The Doctors: Driving After Taking Sleeping Pills
The Doctors TV show’s Dr. Travis Stork said that you might want to keep your car in your garage if you’re taking sleeping pills.
Lately, more and more people are being found driving under the influence of sleeping pills. Veronica said she’s suffered with sleeping for years, and started taking prescription sleeping pills about a half hour before bed, and they knock her out. Have you ever tried sleeping pills?
The recommended amount of sleep on Veronica’s pills is eight hours, but sometimes she only gets six and then gets up and drives. She wondered if not getting the full eight puts a risk on her driving.
The Doctors: Driving Simulation Course While on Sleeping Pills
Driving after taking sleeping pills is similar to driving with a .12 blood alcohol level.
Veronica volunteered to take The Doctors’ driving test to see how she reacts to driving after taking sleeping pills. She worked with John Kurychak of Drive Square, Inc. to complete a driving simulation course.
She first took the test before taking a sleeping pill and did very well. She then took her pill and Kurychak woke her up two hours later to take the test. This time, she did terribly. She was weaving in and out of lanes and even hit a car. The way she was driving was similar to someone with a .12 or .16 blood alcohol content.
She took the test one more time six hours after taking the pill. She still swerved this time and Kurychak told her she was driving with the equivalent of a blood alcohol level of .12. Her reaction time was very slow, and Kurychak said you should not operate a vehicle under sleeping pills.
The Doctors: 60 Million People Have Sleeping Pill Prescriptions
Veronica joined The Drs. to talk about her experience, and said she had no idea that the pills would affect her driving that much. Dr. Lisa Masterson said that pain medications do the same thing, and that’s why there’s a warning on their labels.
Dr. Andrew Ordon said that just like alcohol, you don’t always respond the same way to sleeping pills. It depends on how much you’ve eaten that day and how tired you are.
Dr. Stork said that one in four people have trouble sleeping, which is why so many people are turning to these sleep aids. Find out the #1 reason you can’t sleep. 60 million people have prescriptions for sleeping pills. He said that sleeping pills bind to gaba receptors, which allows your neurons and brain activity to slow down.
The Doctors: Never Drive While on Sleeping Pills
Some sleeping medicines don’t allow you to get the type of deep sleep that you need. Some possible side effects of sleeping pills are dizziness, drowsiness, uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body, weakness, and sleep walking, eating talking or driving.
Dr. Stork said that he thinks the amount of sleep aids people take a night is a travesty. He said that we are a quick fix society, and while sleeping pills are a quick fix, they might not be the best long term solution for everyone.
He said that if you do take sleeping medicines, talk to your doctor about how long the effects of the medicine are going to last each night. Do not drive or do anything that could risk your life or the lives of other while on sleeping pills. Check out Veronica’s simulation course in this video below.
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