Sleep deprivation is not yet recognized in India on par with diabetes, obesity or smoking. But it’s making us sick, fat and stupid.
In the wee hours of a Monday morning in March 2013, an SUV carrying 10 people crashed into a heavy vehicle on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, killing six people returning from a wedding party and injuring three. The driver of the SUV confessed that he had dozed off at the wheel. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. The Save Life Foundation, an NGO working on road safety and emergency medical care, found that of the 364 road traffic accidents (RTA) on the highway between October 2012 and October 2014, 108 (nearly 30 per cent) could be attributed to fatigued drivers.
A 2009 AIIMS study involving 380 victims of RTA found that the majority were commercial drivers suffering from sleep deprivation. According to the researchers 60 per cent of them had not slept well the night before and 15 per cent had abnormal sleeping habits. “The lack of sleep impairs a person’s troubleshooting capacity and cognitive functions—so you may not use the brake at the right time or take a crucial turn,” says Dr M.S. Kanwar, senior consultant, respiratory medicine, critical care and sleep disorders, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. Nodding off for even a few seconds (known as microsleep) can have serious consequences.
India is among the top sleep deprived nations. According to the landmark Philips-AC Nielsen survey in 2009, almost 93 per cent Indians don’t get enough sleep, with 11 per cent confessing to dozing off at work and another 11 per cent taking leave to catch up on sleep. The Western world has acknowledged the issue and is taking steps to address it.
この記事は Reader's Digest India の February 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Reader's Digest India の February 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
ME & MY SHELF
Siddharth Kapila is a lawyer turned writer whose writing has focussed on issues surrounding Hinduism. His debut book, Tripping Down the Ganga: A Son's Exploration of Faith (Speaking Tiger) traces his seven-year-long journey along India's holiest river and his explorations into the nature of faith among believers and skeptics alike.
EMBEDDED FROM NPR
For all its flaws and shortcomings, some of which have come under the spotlight in recent years, NPR makes some of the best hardcore journalistic podcasts ever.
ANURAG MINUS VERMA PODCAST
Interview podcasts live and die not just on the strengths of the interviewer but also the range of participating guests.
WE'RE NOT KIDDING WITH MEHDI & FRIENDS
Since his exit from MSNBC, star anchor and journalist Mehdi Hasan has gone on to found Zeteo, an all-new media startup focussing on both news and analysis.
Ananda: An Exploration of Cannabis in India by Karan Madhok (Aleph)
Karan Madhok's Ananda is a lively, three-dimensional exploration of India's past and present relationship with cannabis.
I'll Have it Here: Poems by Jeet Thayil, (Fourth Estate)
For over three decades now, Jeet Thayil has been one of India's pre-eminent Englishlanguage poets.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Penguin Random House India)
Samantha Harvey became the latest winner of the Booker Prize last month for Orbital, a short, sharp shock of a novel about a group of astronauts aboard the International Space Station for a long-term mission.
She Defied All the Odds
When doctors told the McCoombes that spina bifida would severely limit their daughter's life, they refused to listen. So did the little girl
DO YOU DARE?
Two Danish businesswomen want us to start eating insects. It's good for the environment, but can consumers get over the yuck factor?
Searching for Santa Claus
Santa lives at the North Pole, right? Don't say that to the people of Rovaniemi in northern Finland
