Tag: News

  • Why Do Schools Have More Police On Campus Than Mental Health Staff?

    Why Do Schools Have More Police On Campus Than Mental Health Staff?

    On average, schools had just 1 counselor per 444 students, according to a report from the ACLU.

    In schools across the nation, students are more likely to see police officers than nurses or counselors, according to a new report.

    In fact, a third of public school students are enrolled in schools with a police officer but without a counselor, nurse, psychologist or social worker. 

    Using data form the U.S. Department of Education, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) compiled a report, “Cops and No Counselors: How the Lack of School Mental Health Staff is Harming Students.”

    The ACLU found that mental health access is sparse in schools, as more funding is directed toward police and other security. 

    The report points out that the suicide rate among teens increased 70% between 2006 and 2016, and school is often the first and more accessible option for teens who need help. 

    “Today’s school children are experiencing record levels of depression and anxiety, alongside multiple forms of trauma,” the report reads. “School counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists are frequently the first to see children who are sick, stressed, traumatized, may act out, or may hurt themselves or others. This is especially true in low-income districts where other resources are scarce. Students are 21 times more likely to visit school-based health centers for treatment than anywhere else.”

    Schools with adequate mental health care see improved attendance, better graduation rates and fewer disciplinary problems, the reported noted.

    Yet, on average, schools had just 1 counselor per 444 students—something Eric Sparks, assistant director of the American School Counselor Association, says is absurd. 

    “It’s physically impossible for them to have an impact on students with developmental needs,” he said. “We have many schools where students don’t have access to a school counselor and some schools don’t have a school counselor.”

    On the other hand, the presence of police can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, the report authors argue. 

    “Schools are under-resourced and students are overcriminalized,” report authors wrote. 

    However, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, Mo Canady, told CNN that tying the issue of police presence and lack of counselors together is a false comparison. 

    ”It doesn’t need to be one or the other, we need counselors and mental health specialists,” said Canady.

    “We definitely need specifically trained [school resource officers] to stand shoulder-to shoulder with mental health specialists. We need folks in there who are not afraid to be vulnerable and engage with students, listen to their concerns and just be real with them.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Deregulating Buprenorphine Could Save Thousands Of Lives, Physicians Say

    Deregulating Buprenorphine Could Save Thousands Of Lives, Physicians Say

    Fewer than 7% of US physicians currently have the DEA waivers necessary to prescribe buprenorphine.

    An opinion piece by two physicians published in STAT Tuesday argues that deregulation of the opioid addiction treatment drug, buprenorphine, could save tens of thousands of lives every year.

    The authors, University of Rochester Professor Kevin Fiscella and Sarah E. Wakeman, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Substance Use Disorders Initiative, strongly believe that making it as easy to prescribe buprenorphine as OxyContin or fentanyl is essential to the fight to end the opioid epidemic in the U.S.

    According to Fiscella and Wakeman, less than 7% of physicians in the country currently have the DEA waivers necessary to prescribe buprenorphine.

    Buprenorphine and methadone are currently the only approved drug therapies for opioid addiction disorders and is considered much safer than prescription opioids used to treat pain.

    However, doctors and nurse practitioners must jump through extra hoops in order to obtain permission to prescribe buprenorphine, while all DEA-licensed physicians are allowed to prescribe OxyContin and fentanyl.

    According to the Florida Academy of Physician Assistants (FAPA), all physician assistants need only to take a three-hour course in order to obtain a DEA license allowing them to prescribe controlled substances, including opioids. In contrast, physician assistants must go through 24 hours of training in order to prescribe buprenorphine on top of the training for the standard DEA license.

    An increasing number of studies have found that the over-prescription of OxyContin and, more recently, the misuse of the incredibly potent opioid fentanyl together have fueled an epidemic that killed close to 50,000 people in 2017 and likely more in 2018. So why, Fiscella and Wakeman ask, is a safer opioid that is approved to treat opioid addiction more difficult to prescribe?

    In order to prescribe buprenorphine, medical professionals must complete extra training, apply for a specially marked license, and agree to allow the DEA to inspect their patient records. All of these extra steps both increase stigma against addiction disorders and place unnecessary barriers in front of what is widely considered to be effective treatment for this massive problem.

