Help for Truckers with Sleep Apnea

Help for Truckers with Sleep Apnea at eSnore and Sleep LLC

Truck drivers have a very important job. While it is often taken for granted, transporting materials from place to place on time is a critical function. Without truck drivers, the food and goods that you buy would not make it to your stores of choice. The mail that you receive in your mailbox would not make it to the post office to be delivered. 

Truck driving can be dangerous due to changing road conditions as well as other drivers who do not follow the rules of the road. Life on the road can be even more dangerous for those drivers that suffer from sleep apnea.

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that causes repeatedly start and stop breathing while they are asleep. People suffering from sleep apnea experience tiredness even after a good night’s sleep because they are not breathing properly during that time. 

They may also snore loudly. Two main types of sleep apnea have been identified: Obstructive and Central. Obstructive sleep apnea is the more common form of the disorder and is caused when throat muscles relax during sleep. Central sleep apnea occurs when a person’s brain does not send the right signals to the muscles in the body that control their breathing. There are many symptoms that characterize sleep apnea. 

The most common of these include:

• Problems paying attention
• Snoring loudly
• Excessive drowsiness during the day
• Breathing cessation that is observed by another person
• Waking up suddenly with shortness of breath
• Sore throat or dry mouth after sleeping
• Headache after sleeping
• Insomnia (difficulty staying asleep)

Sleep Apnea and Truckers

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has stepped into the truck driving arena and has considered instituting a mandate that will require truck drivers to be screened for obstructive sleep apnea if their Body Mass Index (BMI) is 35 or greater. 

This is due to the Medical Review Board determining that a person with a BMI that indicates obesity is more likely to suffer from OSA. Per the FMCSA, the presence of OSA is crucial to truck drivers because it may be detrimental to driving safely since the condition may negatively interfere with driver alertness and even cause sudden incapacitation.

Effects such as this can have a chain reaction of results. Drivers who are not properly rested may dose off or fall completely asleep while driving. Those that may suffer from OSA may do this at a higher rate, which will cause them to lose control of their trucks and cause major accidents that can severely injure or kill the driver as well as any other people who are driving in the vicinity of the truck. When drivers are carrying such heavy loads as many trucks do, it is critical that employers monitor and ensure that their truckers are capable of doing their jobs because disorders such as sleep apnea can change lives for the worse if it is not diagnosed early enough.

It takes multiple parties to ensure that sleep apnea does not bring down the trucking industries. Medical experts should continue to educate trucking companies on the dangers of sleep apnea and how it can affect their drivers. Once companies are informed, it is their responsibility to actively have their drivers tested for OSA. 

If some drivers are positively diagnosed with sleep apnea, steps should be taken to minimize the occurrence of sleep apnea among these drivers, and those that show severe symptoms should be taken off of the road. No one wants to put a person out of work, but it is necessary to do so if it has the potential to save lives.

Contact eSnore and Sleep LLC today, to discuss how we can help truckers with sleep apnea.

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