Sleep apnea is a condition where your breathing stops completely during the night. The body’s natural reaction to this is to wake you up so that breathing can recommence.
Most of the time, these brief moments of consciousness are too short to even be remembered. This, however, doesn’t stop them from interrupting the sleep cycle as many as hundreds of times a night, effectively preventing vital deep sleep and REM cycles.
Without deep sleep and REM cycles, our bodies and brains can’t rejuvenate themselves. Even if we don’t remember all of those brief moments, we wake up the next day feeling no more rested than we started. This can cause a number of hazards on the road and in the workplace.
Microsleeps
Sleep is one of the body’s most important needs. If the sleep deprivation at night is serious enough—as it easily can be, when sleep apnea is involved—we will try to find rest wherever else we can get it.
Microsleeps are tiny moments of sleep that last anywhere from half a second to thirty or forty seconds. They can happen at any time and in any place, including standing at attention, sitting at a desk, or while behind the wheel of a car.
Half a second doesn’t seem like a long time, but it’s enough to lose control of a car or miss seeing a pedestrian. It’s long enough to drop something extremely heavy or mis-time the movement of a construction crane.
Microsleeps cause you to be a danger to yourself and those around you. You can’t control them, and you can’t take back an accident afterward, even if it was unintentional.
Loss of Concentration and Focus
Falling asleep at the wheel can be deadly, but no less deadly is the loss of focus on your surroundings.
Even if you aren’t so tired that you completely fall asleep, daily exhaustion will absolutely lower your ability to react in a timely manner or to notice those around you. It’s easy to miss lights, drift into other lanes, and stop far too slowly when you are unable to focus properly.
In a much less obvious way, non-vehicle-related mistakes at work can easily cost others dearly. Your coworkers, employers, and others you interact with rely on you just as you rely on them. Extreme exhaustion isn’t fair to anyone involved— least of all you.
Health Ramifications
Unsafe driving and machine operation is just the beginning of the safety hazards presented by severe sleep apnea.
Beyond the risks to your neighbors are the risks to your own long-term health. Chronic exhaustion increases tension, stress, and the possibility of severe complications like heart disease.
Restful Sleep Can Keep You Safe!
You owe it to those around you to give your best effort when safety is involved. Even more than that, however, you owe it to yourself to have the ability to live a full, focused, safe, and present life!
For any questions about treating sleep apnea or to schedule an appointment with our office, contact us today.