Contact: Jennifer Cowher Williams
National Sleep Foundation
Phone: (703) 243-1697 ext. 211
Email: jwilliams@sleepfoundation.org

ALMOST ALL SAY DROWSY DRIVING IS UNACCEPTABLE, BUT A THIRD OF US DO IT

National Sleep Foundation’s Drowsy Driving Prevention Week® Provides Tips to Prevent One in Six Traffic Fatalities

WASHINGTON, DC, November 4, 2011 – In recognition of Drowsy Driving Prevention Week®, (November 6-12), the National Sleep Foundation is joining with the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety to educate drivers about sleep safety. The AAA Foundation released new data showing that 96% of Americans feel that it is unacceptable for someone to drive when they are so sleepy they have trouble keeping their eyes open; yet, about one-third of Americans admitted doing so in the past 30 days.

“People know that they shouldn’t text or drink when they drive, and that’s great,” says David Cloud, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation. “However, many don’t realize that driving while drowsy is also very dangerous. If you’re so tired that you can hardly keep your eyes open, you could fall asleep for just a few seconds and not realize it. If that happens at 65 miles an hour, you could drive the length of a football field in an unconscious state.”

The AAA Foundation estimates that about one in six deadly crashes involves a drowsy driver. The National Sleep Foundation’s 2011 Sleep in America poll found that about one in ten 16-45 year old drivers report driving drowsy once or twice a week.

“We know that many people are tired, say they aren’t sleeping well, and in this economy more people are working longer hours and multiple jobs,” says Cloud. “It’s vital for people to be able to assess when they’re too sleepy to drive safely. The National Sleep Foundation wants to make sure that everyone knows what they can do to prevent a drowsy driving related crash. Knowing what to do could save your life.”

Sleepiness can impair drivers by causing slower reaction times, vision impairment, lapses in judgment and delays in processing information. In fact, studies show that being awake for more than 20 hours results in an impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08%, the legal limit in all states. It is also possible to fall into a 3-4 second microsleep without realizing it.

“Drowsy driving is a major traffic safety problem that, unfortunately, is largely unrecognized,” said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger. “We need to change the culture so that drivers recognize the dangers, appreciate the consequences and most importantly, stop driving while sleepy.”

Feeling sleepy? Stop driving if you exhibit these warning signs.

The following warning signs indicate that it’s time to stop driving and find a safe place to pull over and address your condition:

• Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking and/or heavy eyelids
• Difficulty keeping reveries or daydreams at bay
• Trouble keeping your head up
• Drifting from your lane, swerving, tailgating and/or hitting rumble strips
• Inability to clearly remember the last few miles driven
• Missing exits or traffic signs
• Yawning repeatedly
• Feeling restless, irritable, or aggressive.

Here’s what you can do to prevent a fall-asleep crash:

• 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 drowsy driving, visit the National Sleep Foundation’s drowsy driving website at www.DrowsyDriving.org.

Drowsy Driving Prevention Week®

In an effort to reduce the number of fatigue-related crashes and to save lives, the National Sleep Foundation is declaring November 6-12, 2011 to be Drowsy Driving Prevention Week®. This annual campaign provides public education about the under-reported risks of driving while drowsy and countermeasures to improve safety on the road.

About the National Sleep Foundation

The National Sleep Foundation is dedicated to improving sleep health and safety through education, public awareness and advocacy. It is well-known for its annual Sleep in America poll. The Foundation is a charitable, educational and scientific not-for-profit organization located in Washington, DC. Its membership includes researchers and clinicians focused on sleep medicine, professionals in the health, medical and science fields, individuals, patients, families affected by drowsy driving and more than 900 healthcare facilities throughout North America. Please visit www.sleepfoundation.org for more information.

Drowsy Driving Prevention Week® is a National Sleep Foundation public awareness campaign to educate drivers about sleep safety. Last year, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a study showing that the tragedy of drowsy driving is more pervasive than shown in previous estimates. Their study shows that drowsy driving involves about one in six deadly crashes; one in eight crashes resulting in occupant hospitalization, and one in fourteen crashes in which a vehicle was towed. These percentages are substantially higher than most previous estimates, suggesting that the contribution of drowsy driving to motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths has not been fully appreciated.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving results in 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and more than 100,000 accidents each year. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety analysis of the accidents resulting from drivers falling asleep behind the wheels is cause for alarm and concern. According to the study, younger drivers age 16-24 were nearly twice as likely to be involved in a drowsy driving crash as drivers age 40-59, and about 57 percent of drowsy driving crashes involved the driver drifting into other lanes or even off the road.

The study also found that –

• Vehicles in which the driver was accompanied by a passenger were nearly 50 percent less likely to be involved in a drowsy driving related crash.
• More than half (55%) of those drivers who reported having fallen asleep while driving in the past year said that it occurred on a high-speed divided highway.
• More than half (59%) of those drivers who reported having fallen asleep while driving in the past year said they had been driving for less than an hour before falling asleep; only one in five reported they had been driving for three hours or longer.
• More than one in four drivers (26%) who reported having fallen asleep while driving in the past year reported that it had occurred between noon and 5 p.m.
• Men (52%) were much more likely than women (30%) to report having ever fallen asleep while driving; men (14%) were also more likely than women (8%) to admit having done so in the past year.
• Drivers age 24 and younger were most likely to report having fallen asleep in the past year, but they were least likely to report having ever fallen asleep. This is consistent with other studies that have found younger drivers to have a higher risk of falling asleep at the wheel.

According to the Foundation’s 2009 Sleep in America poll, about one-third (28%) of Americans admitted that they have fallen asleep behind the wheel within the past year, and more than half (54%) said they have driven while drowsy. The following warning signs indicate that it’s time to stop driving and find a safe place to pull over and address your condition:

• Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking and/or heavy eyelids
• Difficulty keeping reveries or daydreams at bay
• Trouble keeping your head up
• Drifting from your lane, swerving, tailgating and/or hitting rumble strips
• Inability to clearly remember the last few miles driven
• Missing exits or traffic signs
• Yawning repeatedly
• Feeling restless, irritable, or aggressive.

Sleepiness can impair drivers by causing slower reaction times, vision impairment, lapses in judgment and delays in processing information. In fact, studies show that being awake for more than 20 hours results in an impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08%, the legal limit in all states. It is also possible to fall into a 3-4 second microsleep without realizing it. Here’s what you can do to prevent a fall-asleep crash:

• 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 drowsy driving, visit the National Sleep Foundation’s drowsy driving website. Learn more about the study and download the free brochure from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, How To Avoid Drowsy Driving.

Advertisement: The National Sleep Foundation neither control nor endorse the advertisements, items or Websites featured in the advertisers links below.

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.

Advertisement: The National Sleep Foundation neither control nor endorse the advertisements, items or Websites featured in the advertisers links below.

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!

Advertisement: The National Sleep Foundation neither control nor endorse the advertisements, items or Websites featured in the advertisers links below.

“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.

Advertisement: The National Sleep Foundation neither control nor endorse the advertisements, items or Websites featured in the advertisers links below.

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.

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