Truck Talk
Volume 1 Number 22

Obstructive sleep apnea is a fairly common sleep disorder where sufferers literally stop breathing. These interruptions can occur as often as 30 times in an hour, and can last anywhere from a few seconds to few minutes, interrupting normal sleep patterns, and leaving suffers feeling chronically tired and perhaps dangerously unrested.

OSA is a serious concern in the trucking industry. It's believed that many older male drivers do not get the rest they need because of OSL. The US Federal Motor Carrier Administration is looking at a testing and treatment protocol for commercial drivers that fit the profile of a typical sleep apnea suffer, not to get these drivers off the road, but to get them into treatment and improve their ability to sleep soundly.

On this week's Truck Talk, renown sleep expert, Dr. Allan Pack, the director of the sleep centre at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, explains what sleep apnea is, how it affects its victims, and what treatment options are open to drivers who have this debilitating condition.

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