-Caveat Lector-
7 out of 10 American workers aren't able to get enough sleep ...
Sleep Deprivation, Alcohol Compared
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
.c The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Not sleeping enough can give you the same results as
drinking too much.
That's the conclusion of a Stanford University study of people with mild to
moderate sleep apnea: people whose breathing stops several or even dozens of
times an hour, interrupting their rest without their knowledge.
About 12 million Americans have the problem but fewer than 2 million of them
have been diagnosed, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association's Web
site. The undiagnosed figure may be as high as 25 million, according to
Stanford's Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center.
People known to have apnea did as poorly on a test of reaction time as people
who were too drunk to drive a bus or truck in California, said Dr. Nelson B.
Powell of the Stanford center.
On three of seven measurements, they did worse than people too drunk to drive
at all in California and other states where the legal test is a blood alcohol
content of .08 percent.
Powell presented his study Sunday at the annual convention American Academy
of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation, Inc.
He said he wanted to underscore the dangers of driving while sleepy, whether
or not it's because of apnea.
``How many times have you or anybody you've known been nodding off at the
wheel, or said, `Gee, I've got to roll the window down or turn the music
louder'?'' he said. ``I'd bet every driver, at one time or another has driven
too tired. We know it's wrong but we still do it.''
This study gives a comparison that people can understand, he said.
``This is a wonderful study,'' said Dr. Regina Walker, an associate professor
of otolaryngology at Loyola University in Chicago. ``It is an extremely
well-thought-out, well-controlled, prospective study that is looking at
something I think is of great significance.''
The study looked at 80 volunteers and 113 people with apnea. The volunteers'
average age was 29 and 56 percent were women. In contrast, 81 percent of the
apnea patients were men, and their average age was 47.
However, statistical analysis ruled out age and gender as reasons for the
difference, Powell said. He said the full analysis will be published next
month in a national peer-reviewed journal.
All of the people took a 10-minute test of reaction speed, pushing a button
to turn off a randomly set light. After four tests to get their baseline
reaction time, the comparison group started drinking 80-proof alcohol.
They were tested three more times as they kept drinking. Their blood alcohol
count averaged .05 percent at the first re-test, .08 percent at the second
and .083 at the third.
It's illegal in California and several other states for anyone with a
blood-alcohol content of more than .04 percent to drive a bus or truck, and
.08 is considered legal proof of driving drunk in 16 states.
In addition to simple reaction times, analysts looked at six mathematical
permutations, such as the means of the 10 fastest and of the 10 slowest
times.
The apnea patients, whose breath stopped about 29 times an hour while they
were asleep, did worse on all seven measurements than the drinkers did on
their first re-test, and worse on three of them than those who were legally
drunk.
``Many of my patients don't think being sleepy is a big deal,'' Walker said.
``I think this will help legislators and the public understand just how
serious the problem is.
``Also that it's not controllable,'' she added. ``People think, `I can just
make myself stay awake.' They can't.''
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