No 'sleeping beauties' allowed

CTALK

- CITO BELTRAN

People will frown at you; they will mock you and will often tell you to go to bed earlier and not sleep on the job. Then there are those who make fun of your snoring.

It's easy for them to say these things because they don't really know what you are going through. The problem is you also don't know the "why." Yes, ignorant people can be so judgmental and as a result, people die directly or indirectly.

Take, for instance, that road crash on the SCTEX last May 1, 2025, that left 10 dead and 37 injured, according to news reports. The initial assumption was over speeding, but things got weirder when authorities concluded that the bus driver fell asleep at the wheel.

Once the scene of the accident was cleared, the driver arrested and lost his license and the bus company sued for P50 million, everybody moved on to the next story. But last week, my friend Dr. Mike Sarte called me and offered an interesting angle to it all.

For context, Dr. Michael Sarte heads the Sleep Lab at the Rizal Medical Center and is one of the pioneers in the Philippines when it comes to sleep-affected ailments such as sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition and Dr. Sarte raised the possibility that a number of long-haul bus drivers could be suffering from sleep apnea or some other condition without even realizing it.

Google defines sleep apnea as "a sleep-related breathing disorder in which repetitive pauses in breathing, periods of shallow breathing or collapse of the upper airway during sleep results in poor ventilation and sleep disruption."