| Ten years ago, a former colleague of mine, a | | | | breathing, commonly known as sleep apnea, |
| fine teacher and person, was tragically | | | | affects 15 million people in the United |
| killed in a car accident in British Columbia. | | | | States. This condition, characterized by |
| He was on vacation with his daughter who | | | | suffocation and oxygen deprivation which wake |
| miraculously survived the accident. What | | | | the subjects up several times in the course |
| happened was a classic case of sleep | | | | of the night, is responsible for daytime |
| deprivation: my friend was anxious to make | | | | sleepiness and fatigue. Put these subjects on |
| his way to a chosen destination and despite | | | | the highway and we have a recipe for |
| his fatigue and the fact that he had been on | | | | disastrous traffic accidents.Perhaps an |
| the road for over 6 hours, he made the | | | | examination of the influence sleep |
| decision to drive through the night. He never | | | | deprivation has on our mental acuity and |
| made it there.That there is a direct | | | | performance level can shed light on how we |
| correlation between sleep deprivation and | | | | can protect ourselves and others from the |
| traffic accidents cannot be disputed. In | | | | disastrous consequences of sleep fatigue.What |
| 1998, 24,318 deaths were cited from accidents | | | | happens to you when you are sleep deprived? |
| related to sleep deprivation in the US. There | | | | According to the Traffic Research Center, |
| were as well 2, 474,430 disabling injuries | | | | these are the influences of sleep deprivation |
| resulting from accidents where decreased | | | | on performance:a) Slower reaction time: |
| mental efficiency and attentiveness due to | | | | sleeplessness slows down your reflexes; |
| sleep loss was the major causative factor. In | | | | reaction time slows down, preventing you from |
| fact, a major review conducted in 1996 | | | | stopping in times of danger.b) Decrease in |
| suggested that the oil spill of the Exxon | | | | concentration levels: When you are overly |
| Valdez, the destruction of the space shuttle | | | | tired, your attention span decreases. Most |
| Challenger, the nuclear accident at | | | | people are subject to a decrease in attention |
| Chernobyl( costing over 50,000 lives) and the | | | | every 90-120 minutes; however, sleepiness |
| near nuclear accidents at the Three Mile | | | | makes this decrease even worse and it can |
| Island and Peach Bottom reactors were all | | | | cause accidents when you fall asleep at the |
| associated with sleep deprivation of the | | | | wheel.c) Disorder in information processing: |
| personnel involved.Sleep deprivation is often | | | | Sleepiness is very much like being under the |
| caused by sleep disorders which are unknown | | | | influence of alcohol or drugs. When you are |
| to the subjects themselves. Sleep apnea, for | | | | sleepy, your mental and psychomotor skills |
| example, is a common cause for sleep deficit. | | | | diminish. In one study, a group of subjects |
| A study at the Sleep Disorders and Research | | | | were kept awake for 28 hours; another group |
| Center of Stanford University Medical School | | | | was given alcoholic drinks every half hour. |
| showed that truck drivers identified with | | | | When both groups were tested for hand-eye |
| sleep disordered breathing had a two-fold | | | | coordination, the ones who were sleep |
| higher accident rate than drivers without | | | | deprived performed equally bad as the ones |
| sleep-disordered breathing. Sleep disordered | | | | with 0.5 blood alcohol level. |