    “Patients often experience barriers trying to fill prescriptions for buprenorphine—told they cannot fill it if the “X” is missing from the prescriber’s license number—or feel shamed when filling buprenorphine prescriptions,” the authors wrote. “Some feel embarrassed telling other doctors they are taking buprenorphine.”

    Fiscella and Wakeman conclude that deregulating buprenorphine—essentially making it as easy to prescribe as OxyContin and fentanyl—would increase treatment rates for opioid addiction and cause deaths from overdose to plummet. They cite policy in France which implemented this kind of deregulation in 1995 and resulted in a whopping 80% decrease in opioid overdoses.

    “[E]ven if deregulation of buprenorphine prescribing led to ‘just’ a 50% decrease, that would mean 20,000 fewer deaths.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Having One Drink A Day Affect Your Health?

    Can Having One Drink A Day Affect Your Health?

    A new study investigated the connection between moderate drinking and hypertension.

    It’s long been suggested by studies that moderate alcohol consumption can be good for the heart—but a new study finds otherwise.

    Dr. Amer Aladin, a cardiovascular medicine fellow at Wake Forest Baptist Health, led the study which looked at over 17,000 American adult’s medical records. They found a correlation between as little as one drink a day and increased risk for hypertension, or high blood pressure–a know risk factor for heart attack.

    The increased risk for hypertension was two-fold for moderate drinkers, the research showed. The study defined Stage 1 hypertension as a systolic top blood pressure reading of 130 to 139 mmHg and a diastolic bottom reading of 80 to 90 mmHg. Stage 2 hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or higher and a diastolic reading of 90 mmHg or more.

    “I think this will be a turning point for clinical practice, as well as for future research, education and public health policy regarding alcohol consumption,” lead author Dr. Aladin told NBC News. “[This is] the first study showing that both heavy and moderate alcohol consumption can increase hypertension,” he said.

    It is important to note that because the study was observational, it can only show a correlation between drinking and hypertension—it does not prove cause and effect. 

    The Wake Forest researchers, led by Dr. Aladin, looked at the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), a large decades long study led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This data included 17,059 U.S. adults who signed on to NHANES between 1988 and 1994.

    The five groups included abstainers; former drinkers; those who consumed one to six drinks a week; those who consumed seven to 13 drinks a week; and heavy drinkers who consumed 14 or more drinks a week.

    Factors taken into account were age, sex, race, smoking status, physical activity BMI, cholesterol, and diabetes. Comparing moderate drinkers with non-drinkers, the drinkers were 1.5 times more likely to develop stage 1 hypertension and twice as likely to develop stage 2 hypertension. Heavy drinkers were 2.5 times more likely than non-drinkers to develop severe hypertension.

    Dr Marcin Kowalski directs cardiac electrophysiology at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. He told Health24 that the study “gives us more insight to the negative effect of alcohol on the cardiovascular system.” He continued that Americans drink too much and “should be encouraged in the general population and especially in patients at higher risk for developing hypertension”.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Working At Amazon Takes Mental Health Toll On Some Employees

    Working At Amazon Takes Mental Health Toll On Some Employees

    The Daily Beast investigated mental health emergency calls made from Amazon warehouses over a five-year span.

    Working conditions at Amazon warehouses may be so poor that they are negatively impacting the mental health of employees—evidenced by 189 emergency calls logged from Amazon warehouses over five years to report suicidal employees and other mental health emergencies. 

    The calls were made from 46 warehouses—about a quarter of the warehouses run in the United States by Amazon, according to reporting by The Daily Beast. Information from the other warehouses was not available, but the pattern at the 46 warehouses suggests that many other emergencies likely took place at Amazon facilities. 

    One call in July 2018 from a man in Ohio highlight the issues at hand. A sheriff’s report about the incident reads:

    “With all the demands his employer has placed on him and things he’s dealing with in life [sic] is becoming too much and considering hurting himself.” He has been “with Amazon for over a year and is frustrated with his employment because he felt he was lied to by Amazon at his orientation. He keeps saying the company told him they valued his employment and would be treated as if he mattered and not just a number.”

