Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Nov. 1, 2001, edition 1 / Page 7
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Nov. 1, 2001 News Page 7 Sleep disorders reported as cause for numerous traffic accidents each year Jen Hildebrand Reporter It is estimated that drivers who fall asleep behind the wheel cause thou sands of traffic accidents in the United States each year. These drowsy driv ers experience an excessive amount of fatigue and a high number of undi agnosed sleep disorders. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administra tion (NHTSA), there are 100,000 po lice-reported accidents each year. Ap proximately 1.5 percent of these ac cidents are caused by drowsiness. It is estimated that 1,500 fatalities and 71,000 injuries are a result of drowsy drivers each year. Sleep-related crashes are most common among young people. Ac cording to a study conducted by the state of North Carolina, 55 percent of all crashes having to do with sleep in volved people under 25. Seventy- eight percent of those surveyed were males, and the peak age when these accidents occurred was 20. These accidents can be caused by excessive fatigue associated with shift changes, long drives without breaks and driving alone. These types of ac cidents can happen to anyone, but there may be stronger forces at work in some cases. An estimated 30 million Ameri cans are afflicted by sleep disorders that cause excessive daytime sleepi ness. The most common sleep disor ders chronic insomnia, sleep apnea and narcolepsy, and all are easily di agnosed and treatable. Elon University biology professor Dr. Sandra Seidel previously worked in the sleep clinic at Stanford Univer sity, where she dealt with common sleep disorders on a daily basis. “We would see patients with all sorts of problems,” Seidel said. “They would sleep with magnets glued to their heads so that we could monitor them ovemight and make a complete diag nosis the next day.” There are four major levels of sleep according to Seidel. Levels one and two are described as REM sleep, the Ught sleep where a person spends the most time and where dreaming oc curs. Levels three and four are deep a——— According to the NHTSA, approximately 1.5 per cent of 100,000 accidents are caused by drowsiness. It is estimated that 1,500 fatalities and 71,000 injuries are a result of drowsy drivers each year. ^ ^ sleep. Adolescents spend the major ity of their time in deep sleep. The amount of deep sleep decreases with age. “The pattern that brain waves show during the different levels of sleep allow doctors to diagnose prob lems,” Seidel said. “When there are variations in a normal pattem, that is when things such as insomnia, apnea and narcolepsy occur.” Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, and it involves diffi culty in falling asleep, staying asleep or even sleeping at all. “People would come to us thinking they were not sleeping,” Seidel said. “They were actually sleeping, but it would be very fitful or very little at all.” For the majority of people diag nosed with insomnia, there' are physi ological or physical problems that cause the disorder to occur. Stress, excessive caffeine intake, job shift changes and problems such as a bad back or arthritis can cause insomnia. In most insomnia cases, doctors can prescribe medication, but for the ma jority of insomnia sufferers, all that is needed is more rest. “There are numerous over-the- counter remedies for sleep disorders, but for the majority of people, all that they need to do is sleep at normal times and without any distractions,” Seidel said. While insomnia is very common and treatable, sleep apnea is much more serious and can carry with it • serious physical repercussions. “People with apnea have trouble breathing, and this continuous loss of oxygen can lead to numerous other health problems,” Seidel said. First described as a disease in 1965, sleep apnea is a breathing dis order that occurs during the first two stages of sleep. Patients suffering from interruptions in breathing dur ing sleep categorize the disorder. Sleep apnea is often mistaken for nor mal snoring, but while snoring can be stopped when a person is shifted into a different sleeping position, apnea is more permanent. “Apnea generally occurs in middle-aged, obese males,” Seidel said. “An excess of flabby tissue around the throat causes a cutoff of air during sleep, and this can cause choking for air, and in some cases, heart attack or stroke.” In order to combat sleep apnea, doc tors can perform surgery to remove excess flabby tissue, and they can also hook patients up to machines that keep airways open. “While there are numer ous ways to stop snoring, surgery is the best way to combat extreme cases of sleep apnea,” Seidel said. Narcolepsy is a long-lasting neu rological sleep disorder that hinders the body’s central nervous system. When people suffer from narcolepsy, the messages the brain sends out to the body about when to sleep get mixed up. This causes people to fall asleep at inopportune times, such as while eating or at various other times that they want to be awake. Driving is one of these times. While many traffic accidents involv ing sleep are caused by normal drowsiness, narcolepsy has been the cause of many of these accidents as well. Because narcolepsy can strike at any time, people have no control over it, and it can seriously hinder everyday life, especially driving. The best way to treat narcolepsy is with medication. These medica tions straighten out the neurotransmit ters in the brain, and patients are able to have normal sleep pattems. These three sleep disorders are the cause for much of the daytime sleepi ness that occurs each year. Many people suffering from these disorders are undiagnosed and untreated. “It is very expensive to have a sleep study done, and many health insurance com panies do not cover them,” Seidel said. “Because of that, many people suffer from these disorders.” An Invitation to Speak with President Lambert Students are invited to join Dr. Lambert in the Hearth Lounge in Moseley Center on Wednesday, Nov. 14 from 4-5 p.m. for refreshments and conversation. Please come with questions, ideas or concerns you would Hke to discuss with the president. Paid Singer Vacancies No Solo Performance Reqvdred First Chrisitan United Churdi of Christ Burlington 1 Weekly Service 8 Rehearsal Church Phones: 226-7428 or 228-7098 cMMm. Nc mu, 101 Wsft t, IW S»d^, Hwmter i, 2!il Hfii Ip IfgjTWWftitois Ip QEEOTII. NC Ssiiriii;, Um^m 111 11. Cwwinlsrthi 1ptew®srate 2|!ii Ip Stows fm mn itMiRfSfroirtan cti TIM.SiIJQII m at WWW. a uditionnow. com M M M M M M M M M M If
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