Nap before driving

Is there a perfect time to take a nap? It depends. Your personal situation will determine the best time for you to take a nap. There are three types of naps you can take; planned, emergency and habitual napping. Planned napping (also called preparatory napping) involves taking a nap to delay getting tired early or to help stay alert later than you normally would. Emergency napping occurs when you suddenly feel tired or fatigued and need to rest before completing a task which requires alertness. Habitual napping is when you take a nap the same time every day, for example, most children take habitual naps.

Respondents to our recent Web survey about napping found that up to 35% of respondents are too busy for either planned, emergency or habitual napping. 49% did admit to napping whenever they felt tired, while 8% take habitual naps and over 6% claim be more strategic and plan their napping.

It’s true that napping can help restore alertness, enhance performance, and reduce mistakes and accidents. In spite of these benefits, napping isn’t always the best option for everyone. For example, people having trouble sleeping through the night should avoid napping too close to bedtime because this could further cause sleeplessness. Learn more about naps and how they could benefit you.

Even though you are on vacation and excited to see and do new things, the rules for getting good quality sleep are still the same as if you were home – use beds only for sleeping and avoid reading, working or eating in bed as those actions will make it more difficult to relax in preparation for a good night’s sleep. Digestion interferes with proper sleep, so travelers should avoid large meals before retiring.

To help guests fall asleep and sleep through the night, a sleeper-friendly hotel should have blackout shades installed and provide bedside white noise machines upon request that electronically drown out any stray background or other noise. If you don’t find them in your room, ask for them. You can also requests rooms away from elevators to reduce sleep disturbance.

If you experience neck and back pain when traveling, ask what types of pillows the hotel provides to ensure that you can avoid extra stress in those areas. It’s best to know in advance if the pillow option you need isn’t available because it may be best to bring your own. Learn more about what travelers should expect from a hotel when it’s time to sleep and be sure to pass the info along!

“People think they can judge the precise time they are too tired and don’t realize that ‘drowsy driving’ is a serious danger,” says David Cloud, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation. “They don’t know that it’s possible to fall into a 3-4 second microsleep without realizing it. Traveling at 65 MPH, that’s enough time to travel the length of a football field basically unconscious.”

Even if you manage to stay awake, sleepiness causes slower reaction times, vision impairment, lapses in judgment and delays in processing information, which are all critical elements for safe driving practices. “Getting enough sleep can literally save your life,” adds Cloud.

Prevent a fall-asleep crash by getting enough sleep the night before and by knowing the warning signs of sleepiness and using appropriate countermeasures.

Warning Signs: Feeling Sleepy? Stop Driving!

If you start to do the following, it’s time to get off the road. Find a safe place to pull over:

• Have problems focusing, blink frequently and/or have heavy eyelids;
• Drift from your lane, swerve, tailgate and/or hit rumble strips;
• Have trouble remembering the last few miles driven;
• Miss exits or traffic signs;
• Have trouble keeping your head up;
• Yawn repeatedly;
• Or finding yourself rolling down the windows or turning up the radio.

National Sleep Foundation’s Countermeasures to Prevent Fall-Asleep Crashes

• Get a good night’s sleep before you hit the road. You’ll want to be alert for the drive, so be sure to get adequate sleep (seven to nine hours) the night before you go.
• Don’t be too rushed to arrive at your destination. Many drivers try to maximize the holiday weekend by driving at night or without stopping for breaks. It’s better to allow the time to drive alert and arrive alive.
• Use the buddy system. Just as you should not swim alone, avoid driving alone for long distances. A buddy who remains awake for the journey can take a turn behind the wheel and help identify the warning signs of fatigue.
• Take a break every 100 miles or 2 hours. Do something to refresh yourself like getting a snack, switching drivers, or going for a run.
• Take a nap—find a safe place to take a 15 to 20-minute nap, if you think you might fall asleep. Be cautious about excessive drowsiness after waking up.
• Avoid alcohol and medications that cause drowsiness as a side-effect.
• Avoid driving at times when you would normally be asleep.
  Consume caffeine. The equivalent of two cups of coffee can increase alertness for several hours.

For more information about sleep and safety, visit the National Sleep Foundation’s Web site at sleepfoundation.org.

The study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found that the drivers who were not treated for sleep apnea missed more days and racked up more short-term disability costs than those that were treated. While sleep apnea affects work productivity, it also affects health. Addressing OSA in the workplace offers the possibility of early identification and intervention for a chronic disease that is associated with increased health benefit utilization,” explained the research team.

Lifestyle changes are effective ways of mitigating symptoms of sleep apnea. Here are some tips that may help reduce apnea severity:

• Lose weight. If you are overweight, this is the most important action you can take to cure your sleep apnea (CPAP only treats it; weight loss can cure it in the overweight person).
• Avoid alcohol; it causes frequent nighttime awakenings, and makes the upper airway breathing muscles relax.
• Quit smoking. Cigarette smoking worsens swelling in the upper airway, making apnea (and snoring) worse.
• Some patients with mild sleep apnea or heavy snoring have fewer breathing problems when they are lying on their sides instead of their backs.

Learn more about the study and about sleep apnea, and feel free to pass the information along.

Image photographer: graur razvan ionut

“The best methods that we know to help people operate at peak performance are first to ensure that they get adequate sleep, and second that their work schedules are designed to be aligned with the natural body clock,” said project leader Dr. Elizabeth Klerman, associate team leader for National Space Biomedical Research Institute’s (NSBRI) Human Factors and Performance Team.

An individual’s performance and alertness are generally regulated by several factors related to circadian rhythms and the sleep/wake cycle – length of time awake; the timing, intensity and wavelength of light; the amount of sleep the night before; and the body clock’s perception of time. As a result, most people are not able to operate at peak job performance in the late night or early morning hours.

The software will help astronauts maintain sleep health while on their missions but researchers are now working to individualize the model to determine what personal data are needed in order to provide recommendations for individuals. Klerman said the information needed could be as simple as age, or it could require more complicated data.

The software can easily be adapted for use in many occupations. “This program may be helpful for anyone who has to work the night shift, rotating shifts or extended shifts,” Klerman said. “It could also help international travelers effectively deal with jet lag.”

Workers outside the space industry that could benefit directly are medical personnel, security or police officers, firefighters, those working in transportation such as long-haul truckers, and power plant operators. Klerman suggested that everyone could benefit indirectly from the modeling. “Our lives, including our safety, are impacted by those people who have jobs requiring shift work or extremely long hours and who may be at increased risk of accidents and errors affecting themselves or others,” she said.

Learn more about this interesting software – and about shift work.

The 2010 Sleep in America poll released today by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) reveals significant differences in the sleep habits and attitudes of Asians, Blacks/African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites. It is the first poll to examine sleep among these four ethnic groups.

NSF’s Sleep in America poll found that more than three-fourths of respondents from each ethnic group agree that poor sleep is associated with health problems (76-83%). These new findings echo lessons learned by former President Bill Clinton who recently admitted that he has adopted a new lifestyle regimen to sleep seven or more hours on the advice of his doctors.

The poll also shows that all groups report disturbingly similar experiences missing work or family functions because they were too sleepy (19-24%). Among married people or couples living together, all ethnic groups report being too tired for sex frequently (21- 26% of the time).

“As the leading voice of sleep health, we are committed to better understanding people’s sleep needs,” says David Cloud, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation. “By exploring ethnic and family sleep practices we have gained new insight into why we sleep the way we do.”

Learn more about the poll and its results here.

Learn more at sleepfoudation.org.

• Read the abstract.
• Learn more about Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Sleep.

• Learn more about driving and fatigue at DrowsyDriving.org.