    However, that promise is at odds with reports that have emerged from Amazon warehouses, where employees are reportedly carefully monitored right down to their timed bathroom breaks. 

    Jace Crouch, a former employee in Florida, said that the environment in the warehouses can exacerbate pre-existing mental health conditions. 

    “It’s this isolating colony of hell where people having breakdowns is a regular occurrence,” Crouch said. He added that it was “mentally taxing to do the same task super fast for 10-hour shifts, four or five days a week.”

    Amazon responded in a statement that the Daily Beast report was a generalization, and didn’t “take into account the total of our associate population, hours worked, or our growing network.”

    “The physical and mental well-being of our associates is our top priority, and we are proud of both our efforts and overall success in this area,” the company said in a statement. “We provide comprehensive medical care starting on day one so employees have access to the care when they need it most, 24-hour a day free and confidential counseling services, and various leave and medical accommodation options covering both mental and physical health concerns.”

    However, Nick Veasley, 41, who became suicidal while working at Amazon, said that those benefits do little to offset the work environment. Although he was initially excited about the pay and benefits provided by Amazon, he often felt his thoughts spiral at work. 

    “I had so much on my mind that the quietness of standing in one spot and doing my job, would just let my mind run,” he said. “Usually I can get myself out of a problem but I couldn’t do it working at Amazon. I felt like I had a thousand pounds wrapped around my ankle and it kept dragging me down and down and down, and there was no way out.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Sober Home Standards Could Change Under New California Bill

    Sober Home Standards Could Change Under New California Bill

    Recovery advocate Ryan Hampton calls the bill “a good first step.”

    Each year, thousands of Americans pay to live in sober homes, but the residences go largely unregulated.

    The high potential for profit and low oversight has led to an unscrupulous reputation for sober homes across the nation, including in California and Florida where state investigators have been looking into allegations of abuse and other criminal acts by people operating these facilities. 

    Now, a new bill introduced in California aims to set minimum standards for sober homes in hopes of cleaning up the industry—at least a little bit. Democratic Assemblyman Tom Daly introduced the bill, Assembly Bill 1779.

    “Despite the growing death toll from opioid and alcohol abuse and addiction, California lacks a uniform set of standards to guide individuals and their loved ones in identifying safe, reliable housing accommodations that will be conducive to recovery,” Daly said in a statement reported by The Daily Bulletin.

    “AB 1779 will enable California to provide accurate and up-to-date information… And by adopting best practices, including minimum standards for recovery residences, California will take a significant step towards increasing the number of residences that are safe for people in recovery and for the communities where they are located.”

    The bill would require the California Department of Health Care Services to establish best practices, like keeping the opioid overdose reversal drug, Narcan, on site. Sober homes that receive state funding through public health care or court systems would need to meet these requirements. 

    Ryan Hampton, who advocates for change in the sober home industry, said that the bill is a good “first step.” However, others in the industry said that the bill would not do enough, especially since most sober homes do not receive state funding. 

    “[Daly] really needs to take a strong look at the area where there’s significant abuse, the residential treatment facilities that are being run by private operators and funded through private insurance,” said Orange County’s District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who has been suing sober home operators for operating medical facilities without proper licensing and supervision. 

    “One of the biggest complaints we get are about private facilities targeting people across country, bringing them here, then tossing them out when the insurance benefits run out. That’s not happening when government funding is involved. They’re very distinct and different entities, which is why my office is pursuing the private side. We have people who are ripping off the system.”

    Laurie Girand pushes for changes to the treatment industry with Advocates for Responsible Treatment. She was not impressed with the bill. 

    “Voluntary certification standards… Same old song,” she said. “This is health care, not vitamin supplements. When are we going to start treating it like health care?”

    However, Daly’s spokesperson David Miller insisted that the bill was important. 

    “If a home is in reality a ‘flop house’ for drug activity, it should be shut down,” he said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Japan Wants To Use Facial Recognition To Fight Gambling Addiction

    Japan Wants To Use Facial Recognition To Fight Gambling Addiction

    If approved, the project could launch as soon as 2021.

    Gambling venues in Japan have been asked by government officials to implement facial recognition systems in order to restrict access to their facilities by those suffering from gambling dependency.

