Revolutionary discovery paves the way for future tests to identify sleepy drivers

Scientists have developed a blood test to find out if you missed a night's sleep, which brings us closer to developing a sleepiness test in the driver. This breakthrough could help police identify drivers suspected of drowsiness in road accidents or help employers assess their fitness for work, for example in the aviation sector.

In this unique study from the University of Surrey's Sleep Research Center, led by Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, 36 participants spent a night's sleep. During this 40-hour sleep deprivation period, blood samples were taken and changes in the expression levels of thousands of genes were measured. An automatic learning algorithm identified a subset of 68 genes and, with an accuracy of 92%, it was possible to detect whether a sample came from an individual deprived of sleep or rested.

This breakthrough discovery paves the way for a future test that will assess whether a driver was deprived of sleep. Earlier research in this area conducted by the AAA Foundation for Road Safety has shown that drivers who have only one to two hours less than the recommended daily allowance in a 24-hour period almost double the risk of getting on the road. ;a car accident.

Dr. Emma Laing, Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics at the University of Surrey, said, "We all know that lack of sleep is a significant risk to our physical and mental health, especially over a period of time. However, it is difficult to assess a lot of sleep, which makes it difficult for police to know if drivers are fit to drive or for employers to know if the staff is fit to work. "

Simon Archer, a professor of molecular sleep biology at the University of Surrey, said, "Identifying these biomarkers is the first step in developing a test that can accurately calculate the amount of sleep an individual has. The very existence of these biomarkers in the blood after only a 24-hour period, waking up shows the physiological impact that a lack of sleep can have on our body. "

Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, director of the Surrey Sleep Research Center at the University of Surrey, said, "This is an acute total sleep loss test, the next step being identification of biomarkers of insufficient chronic sleep. health outcomes. "