Dozing Off at The Wheel

The National Sleep Foundation estimates that 80,000 drivers doze off at the wheel, for some period of time, each and every day! One of them might be in the SUV ahead of you, in the bus behind you or in the 18-wheeler next to you on that busy interstate. Or are you one of them, too?

Drowsy driving, or excessive daytime sleepiness, can be caused by something called Sleep Apnea. This is how the National Institute of Health (NIH) describes this disorder on their website*:

"Sleep apnea is a common disorder that can be very serious. In sleep apnea, your breathing stops or gets very shallow while you are sleeping. Each pause in breathing typically lasts 10 to 20 seconds or more. These pauses can occur 20 to 30 times or more an hour."

"The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea. During sleep, enough air cannot flow into your lungs through your mouth and nose even though you try to breathe. When this happens, the amount of oxygen in your blood may drop. Normal breaths then start again with a loud snort or choking sound. When your sleep is upset throughout the night, you can be very sleepy during the day. With sleep apnea, your sleep is not restful because:

• These brief episodes of increased airway resistance (and breathing pauses) occur many times.
• You may have many brief drops in the oxygen levels in your blood.
• You move out of deep sleep and into light sleep several times during the night, resulting in poor sleep quality...." .

*(above excerpt borrowed from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov)

Much has been said about the dangers of drowsy driving, yet the full impact of the damage sleep apnea can cause is only now being realized.

According to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of California in San Diego and in Canada and Colorado, sleep apnea may be the cause of as many as 567,000 vehicle crashes that cause 980 deaths and over $11 billion dollars in related costs a year.
"Most physicians and patients must be made more aware of this major, major disorder because it's very silent, and we're just now beginning to realize its impact," said Dr. Alex Sassani of UCSD, who did much of the analysis for the study.

So how do you overcome this disorder?
Leading edge technology into the workings of our brains and bodies has shown that certain audio frequencies can create the brain wave states necessary for us to relax, let worries melt away and finally, in the deeper states, achieve restful sleep. It is only in the deepest of these, the Delta state, that the brain has the ability to begin the repair, regeneration and renewal that our bodies need in order to function effectively when we are awake.

So how do you get there? There are literally hundreds of different approaches to the use of sound or music to aid in sleep. One of the best web resources is to be found at Discovery Tools and Workshops. Under the Buying Guide link, you will find a number of selections to aid you in relaxation, sleep, dreaming and even catnapping for the quick power snooze during the day!