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Postpartum sleepiness and sleepy driving in Australian mothers
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Postpartum sleepiness and sleepy driving in Australian mothers

Kerry Ann Armstrong, Janelle Mackenzie and Simon Smith
International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, Vol.53(2), pp.76-86
2014
pdf
PDF - Author's Accepted Version208.84 kBDownloadView
Accepted VersionPDF - Author Accepted Version Open Access
url
https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2014.944669View
Published Version

Abstract

postpartum sleepiness sleep driving Karolinska Sleepiness Scale
This paper reports on a prospective study investigating the prevalence of maternal postpartum fatigue and sleepiness and highlights the potential increased crash risk faced by mothers when driving in the postpartum period. Twenty-four mothers from across Australia completed a sleep and driving diary for seven consecutive days at three time points; when their baby was 6, 12 and 18 weeks old. The results showed that the mothers sleep varied within the sample; however, on average sleep disruption and lack of sleep consolidation was experienced. A high proportion of the mothers reported fatigue and sleepiness impacting their functioning early in the postpartum period, with sleepiness being more enduring throughout the period. Of concern, a high proportion of driving journeys undertaken by the mothers were during high levels of sleepiness, particularly early in the postpartum period and during late night and early hours of the day. These findings have highlighted the need to educate mothers about the potential increased safety risk of driving during the postpartum period and identified key information that should be conveyed.

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