Nearly 10% of traffic accidents are caused by sleep disorders

Almost 10 percent of the Kingdom’s traffic accidents are caused by nodding off while driving, Dr. Ayman Karim, director of the Al-Noum Center in King Khaled National Guard Hospital, told local media. A recently released study analyzing traffic statistics supports Dr. Karim’s statement. The study focuses on chronic insomnia as a disease and sleep disorder. According to the sleep expert, these kind of disorders can be extremely dangerous for the concerned parties, especially since sometimes they are linked to criminal acts. “The scope of the problem is not clear in the Kingdom because of the absence of local studies about sleeping disorders,” he added. The field of sleeping disorders is in need of greater study, Dr. Karim pointed out, something which is caused by the lack of doctors and health practitioners in this field. Such doctors, the physician explains, can only be found in military and specialized hospitals in the country. Some of the problems that experts face to develop this field, include dealing with the general ignorance in society about this disorders. Many times patients don’t visit specialists, and instead go to general clinics where they are frequently misdiagnosed. Sleeping disorders are spreading in our society because of different factors, like the lack of proper training for specialists to carry out what are called “sleeping tests” in a professional manner. Plus, the physician added, all the specialized clinics are limited to Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam which have long waiting lists. Dr. Karim explained that the Kingdom is in dire need of more specialists, more hospital beds and a more professional way to deal with these patients. “A patient has to wait four months at least before he is given an appointment to see a specialist in these centers,” he stressed. The experienced specialist was speaking on the occasion of the 2015 World’s Sleeping Day, during one of the events organized by the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. Among these activities, there were some workshops explaining sleeping etiquette, sleep health behaviors and symptoms, common sleep disorders and the impact of proper sleep on work and daily life. -arabnews