Which of the following statements is correct regarding fatigue medication drugs or illness

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Everyone should be concerned about the impact of fatigue as it can be considered a form of impairment, making fatigue a workplace hazard. However, fatigue levels are not easily measured or quantified; therefore, it is difficult to isolate the effect of fatigue on incident and injury rates.

Workplace factors that may influence fatigue are shift rotation patterns, balanced workloads, timing of tasks and activities, availability of resources, and the workplace environment (e.g., lighting, ventilation, temperature, etc.).

However, be sure to consider other factors beyond a lack of sleep including mental fatigue, such as mental workloads, demanding mental activities or stress, long periods of anxiety, or long periods of monotonous tasks, etc.

Many studies focus on the amount of sleep required. Some research studies have shown that when workers have slept for less than 5 hours before work or when workers have been awake for more than 16 hours, their chance of making mistakes at work due to fatigue are significantly increased.

Research has shown that the number of hours awake can be similar to blood alcohol levels. One study reports the following:

  • 17 hours awake is equivalent to a blood alcohol content of 0.05
  • 21 hours awake is equivalent to a blood alcohol content of 0.08 (legal limit in Canada)
  • 24-25 hours awake is equivalent to a blood alcohol content of 0.10

Fatigue is regarded as having an impact on work performance. Government of Alberta, Labour* reports that most incidents occur when people are more likely to want sleep - between midnight and 6 am, and between 1 to 3 pm. Government of Alberta, Labour also reports that fatigue affects people differently but it can increase a worker's hazard exposure by:

  • reducing mental and physical functioning,
  • impairing judgement and concentration,
  • lowering motivation,
  • slowing reaction time, and
  • increasing risk-taking behaviour.

*Source: Fatigue, Extended Work Hours, and Workplace Safety, February 2017. Government of Alberta, Labour


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The fastest-growing drug problem in the United States isn’t cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamines. It is prescription drugs, and it is profoundly affecting the lives of teenagers.

According to National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) DrugFacts, prescription drug misuse and abuse is when someone takes a medication inappropriately (for example, without a prescription). Sadly, prescription drug misuse and abuse among young people is not an insignificant problem. According to National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data on youth and young adults, more than 5,700 youth in 2014 reported using prescription pain relievers without a doctor’s guidance for the first time.

A common misperception is that prescription drugs are safer or less harmful to one’s body than other kinds of drugs. However, there is a range of short- and long-term health consequences for each type of prescription drug used inappropriately:

  • Stimulants have side effects in common with cocaine, and may include paranoia, dangerously high body temperatures, and an irregular heartbeat, especially if stimulants are taken in large doses or in ways other than swallowing a pill.
  • Opioids, which act on the same parts of the brain as heroin, can cause drowsiness, nausea, constipation, and, depending on the amount taken, slowed breathing.
  • Depressants can cause slurred speech, shallow breathing, fatigue, disorientation, lack of coordination, and seizures upon withdrawal from chronic use.

These impacts can be particularly harmful to a developing adolescent brain and body. Our brains continue to develop until we reach our early- to mid-twenties. During adolescence, the pre-frontal cortex further develops to enable us to set priorities, formulate strategies, allocate attention, and control impulses. The outer mantle of the brain also experiences a burst of development, helping us to become more sophisticated at processing abstract information and understanding rules, laws, and codes of social conduct. Drug use impacts perception—a skill adolescent brains are actively trying to cultivate—and can fracture developing neural pathways. Additionally, as our brains are becoming hardwired during adolescence, the pathways being reinforced are the ones that stick. If those pathways include addiction, the impact may lead to life-long challenges.

As with any type of mind-altering drug, prescription drug misuse and abuse can affect judgment and inhibition, putting adolescents at heightened risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, misusing other kinds of drugs, and engaging in additional risky behaviors.

Solutions

Here are several ways to minimize prescription drug misuse and abuse among young people:

  • Education: One in four teenagers believe that prescription drugs can be used as a study aid and nearly one-third of parents say that they believe that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication can improve a child’s academic or testing performance, even if that child does not have ADHD. Parents, children, and prescribers must be educated on the impact of prescription drugs on the developing brain.
  • Safe medication storage and disposal: Two-thirds of teens who misused pain relievers in the past year say that they got them from family and friends, including their home’s medicine cabinets, making it important to safeguard medicine in the home, according to the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. Safe storage and disposal of medications diminish opportunities for easy access.
  • Prescription drug monitoring: Many people are calling on doctors and pharmacies to better monitor how (and how often) drugs are prescribed. Doctors more readily hand out prescription painkillers than they did ten years ago, and, according to some sources, pharmacists do not habitually check prescription drug registries, which help to identify potential over-prescribing and misuse.

In addition, educating adolescents and their parents about the risks of drug misuse and abuse can play a role in combating the problem. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), created the website NIDA for Teens: The Science Behind Drug Abuse to educate teens, their parents, and teachers on the science behind prescription drug misuse and abuse. Developed with the help of teens to ensure relevance, NIDA scientists created a site that delivers science-based facts about how drugs affect the brain and body so that young people will be armed with better information to make healthy decisions.

Publications and Resources

Access the following for more information on misuse and abuse of prescription drugs among teens:

  • Drug Facts: High School and Youth Trends from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (PDF | 722 KB)
  • Safeguard Medicine in Your Home at the Medicine Abuse Project
  • SAMHSA News: A Better Path, Drug Treatment Courts Offer Hope for Youth - 2013 (PDF | 2.1 MB)
  • Teen Medicine Abuse: An Epidemic from the Medicine Abuse Project

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