Not Sleeping?

As finals approach, I find myself getting less sleep every night. In fact, the other night after a long day/night of cramming at the library I questioned whether I was too exhausted to drive home…. which lead me to research the effects of sleep deprivation and driving. According to a cnn.com health report, researchers in Australia and New Zealand say that the effects of sleep deprivation and alcohol use are very similar. Researchers “found that people who drive after being awake for 17 to 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent.” 16 to 60 percent of driving accidents are associated with sleep deprivation. The reason for the wide percentage range is that unlike drug and alcohol use its hard to prove that a person is suffering from sleep deprivation. I hope everyone takes this into consideration during finals week.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/09/20/sleep.deprivation/