{"id":27945,"date":"2025-09-05T10:37:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=27945"},"modified":"2025-09-05T10:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:54:24","slug":"for-young-adults-less-sleep-means-more-risk-while-working-and-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/for-young-adults-less-sleep-means-more-risk-while-working-and-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"For young adults, less sleep means more risk while working and driving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Deepai<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sleep-related risks in young adults are more complex than previously thought, with overlapping sleep problems potentially increasing the chances of accidents on the road and at work, according to a new study from Murdoch University.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous research has primarily focused on insufficient sleep as the leading cause of road and workplace accidents in young drivers; however, newly released results, as part of the Raine Study, have found sleep disorders and shift work to also be strong influencers in young adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Kelly Sansom<\/a>, Associate Researcher from Murdoch University\u2019s\u00a0Centre for Healthy Ageing<\/a>, who was lead author of the paper, said that these factors are common in young adults, but few studies have examined them as primary factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTogether, motor vehicle accidents and unintentional injuries are a leading cause of death and disability in adolescents and young adults,\u201d Dr. Sansom said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur study investigated the impact of having, not just one, but multiple sleep-related risk factors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe results showed that the combined burden of multiple sleep-disrupting factors, including sleep disorders, insufficient sleep, and shift work, is associated with an increased risk of near-miss road incidents and falling asleep at work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study assessed 439 young Australian adults aged 22 for common sleep disorders such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnoea, and restless legs syndrome.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information on shift work, sleep habits, and road and workplace incidents was also collected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese factors have been largely overlooked in road safety studies of young adults,\u201d Dr. Sansom said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin our study cohort, 16% reported falling asleep behind the wheel, 23% had at least one near-miss road accident due to sleepiness, and insufficient sleep was linked to more than double the odds of falling asleep while driving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also found that the presence of all three sleep-disrupting factors, including sleep disorders, insufficient sleep, and shift work, had a greater effect on sleepiness-related near-miss road incidents than any of the individual sleep-disrupting factors alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur findings suggest that all three sleep-related factors and their interactions should be considered in future planning for road and workplace safety interventions in young adults.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murdoch University Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation\u00a0Professor Peter Eastwood<\/a>, who was also an author of the study, said that education on identifying and managing sleep disorders, alongside promotion of healthy sleeping habits, is crucial to mitigate unsafe driving and work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is particularly important given the overrepresentation of young adults in road and workplace incidents and the known contribution of sleepiness to such incidents in this demographic,\u201d Professor Eastwood said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor Amy Reynolds<\/a>, clinical epidemiologist and intern psychologist at Flinders University worked closely with Dr. Sansom and Professor Eastwood on the study and said that sleep disorders often get missed in young shift workers who also have increased risk for insufficient sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRaising awareness and facilitating support to access sleep services is critical for managing the psychosocial safety of our workforce and should be a priority for organizations where these risk factors are present to improve safety,\u201d Dr. Reynolds said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from Flinders University and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, using previously collected sleep health data from the Raine Study. Sleep health data collected during the 22-year follow-up were supported by funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Established in 1989, the Western Australia-based Raine Study is one of the world\u2019s oldest and longest-running pre-birth longitudinal cohort health studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very thankful to the study\u2019s participants; their ongoing commitment makes important research like this possible,\u201d Dr. Sansom said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sleep-related risks in young adults are more complex than previously thought, with overlapping sleep problems potentially increasing the chances of accidents on the road and at work, according to a new study from Murdoch University.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep-200x200.webp",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep-512x490.webp",512,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep-512x360.webp",512,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep-95x65.webp",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep.webp",512,512,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/less-sleep-150x150.webp",150,150,true]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Health<\/a>","tag_info":"Health","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27947,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27945\/revisions\/27947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}