    The move will attempt to address concerns over a possible increase in gambling addiction with the launch of a long-gestating casino resort project, which was approved in 2018.

    The proposal offers a multi-pronged strategy, including increased treatment and support for those who suffer from gambling dependency, and assistance from the gambling industry itself and the National Police Agency to enforce stricter regulation of illegal gambling. The government is currently seeking public opinion on their plan, and if approved, will launch in 2021, which will coincide with the construction of casino resorts.

    As the Nikkei Asian Review reported, concerns over gambling addiction held up legislation approving the establishment of casino resorts for nearly two decades. A 2017 survey by the country’s Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare suggested that gambling addiction impacted 3.6% of Japan’s adult population – an estimated 3.2 million people – which is considerably higher that rates in countries like France, where it stands at 1.2%, and the United States, where statistics suggest that approximately 1% of adults meet the criteria for gambling dependency. 

    But with the July 20, 2018 passage of the legalization bill, the government has sought to ally fears through programs like the facial recognition systems. These would be installed in racetracks and pachinko parlors across the country, and would identify people with gambling addiction whose families have requested that they be restricted from entering such places. The request system will reportedly be introduced in pachinko parlors by March of 2020.

    In addition to the facial recognition and request systems, the government has proposed additional measures for 2020, including a limit on the number of tickets that identified gambling addicts may purchase online for horse and boat racing, as well as the installation of consultation offices on and treatment and support centers for gambling addiction in all major cities and prefectures.

    The government has also schedule a public survey on issues tangential to gambling addiction, including its relationship to poverty, abuse, suicide and debt.

    Prior to those efforts, the government’s Welfare Ministry has reached out to the gambling industry itself to develop guidelines for advertising that will not, as the Japan Times stated, “fuel people’s desire to gamble.” The Education Ministry will increase education in the nation’s schools about gambling dependency, while the National Police Agency will instruct its regional police departments to enforce tighter restrictions on illegal gambling.

    According to Gambling Insider, the government has submitted its proposal to the public, which will be able to weigh on the strategies until March 27, 2019. If it gains public approval for its plan, the government will finalize its policy by the end of April 2019 and begin implementing facial recognition systems in 2021.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Video: Police Search Cancer Patient’s Room For Marijuana

    Video: Police Search Cancer Patient’s Room For Marijuana

    The patient’s partner said that the incident shows how important it is for marijuana laws to protect patients who use it to ease their suffering. 

    A Facebook Live video of police searching the room of a stage IV cancer patient for marijuana has gone viral and sparked a conversation about the rights of terminally ill patients to use cannabis. 

    Nolan Sousley posted the video, which now has more than 9,000 shares. 

    Police were called to the hospital after a security guard reported smelling marijuana from Sousley’s room. Sousley admitted that he took THC capsules in the parking lot, but insisted he had no marijuana in the room. 

    “I had some capsules that had some THC oil in them. I took them outside, in the parking lot. I want to know why it’s a big deal,” Sousley said in the video. 

    He pressed the officers, saying that medical marijuana is going to be legal soon in Missouri, which is rolling out a medical marijuana program that won’t take patients until June. 

    “But then it’s still illegal,” an officer said. 

    “I don’t have time to wait for that,” Sousley said. “What would you do?”

    He asks the officer if he would do anything to save his life.  “Marijuana saved your life?” the officer responds skeptically.&nbsp

    In the video, police searched bags in the room, but Sousley refused to let officers search one bag. 

    “It has my final day things in there, and nobody’s going to dig in it,” Sousley said. “It’s my stuff, it’s my final hour stuff is in that bag. It’s my right to have my final—I’m not digging it down here in front of everybody.” 

    However, after the video ended, one of the police officers went through that bag with Sousley’s permission and did not find any marijuana, according to the Springfield News Leader.

    Sousley’s partner, Amber Kidwell, said that the incident shows how important it is for marijuana laws to protect patients who are using marijuana products to ease their suffering. 

    “It’s huge for us, because it’s a medical thing,” she told WRAL. “It’s a medical cannabis to help him with his life. A better quality of life. Why do we not get that opportunity to give him a better quality of life?”

