National Sleep Awareness Week March 3—9
Are you at risk for driving drowsy?
BINGHAMTON, NY - March 3—9 marks National Sleep Awareness Week and a time when we all need to take a look at our sleeping habits. Are we getting enough sleep? Are we getting quality sleep? Is disrupted sleep affecting our day—to—day activities? Sleep is a key component to our health, performance, safety and quality of life. Sleep is just as important as exercise and good nutrition. Adults should be sleeping between 7—9 hours a night and adolescents on average should be sleeping 9.25 hours a night. Toddlers and newborns should be sleeping even more than that! But unfortunately 39% of Americans are sleep deprived and are sleeping less than the recommended amount (National Sleep Foundation). Sleep loss can be caused by such things as shift work, lifestyle choices, using certain medications, untreated or unrecognized sleep disorders, as well as the consumption of alcohol.
Sleep loss can have tremendous effects on not only our health but also on our safety. According to the New York State Department of Health, 100,000 crashes each year are caused by fatigued drivers. These crashes result in approximately 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary losses. Sleepiness impairs our driving just like alcohol and drugs. Being awake for 18 hours is equal to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08% which is legally drunk. Sleepiness impairs our performance, slows vigilance and reaction time, impairs our judgment and vision and slows information processing. These are all skills we need in order to drive safely!
Warning signs for drowsy driving include: drifting from lane to lane, yawning repeatedly, difficulty keeping eyes open or focused, having trouble remembering the last few miles driven, tailgating, missing traffic signals, blurry vision and day dreaming.
The best way to avoid driving drowsy is to get enough sleep. Try to limit your driving from midnight to 6 a.m. when your body normally wants to sleep. If you feel drowsy while driving, pull over in a safe area and take a quick 15 — 20 minute nap. If you are taking a long trip, be sure to make regular stops every 100 miles or every 2 hours——— ideally switch drivers and share the driving responsibility. Drinking caffeine can sometimes help drowsiness however the caffeine needed to make any kind of difference should be equivalent to 2 cups of coffee. Be aware that caffeine takes about 30 minutes to become effective and even then the effects are short lived. Remember that opening a window or listening to the radio does not work!
According to the New York State Governor's Traffic Safety Committee, young drivers under the age of 25, people who work long or nontraditional hours, commercial drivers, business travelers and people who have undiagnosed or untreated sleep disorders are at high risk for driving drowsy. And even if you don't fall into one of these high risk categories, we are all at some risk during this time of year. Daylight Saving Time begins on March 9th and many of us are affected by that loss of an hours sleep. So if you feel fatigued while you are driving, recognize the signs and pull over!
For more information about sleep and drowsy driving please visit the National Sleep Awareness Week website at www.nsaw.org or www.drowsydriving.org.
CONTACT:
Carrie Abbott, Supervising Public Health Educator
Broome County Health Department, 778-2884
email: cabbott@co.broome.ny.us
Christine Muss, Traffic Safety Coordinator
Broome County Health Department, 778-2807
email: cmuss@co.broome.ny.us
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Published Date: 03-04-2008
