall Asleep on the Job and Get Stuck in a Plane: A Tutorial og:description: Fatigue can become a serious professional liability og:url: https://time.com/3829474/falling-asleep-on-the-job/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1384753e521f92f/6987ec082dce0104519e1699/alaska-airlines2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3775 og:image:height: 2123 og:image:alt: An Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q-400 regional turbo prop plane pulls into the gate at Charles M. Schulz Airport on August 27, 2014, near Healdsburg, California. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Not To Fall Asleep on the Job and Get Stuck in a Plane: A Tutorial twitter:description: Fatigue can become a serious professional liability twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1384753e521f92f/6987ec082dce0104519e1699/alaska-airlines2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Not To Fall Asleep on the Job and Get Stuck in a Plane: A Tutorial > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Annie Murphy Paul](https://time.com/author/annie-murphy-paul/) ## Annie Murphy Paul Apr 21, 2015 8:17 PM UTC  An Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q-400 regional turbo prop plane pulls into the gate at Charles M. Schulz Airport on August 27, 2014, near Healdsburg, California. An Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q-400 regional turbo prop plane pulls into the gate at Charles M. Schulz Airport on August 27, 2014, near Healdsburg, California. George Rose—Getty Images by [Annie Murphy Paul](https://time.com/author/annie-murphy-paul/) ## Annie Murphy Paul Apr 21, 2015 8:17 PM UTC Are you feeling tired today? Who isn’t? But common as it is, fatigue can become a serious professional liability, as a baggage handler [discovered](http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/plane-returns-to-sea-tac-after-screams-heard-in-cargo-hold/) in dramatic fashion last week. While loading suitcases on an Alaska Airlines jet, he fell asleep in the plane’s cargo hold — and woke up once the plane was aloft. Realizing his predicament, he called 911 on his cell phone. “I’m inside a plane, and I feel like it’s moving in the air,” he [told](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FALASKA%5FAIRLINES%5FWORKER%5FTRAPPED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) the emergency operator. “Flight 448\. Can you please have somebody stop it?” After the call ended, he resorted to banging and yelling. This got the attention of the plane’s crew, which turned the plane around for an emergency landing. No one was injured in the incident (though the employee, whose name has not been disclosed, has been banned from working for Alaska Airlines in the future). However, research on worker fatigue suggests that all of us who travel may be at risk when airline employees don’t get enough sleep. An [experiment](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2542965/) carried out by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found that study subjects acting as luggage screeners, inspecting simulated x-rays of suitcases, were less likely to spot a gun or a knife stowed in the baggage as they became progressively more tired. After 16 hours of wakefulness, the researchers found, the screeners’ ability to spot the weapons “deteriorated quickly.” The work of other kinds of transportation employees is affected by fatigue as well. According to a 2012 [survey](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2012-03/nsf-nsf030212.php) by the National Sleep Foundation, about a quarter of pilots and train operators admit that sleepiness affects their job performance at least once a week. But transportation workers aren’t the only ones: Many of us need to get more and better sleep in order to be smarter in our everyday lives. In fact, 45% of Americans say that poor or insufficient sleep affected their daily activities at least once in the past seven days, the foundation [reports](http://sleepfoundation.org/media-center/press-release/lack-sleep-affecting-americans-finds-the-national-sleep-foundation). Even mild sleep deprivation has distinct [effects](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656292/) on our cognition: It impairs attention, memory, and decision-making. So don’t wait until you fall asleep on the job to make a change: In order to think better tomorrow, go to bed a bit earlier tonight. _Read more about the science of why we’re stupid and why we’re smart at_ [_The Brilliant Blog_](http://anniemurphypaul.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3829474/falling-asleep-on-the-job/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3829474/falling-asleep-on-the-job/"},"headline":"How Not To Fall Asleep on the Job and Get Stuck in a Plane: A Tutorial","datePublished":"2015-04-21T20:17:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:32:44.294Z","description":"45% of Americans say that poor or insufficient sleep affected their daily activities at least once in the past seven days","url":"https://time.com/3829474/falling-asleep-on-the-job/","keywords":["health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1384753e521f92f/6987ec082dce0104519e1699/alaska-airlines2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Annie Murphy Paul","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/annie-murphy-paul/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1384753e521f92f/6987ec082dce0104519e1699/alaska-airlines2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q-400 regional turbo prop plane pulls into the gate at Charles M. 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