Driving Drowsy: Don't Do It!!

As college students, sleep is probably the one thing that's constantly on our minds. "Do I have time for a power-nap before my next class?", "How late am I going to be stuck studying at the IC tonight for this huge exam tomorrow?", "God I'm just so tired, feels like I never get enough sleep!". These are just of the few thoughts constantly racing through my mind as I go about my day.

College students, and Americans overall, are getting less and less sleep each night. The average college student sleeps between 6 to 7 hours each night, which as Dr. Cavanaugh pointed out in his talk, is not enough. Most adults need about 7-10 hours of sleep each night, so college students just aren't cutting it. Ok, but how much does that hour or two of sleep deprivation really matter? Actually, a lot. Insufficient sleep impacts your mood, GPA, and overall safety, so it's not something to be taken lightly. You can get sick, feel more stressed, and you even have an increased likelihood of getting into a car accident as a result of sleep loss.

Luckily, Dr. Cavanaugh informed us you can make up for this missed sleep! If we lose sleep during the week we can make up for it on the weekend by sleeping in a few extra hours or going to bed earlier, but if we don't our neurons can start to degenerate as a consequence. So the good news is if you pull the occasional "all-nighter" studying for that midterm exam, you'll be ok. But if you do this every day it'll start to add up. Dr. Cavanaugh called this "sleep debt", and like any debt it needs to be paid on time or it begins to take its toll on you. Sleep is a homeostatic mechanism that has a buildup of sleep pressure while the circadian system fluctuates. When we are sleep deprived this pressure builds up and we are impaired cognitively, behaviorally, and physically.

Dr. Cavanaugh showed this same principle through his research testing attention level of participants while staring at a blurry screen. Every so often a dot would appear on the screen and participants had to hit a button to indicate they saw the dot. Sleep deprived participants kept falling asleep and were unable to concentrate on the task because they were so exhausted. As a result, their performance score was very low.

Sleep deprivation is a very serious, and even life-threatening issue. According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2005 Sleep in America poll, 60% of adult drivers (168 million people) say they have driven a car while feeling drowsy in the past year, and one third (103 million people) have fallen asleep while driving. It may not seem like a big deal at the time, and you might even think "I'll just drink a cup of coffee and wake right up!" But, this is not the case. Driving drowsy is driving impaired, which is not safe for you or for others on the road. A study by researchers in Australia also found that driving after being awake for 18 hours is roughly the equivalent to driving with a Blood Alcohol Content of 0.05, and after 24 hours it's equivalent to a BAC of 0.10. Drowsy Driving just isn't worth it: be safe, and be sure to get enough sleep before getting behind the wheel.

An investigation into drowsy Uber drivers confirms this. As an Uber driver, you naturally work late hours as this is when your job tends to be in high demand. An investigation into sleep-deprived Uber drivers reveals that, for many, Uber is a full-time job. Many drivers log over 50 hours each week. One driver said "It just works, I can sleep for two hours and be totally ok". As informed neuroscience students, we all know that is a false statement. Driving tired may be a standard part of the day for some Uber drivers, but it's extremely unsafe. Uber needs to do a better job of regulating their drivers' working hours. Lyft, a similar ride-sharing company, doesn't take these risks. They limit their drivers to 14-hour work  days, and are required to take a 6 hour break before resuming work. Driving sleepy may be a normal way of life for many professional drivers, but at least Lyft is doing what they can to try to ensure their drivers are rested and passengers are transported safely.

References:

Articles:
Cavanaugh, Daniel J., Abigail S. Vigerman, Terry Dean, David S. Garbe, and Amita Sehgal. "The Drosophilia Circadian Clock Gates Sleep through Time-of-Day Dependent Modulation of Sleep-Promoting Neurons." Sleep 39.2 (2016): 345-56. Web. 1 March 2017.

Websites:
http://drowsydriving.org/about/facts-and-stats/
https://www.uhs.uga.edu/sleep
http://www.wtsp.com/news/investigations/10-investigates-tired-uber-drivers-on-the-road-hold-for-thursday-11/410954596

Images:
http://www.lowelawgroup.com/images/import/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/How-to-Curb-            Drowsy-Driving-Before-the-Release-of-the-Harken-Device.jpg
http://www.escambiataxcollector.com/articles/you-snooze-you-lose-don-t-drive-drowsy
http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-just-got-a-new-logo-and-people-dont-like-it-2016-2