January 4, Reno Gazette Journal, Reno, NV: Hug High Student Killed in Crash… “Tria Cornejo and Nito Ramirez were best friends …. Arizona authorities are trying to determine whether Ramirez, 17, a Hug High football player, will be prosecuted for losing control of his classmate’s car. Cornejo, a 19-year-old Hug senior, died when the car left the highway at the Nevada-Arizona border near Bullhead City, Arizona.
“Cornejo was asleep while Ramirez was driving. Police say Ramirez became drowsy and fell asleep behind the wheel … He is believed to have lost control of the car and crashed….”
Snoozing and cruising don’t mix. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that more than 200,000 crashes are related to driving while drowsy. A large percentage of highway crashes involve driver fatigue.
Sleepiness and sleep deprivation are major concerns, especially for teens. Sleepiness not only can mean dozing off in class and missing an important point for the next test, but it also can mean dozing off behind the wheel and causing loss of life.
Specific sleep problems may first appear during the teen years. Identifying teens with actual sleep disorders, however, can be a problem because teenagers are known to be, well, sleepy. It becomes difficult to separate the people who have a genuine sleep disorder from those who are sleep-deprived because of lifestyle choices.
“It’s a problem we see a lot,” says Dr. Greg Marcus of Hypnoresearch.org, a research site for using hypnosis to cure ailments. “This is a difficulty that many Americans face, no matter their age.”
It has been proven that the average teen needs eight to 10 hours of sleep – and yet, you have to get up earlier for school, have more responsibilities, and probably stay up late at night. And for the first time in your life, you may have problems going to sleep or rising early.
Narcolepsy, delayed sleep phase syndrome, and restless leg syndrome often begin during teen years. Add this to the emotional ups and downs that occur naturally at this time of your life – leaving you even more prone to daytime sleepiness and sleep deprivation.
Developing sleep smarts is not only important for your future lifestyle, it is important right now. Studies have shown that students who sleep more at night do in fact have higher grades and less daytime sleepiness.
The Sleep Robbers
Insomnia occurs when people have a difficult time falling and/or staying asleep. A sleep history may reveal the cause. illness, drugs, stress, depression, noise, pain, breathing disorder, anxiety, etc. But sometimes the cause is not known. Treatments will vary, depending on the cause. Insomnia produces symptoms of sleep deprivation.
Sleep Apnea.
A person with sleep apnea stops breathing for short periods of time during sleep. Symptoms include a lot of daytime sleepiness and loud snoring. Being overweight or having a palate that blocks the airway may cause this potentially serious disorder. In some cases, corrective surgery and weight loss may help. Also, a site like The Snoring Mouthpiece Review can also save you a lot of time and trouble. The site’s Good Morning Snore Solution reviews are outstanding, to say the least.
How can you cope? You can begin by accepting the fact that it is normal for most teens to need eight to 10 hours of sleep every night. Once you know what you need, change your lifestyle to get the sleep that you need. This may mean some big compromises, but in the long run they will produce rewards.
While we may laugh at someone who snores loudly, we fail to realize just how dangerous it truly is. Although not all snorers are diagnosed with sleep apnea, everyone who has sleep apnea actually snores. People with this condition stop breathing many times in their sleep aside from just snoring and that it itself is a very dangerous symptom. Your brain is basically choosing between sleep and breathing and that should not be the case as breathing is essential to life.
