Sleep-Impaired

It's 11:30 pm, you have just finished a long project and are ready to drive home. You have been awake since 6:00 that morning and the day is starting to wear you down. You crank up the radio and sit up a little straighter to combat the heaviness of your eyes. Are you sober enough to drive home?

Studies show that being awake for more than 18 hours results in an impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05, 20 hours = 0.08, and 24 hours = 0.10 - more than legally drunk.

Half of American adults consistently report they have driven drowsy and around 20% actually admit they have fallen asleep at the wheel in the previous year. In a recent national poll, 15% of drivers in 10th-12th grades stated they drove drowsy at least once a week.

Sleepiness can cause as much harm as alcohol when deciding to get behind the wheel.

Sources: National Sleep Foundation
Drowsy Driving Fact Sheets: (pdf), (pdf), (pdf)

LumberJack

Drowsy Driving Prevention Week

November 2 - 8, 2009

Studies show more than half of all fall-asleep crashes involve drivers age 25 years or younger.

According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2009 Sleep in America Poll, 1% or 1.9 million drivers have had a car crash or a near crash due to drowsiness in the past year.

Sources: drowsydriving.org (pdf), 2009 Sleep in America Poll Summary (pdf)
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November 4, 2009

Thanks to the ISU students that shared their experiences and participated in the Crash T-shirt give away.

Preventing a Fall-Asleep Crash

• Get a good night’s sleep before a long drive.
• Get off the road if you notice any of the warning signs of fatigue.
• Take a nap – find a safe place to take a 5 to 20-minute nap.
• Consume caffeine – the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee can increase alertness for several hours, but DO NOT rely on it for long periods.
• Try consuming caffeine before taking a short nap to get the benefits of both.
• Drive with a friend. A passenger who remains awake can help watch for signs of fatigue in the driver and can take a turn driving, if necessary.
• Always wear your seatbelt.

Source: http://drowsydriving.org/about/detection-and-prevention/

Chronic All-Nighters?

"When you're chronically drunk, you can't tell when you're drunk. If you're chronically sleep deprived, you can't tell when you're sleepy. You lose the ability to detect how tired you are. It's not unusual to fall asleep behind the wheel," said Dr. David Schulman, the current medical director of the Emory Clinic Sleep Disorders Laboratory.

Sleepiness, like alcohol, slows reaction time, impairs  judgment, and decreases awareness. All these significantly increases the risk of a crash. Source

Most of us would like to think we'd pull over if we were too tired. But most of the symptoms of being too tired are difficult to notice, particularly when sleep deprived. We react to sleep deprivation long before we actually fall asleep at the wheel. So, how many of these things have happened to you behind the wheel?

• Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking, or heavy eyelids
  
• Daydreaming; wandering/disconnected thoughts
  
• Trouble remembering the last few miles driven; missing exits or traffic signs
  
• Yawning repeatedly or rubbing your eyes
  
• Trouble keeping your head up
  
• Drifting from your lane, tailgating, or hitting a shoulder rumble strip
  
• Feeling restless and irritable

Source: National Sleep Foundation

how anti-sleep alarms work