This episode of Dnews was proudly made possible by the all-new 2015 Subaru Legacy.
It's not just a sedan, it's a Subaru.
Everyone thinks they’re a good driver - but it turns out, morning people might just have
the upper hand!
Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - and like most of us out there, you probably think you’re
an excellent driver.
Maybe you’ve bragged about it to your friends - I know I have.
But what actually makes someone a good driver?
Well it turns out, things you’d never even think of, can have a drastic impact on your
driving ability.
And a new study, published in Accident Analysis and Prevention, shows that being a morning
person - actually makes you a better driver.
For this study, a team of researchers analyzed the circadian, biological rhythms of 29 students
from the University of Granada, with extremely defined chronotypes.
A chronotype is basically an internal timer, that indicates whether someone is a morning
person or a night person.
Now because the topic of sleep medicine has become more and more well-researched over
the past few decades, science has effectively determined that every person has a specific
chronotype, built into their DNA.
So no matter what your upbringing was, your chronotype is pretty much unchangeable.
And it all stems from your hypothalamus.
This is the part of your brain that links your nervous system up with your endocrine
system, and it basically regulates all of your necessary bodily functions - hunger,
thirst, body temperature, and sleep.
Contained inside the hypothalamus, is something called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN.
And this particular part, is essentially your internal clock.
It interacts with your optic nerve, so that when your eye detects light, that light travels
down the nerve, stimulating the SCN.
So all of your neural and hormonal activity is regulated, based on your personal circadian
rhythm.
Now like I said, all of the students in this study were chosen because they had very defined
chronotypes.
So to see if that affected their driving abilities, researchers had them fill out a questionnaire,
and then undergo a simulated driving test at various times throughout the day.
Turns out, the students who considered themselves “morning people,” were far better drivers
at 8am, than night owls.
And you might think that effect would be reversed in the evening, but it wasn’t.
Even at 8pm, morning people were still just as alert and aware while driving, as they
were in the morning.
Interestingly, there do appear to be certain times of the day, where almost everyone is
a poor driver, and that includes early afternoon - around 2-3pm - and early morning, around
3-5am.
Now the obvious solution here - would be to just not drive during those times, or at the
very least, try to be especially vigilant while doing so.
But a lot of professions, like truck drivers or airline pilots - don’t really have a
choice.
They have to stay up, no matter how much sleep they get.
Which as we know, can be extremely deadly.
Studies have shown that driving when you haven’t slept for 18 hours - is equally as dangerous,
as driving drunk.
So the authors of this study, recommend that professional drivers try to perform their
routes according to their personal chronotypes.
As for the rest of us, driving on little to no sleep - especially if you’re a night
owl - is something we should all try to avoid.
And while we’re on the topic of driving, we wanna say a quick thank you to Subaru,
for making this episode possible.
And especially the all-new 2015 Subaru Legacy - it goes where other sedans can’t, by offering
a safer and more dynamic ride than ever before.
In the meantime, let us know in the comments below whether you’re a morning person, or
a night owl - and how you think that affects your ability to drive.
That’s all for me, but as always - thank you guys for watching!