Sleep Apnea and Traffic Safety

Last week the Chicago Sun-Times ran a story about how a large proportion of truck drivers probably have sleep apnea. (Sorry, I can’t find it for a link.)

It’s a condition I have and, boy, can I relate to the problems outlined in the article.

Often the last day of session was a long one.

I’d get in the car and head north.

I’d keep wondering if I was going to make it home without having an accident.

I remember during what I called the “Death March,” when Lee Daniels was House Speaker, he would keep us in session well after midnight and, then, expect us to return for a 9 AM session.

For some reason, Daniels allowed the Democrats to talk and talk and talk. And it wasn’t just for five minutes. Inexplicably, he allowed (usually) Lou Lang to use other people’s time.

Give me about 9½ hours sleep and I resemble a human being the next day.

After getting less than 8 hours sleep a couple of nights in a row, I went into Chief of Staff Mike Tristano’s office and told him I was leaving at Midnight, that I was going to get 8 hours of sleep a night.

“You can’t do that,” Tristano said. “We need your vote.”

“Watch me,” I replied.

That was certainly a miserable session.


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