Can sleep disorders really cause enough sleepiness to make driving and work unsafe?
Yes, definitely. Most patients with narcolepsy and sleep apnea, for example, come to doctors for help because they are having difficulty staying alert while driving or working. However, dangerous sleepiness can occur in anyone, not just people with serious sleep disorders. A study by the Center for Traffic Safety at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center determined that as many as 15% of all vehicle accidents are due to falling asleep, or fatigue-related inattentiveness, at the wheel. Traffic accidents are a major cause of death, injury and property loss. More and more studies are finding that falling asleep at the wheel is a major factor, perhaps the most important after alcohol, in causing traffic accidents. Fatigue-related traffic accidents usually involve no more than one or two vehicles. Yet, they are the most destructive of all to life and property, probably because the drivers are so inattentive that they do not slow down before the crash. The time at wh
