Ag Safe Alberta's Executive Director is reminding farmers of ways to combat fatigue during the final push to get harvest 2019 wrapped up and in the books.

Jody Wacowich says although it's a challenge during harvest, you still need seven to nine hours of sleep.

"Somebody who's been awake for 21 hours is the equivalent of being a 0.08 alcohol limit in terms of how they're feeling."

To help prevent your body and mind from getting overtired, you need to first be able to identifying when you or others you're working with are hitting that point of fatigue, Wacowich says.

She adds, if you do get tired while you're working, it's okay to take a break.

"Get out of the cab for five to ten minutes, walk around, get that fresh air.  As hard as it is to do at this time of year when we're under the gun, if you need that 15 minutes cat nap...set that alarm and just have that little bit of reset so you can keep going."

She says other ways to prevent fatigue include delegating tasks to share the work load with others and being mindful of your diet.

"Packing a lot of good healthy snacks, not the junk food, not the things that are high in sugar and are going to give you that quick hit, and then your energy level's just going to drop right off after that."

Wacowich points to nuts and bananas as better alternatives for long term energy.

 

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