    Kidwell said that it’s hard enough fighting cancer, without law enforcement rifling through the hospital room. However, she also said that the incident lead to a lot of support. 

    “We’ve had an outpouring of people reaching out for support and love, and through this we’ve had a lot of people reach out… a lot of people have reached out who have cancer also, and hearing their stories has been really important for us. When you get an outreach and outpouring of people telling you their story also… for us, this is a terminally ill patient who should have the right to choose (their own treatment).”

    Sousley said he didn’t want to argue. 

    “Terminal lives matter,” he said. “Love thy neighbor. Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. Give everybody a hug.”

    The police department did not comment, other than to say it had received threats after the video went viral. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Fentanyl Disguised As Oxycodone Seized In Ohio

    Fentanyl Disguised As Oxycodone Seized In Ohio

    Ohio officials are warning those who buy pills on the street to exercise caution.

    Authorities in Ohio are warning drug users to be extra cautious, after law enforcement in the state seized fentanyl that had been pressed into pills meant to resemble oxycodone, which were to be sold on the street. 

    The Community Overdose Action Team, which focuses on reducing opioid-related deaths in Montgomery County, Ohio, said in a statement reported by the Dayton Daily News that drug users need to realize the dangers of fentanyl. 

    “The Community Overdose Action Team reminds you that any illegal drug you purchase and use could contain fentanyl,” the statement read. “Fentanyl is a highly potent drug which greatly increases your chance of an overdose. It is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.” 

    The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Range Task Force and Dayton police also warned people that fentanyl is becoming widespread in Ohio’s drug supply.

    Christine Ton, media director for the sheriff’s office, said that the blue pills even have the markings of oxycodone. Some people get the pills thinking they’re buying Oxycontin, while others seek out the fentanyl pills for a powerful, cheap high. 

    “It is more potent than heroin and cheaper to buy,” Ton said.

    She added that the department seizes all varieties of drugs, not just opioids. “We routinely see meth, fentanyl, marijuana and are also running across cocaine. Crack and heroin are also located frequently.”

    Benjamin Glassman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said that his office is aggressively going after fentanyl-related cases as the drug becomes more prevalent. 

    “We are prosecuting more and more fentanyl-related narcotics-trafficking cases, both in Dayton and district-wide,” he said. “Fentanyl and its analogs are incredibly dangerous and are at the heart of the overdoses and deaths plaguing our region.”

    Recently, The Washington Post reported that public health officials had pressured the Obama administration to declare fentanyl a national health emergency as far back as 2016, but the administration did not act. John P. Walters, who served as chief of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy between 2001 and 2009, said this likely contributed to the ever-increasing rate of fentanyl overdoses.

    “This is a massive institutional failure, and I don’t think people have come to grips with it,” said Walters. “This is like an absurd bad dream and we don’t know how to intervene or how to save lives.”

    Derek Maltz, former agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division in Washington, agreed that it was a missed opportunity to save lives. 

    “Fentanyl was killing people like we’d never seen before. A red light was going off, ding, ding, ding. This is something brand new. What the hell is going on? We needed a serious sense of urgency.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Daylight Saving Time Affects Some Kids' Mental Health

    How Daylight Saving Time Affects Some Kids' Mental Health

    Experts break down the impact of daylight saving time on kids with mental health issues.

    Children with mental health diagnoses may be more prone to struggle with sleep around daylight saving time, according to physicians from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. 

    WMBF News reports that doctors there have observed changes in sleeping patterns around daylight saving time in many young patients—especially those with a mental health diagnoses.

    “Sleep is a more complicated issue for patients with a mental health disorder,” Robert Kowatch, child and adolescent psychiatrist and sleep medicine specialist at Nationwide, said in a news release. “Different conditions affect sleep differently, as do various medications for these conditions and their related side effects. These patients may be more sensitive to time changes than the typical child or teen.”

    Some of the physicians’ observations around daylight saving include the following: 

    • Children struggling with depression and anxiety may struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep.
    • Children diagnosed with autism have the tendency to sleep one to two hours less than their peers and tend to awake earlier in the mornings. 

