NBC29Fatigue a Factor in Automobile Accidents, Especially for Teens

Fatigue a Factor in Automobile Accidents, Especially for Teens

Reported by Kristina Cruise
July 20, 2007  

Did you know that if your child snores they may not be developing correctly? Or that excessive snoring can correlate to being just as harmful on cognitive tests as lead poisoning?

You or your child may have a sleep disorder and not even know it. In the conclusion to series on sleep we take a look at some of the impact fatigue can have on our lives.

Gettin' gooped up and hooked for my snooze at the Keswick Sleep Institute, I realize the process takes about 45 minutes--much longer than it takes for a trucker to fall asleep at the wheel.

Every year, 500,000 semis are involved in auto accidents. 5000 of them are fatal. Interstate 81 has had its share. From 2004 to 2006 just in Augusta and Rockingham County there were 335 tractor trailer related accidents resulting in 155 injuries and 11 fatalities.

Truck driver fatigue may be a factor in as many as 40 percent of the accidents. David Brown of the Keswick Sleep Institute says some of the truck driving laws were developed in the 1930's.

"It is a near-death experience and near-homicidal experience and we truly need to treat it that seriously," said David Brown with the Keswick Sleep Institute. 

A recent study revealed that 20 percent of long-haul truck drivers reported they had fallen asleep at the wheel during the last 30-days. Truckers aren't the only ones.

Brown says, "Up until very few years ago there was never a driver's education class in the country that even mentioned sleepiness as even a possible factor to auto accidents."

The National Highway Safety Administration estimates 1,500 people are killed every year in crashes caused by drowsy drivers under the age of 25. Brown has done extensive research involving sleepy teens.

"The data was astonishing. We found that 71 percent of these kids said they did not get enough sleep. 80 percent excessively sleep during the day and 17 percent said they had already fallen asleep at the wheel at least once," reported Brown. 

According to the University of Rochester, teens need an average of 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep a night.

"It's been an attitude change of 'this is serious stuff. We want our truck drivers well rested. We want our teenagers well rested,'" stated Brown.

All wired up, it was time for me to get well rested. With wires on my legs chest head and tubes up my nose I'm actually suprisingly comfortable.

Almost an hour later, I am sleeping comfortably. No snoring. Although that wouldn't be uncommon. After the age of 40, 60 percent of men snore and 40 percent of women snore every night.

But if your child is snoring, that should be a huge concern.

Dr. Paul Surratt of the University of Virginia's Sleep Center says sleep apnea in children causes impairment in performance that is so profound it is an equal comparison to having lead poisioning.

"We find kids who snore every night are at high risk of having sleep apnea with cognative impairment. That means they don't do as well on certain tests like vocabulary," explained Surratt. 

Surratt says parents should listen to their kids at night because if they are not sleeping correctly, they're not cognitively developing correctly.

Despite my speculation that I may have one of the 70 diagnosable sleep disorders-- turns out I do have some mild hypopnea or mini apneas, and I'm showing less REM sleep then I should demonstrating. Overall, I'm a pretty good sleeper, it's just than I need more than the average person to get the right amount of REM.

"Most of your breathing irregularities occurred during REM sleep. This is normal because during REM breathing does become irregular," Brown explained to me. 

But that's the thing about sleep medicine--there are a growing number of options to help us sleep more restoratively at night, so we can be better medical reporters during the day.

35 million people in this country suffer from an undiagnosed sleep disorder. The number one reason why people don't discuss sleep problems with their doctor is because they think it's not important enough to bring up.

Doctors says sleep can effect every other aspect of your health.

Here's a complete list of sleep labs in our area:

1. The Keswick Sleep Institute
154 Hansen Road
Suite 101
Charlottesville, VA 22912
(434) 872-0222
www.KeswickSleepInstitute.com

2. University of Virginia Sleep Disorders Center
1222 Jefferson Park Avenue
4th Floor Genesis Bldg
Room 4209
Charlottesville, VA 22908
(434) 982-0406
www.healthsysem.virginia.edu/internet/sdc/info