While the amount of sleep we need varies from person to person, on average, most people need from six to nine hours of sleep each night. People with a chronic sleep deficit may experience episodes of microsleep - brief periods during which the brain shuts down for a few seconds to several minutes. In many cases, people who experience the condition aren t even aware they have momentarily fallen asleep. Loss of sleep can have devastating consequences for a driver. Doctors and safety experts say that sleepy drivers are just as dangerous as drunk drivers.
Some people are more at risk for falling asleep at the wheel.
Drivers younger than age 25 cause about 55 percent of all sleep-related crashes. Researchers say that the demands of school, a job, family, extracurricular activities, late-night socializing, and poor sleep habits can contribute to sleepiness in younger drivers. Sleepy Drivers Researchers in Virginia have developed a simulation to measure how well drivers stay awake and alert. A driver performs the test for up to an hour. The investigators have found that people with sleep disorders begin to have problems from the first ten minutes of the driving simulation.