    Those with bipolar disorder tend to sleep less when experiencing manic or hypomanic episodes, and in some instances any change in their circadian rhythm (such as a time change) can lead to manic episodes. 

    For some children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, taking certain stimulant medications close to their bedtime will make it harder to get to sleep.

    “With many medications, an impact on sleep is a possible side effect, from interfering with falling asleep to resulting in next-day drowsiness,” Kowatch added in the release. “Parents and patients should create a plan with their clinician, and make sure dose schedules and amounts are properly followed, such as taking a longer-lasting dose earlier in the day followed by a shorter-lasting dose later in the day, so a stimulant can wear off—if necessary—in time for bed to allow for restful sleep.”

    Natasha Mero, a sleep technician at Palmetto Sleep Labs LLC, tells WMBF that a lack of sleep can affect a person’s life in numerous ways, some dangerous. She also made a comparison between the effects of daylight savings and those of jetlag. 

    “It can affect memory issues, it can affect alertness, mood,” Mero tells WMBF. “Sometimes people don’t get enough sleep, they can be depressed, help you concentrate. It definitely can affect driving. A lot of people can get in accidents if they don’t get enough sleep. We’ve seen several people come into the sleep lab where they fall asleep at the wheel because they’re not getting enough sleep at night, or get in a fender bender or fall asleep at a stop sign.”

    In order to strive for better sleep, experts from Nationwide Children’s Hospital recommend limiting electronic time in the bedroom, avoiding heavy meals before sleeping, eliminating caffeine eight hours before bed, keeping bedrooms cool and dark, and avoiding any exercise before trying to sleep. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Daylight Savings Time Affects Some Kids' Mental Health

    How Daylight Savings Time Affects Some Kids' Mental Health

    Experts break down the impact of daylight savings time on kids with mental health issues.

    Children with mental health diagnoses may be more prone to struggle with sleep around daylight savings time, according to physicians from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. 

    WMBF News reports that doctors there have observed changes in sleeping patterns around daylight savings time in many young patients—especially those with a mental health diagnoses.

    “Sleep is a more complicated issue for patients with a mental health disorder,” Robert Kowatch, child and adolescent psychiatrist and sleep medicine specialist at Nationwide, said in a news release. “Different conditions affect sleep differently, as do various medications for these conditions and their related side effects. These patients may be more sensitive to time changes than the typical child or teen.”

    Some of the physicians’ observations around daylight savings include the following: 

    • Children struggling with depression and anxiety may struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep.
    • Children diagnosed with autism have the tendency to sleep one to two hours less than their peers and tend to awake earlier in the mornings. 

    Those with bipolar disorder tend to sleep less when experiencing manic or hypomanic episodes, and in some instances any change in their circadian rhythm (such as a time change) can lead to manic episodes. 

    For some children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, taking certain stimulant medications close to their bedtime will make it harder to get to sleep.

    “With many medications, an impact on sleep is a possible side effect, from interfering with falling asleep to resulting in next-day drowsiness,” Kowatch added in the release. “Parents and patients should create a plan with their clinician, and make sure dose schedules and amounts are properly followed, such as taking a longer-lasting dose earlier in the day followed by a shorter-lasting dose later in the day, so a stimulant can wear off—if necessary—in time for bed to allow for restful sleep.”

    Natasha Mero, a sleep technician at Palmetto Sleep Labs LLC, tells WMBF that a lack of sleep can affect a person’s life in numerous ways, some dangerous. She also made a comparison between the effects of daylight savings and those of jetlag. 

    “It can affect memory issues, it can affect alertness, mood,” Mero tells WMBF. “Sometimes people don’t get enough sleep, they can be depressed, help you concentrate. It definitely can affect driving. A lot of people can get in accidents if they don’t get enough sleep. We’ve seen several people come into the sleep lab where they fall asleep at the wheel because they’re not getting enough sleep at night, or get in a fender bender or fall asleep at a stop sign.”

    In order to strive for better sleep, experts from Nationwide Children’s Hospital recommend limiting electronic time in the bedroom, avoiding heavy meals before sleeping, eliminating caffeine eight hours before bed, keeping bedrooms cool and dark, and avoiding any exercise before trying to sleep. 

    View the original article at thefix.com