Persuasive Speech Example: The Necessity of Short Naps During Long Shifts

General Purpose: To persuade

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that the United States Congress should adopt a law that requires companies to provide employees with at least 20 minutes of their time solely for a nap when they go for eight-hour shifts or even for longer.

The Central Idea: work fatigue and burnouts can be taken care of through allowing employees to take a short nap while in their shift if they have to perform in their long shift. This is based on the fact that most people derive benefits from a good nights sleep.

Introduction

Attention: while driving back home after a days work shift, you get tired, and all you can do is keep thinking about your bed. Since you are more of a workaholic, you disregard resting and only shrug off the burnout. What you dont know is that this is something serious than you see it. As a matter of fact, this could pose more danger to yourself and the safety of others at the workplace.

After pursuing extensive research, it is my hope that I persuade every one of you that having a nap at the workplace is an integral component when it comes to performance enhancement in the companies, not only at the local scale but also on the international level and should, therefore, get the green light in the workplace.

Ladies and gentlemen, it has been established that in the United States, the average sleep time is about six and half hours per night. It has been determined that most people just sleep without necessarily finding out why it is best they did so. Sleep is particularly important in the sense that it not only revitalizes the mind and relaxes the body but improves the quality of life from a general perspective (Traves, $Julie, 2005). It is therefore important for everyone to have enough sleep for themselves.

There are some reasons why Americans hardly get enough time to sleep, why they should be furnished with the tips of getting enough sleep and the benefits that come with a good nap. To start with, most Americans are living work rather than working to have a life. This trend in the behavior of Americans seems to assume a tilt and studies have established that people are hard-pressed with work and are not working to live but quite on the contrary. This has cut out the time that should be dedicated for sleeping, for socializing and for some good family time (Howard, et al., 2009). To add on this, one out of four adults in the United States do not get enough sleep time, and this creates an army of close to 48 million irritable and tired workers.

The shift workers who comprise firefighters, graveyard, hospitals, and police are about 20 million. Shift workers are known to perform very critical functions in the hospitals, as emergency personnel, on police forces, and even in the transport sector as well as in manufacturing industries. All these personnel risks failing to grab some sleep at the wheel, and this is not good for their general well-being. It has been documented that over 22 million Americans are shift workers. This number is growing annually. It has also been documented that the deprivation of sleep has caused over 100, 000 car crashes on an annual basis, ending up with 1500 deaths.

While at it, it is important to capture the fact that 30 percent of shift workers drive to work and interestingly, they do so while drowsy. The amount of money lost as a result of such carnage is to the tune of $12.5 billion ("Facts and Stats, 2016).

In conclusion, it would be useful to dismiss the idea that six and half hours is enough time for sleep, both for the shifter and for workers elsewhere. Six and half hours is not enough for a good nap and can lead to serious medical issues. A recommended heads up on how to get a good nap is to sleep only when you feel like sleeping. The benefits of a good nap are that it doubles ones antibody level and helps in fighting off diseases. It also makes you smarter, sharp and active. A good nap time also increases ones concentration, a fact that is quite useful in the running of errands and office duties without any challenges (The benefits of sleep, 2004).

References

"Facts and Stats." Drowsy Driving Stay Alert Arrive Alive RSS. National Sleep Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

Fackelmann, K. (2007, August 29). Americans skip sleep to make time for leisure activities. Retrieved May 14, 2011.

Howard, M. E., L. Radford, M. L. Jackson, P. Swann, and G. A. Kennedy (2009). "The Effects of a 30-minute Napping Opportunity during an Actual Night Shift on Performance and Sleepiness in Shift Workers." Biological Rhythm Research 41.2 (2009): 137-48. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

The benefits of sleep. (2004, August 10). Retrieved May 14, 2011.

Traves, Julie. "You Snooze, You Win." Canadian Business 78.17 (2005): 1. EBSCOhost. EBSCO Industries Inc. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.