The National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, is the federal agency that investigates major traffic accidents. Each year, they issue an annual “most wanted list” of safety improvements, and their 2019-2020 list includes “screening and treating obstructive sleep apnea” among the top 10 topic areas.
People who work nontraditional work hours, such as 11 p.m.-7 a.m., or the “graveyard” shift, are more likely than people with traditional daytime work schedules to develop a chronic medical condition – shift work sleep disorder – that disrupts their sleep.
According to researchers at the University of Missouri, people who develop this condition are also three times more likely to be involved in a vehicle accident. Shift work sleep disorder increased the risk of a traffic crash by nearly 300%, as compared to both sleep apnea and insomnia, which both increased the risk of a crash by approximately 30%.
Read the article at Missouri University.
