How fasting affects your driving behaviour

How fasting affects your driving behaviour. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00There are a variety of circumstances which come to play at the end of the day when iftar

00:12is nearing.

00:14The person has been fasting in this region since the early hours and that means they

00:19have been fasting for more than 12 hours and after 12 hours there is a combination of dehydration

00:25which is very dangerous, low blood sugar levels which are very dangerous and also tiredness

00:32and not normal tiredness, tiredness caused by lack of sleep and also by changed patterns

00:39during the day.

00:40So everything if you like is colliding to make that driver really very unsafe at that

00:45time and then the concentration on getting home even if it's not iftar in an hour, iftar

00:51in a couple of hours, it makes that driver have tunnel thinking, the rush, the need to

00:57get home.

00:59So they have impaired cognitive processes, they don't think very well, their spatial

01:04awareness is less effective, their speed judgment is less effective, our reactions when we are

01:10fasting are slower and they are not as well measured as when we are hydrated.

01:16If a person's sugar starts dropping down, the cognitive functions are definitely affected,

01:21his concentration is affected, his focus is affected.

01:25Largely, other distractions fall into two camps.

01:28One is a physical distraction, you are driving along, your phone rings, you look down, you

01:34answer it or you text, all illegal but that's what you do, so it's a physical distraction.

01:40But that is less of a problem than the mental distraction with the combination of dehydration,

01:45low blood sugar levels and distractive tiredness, it absolutely compresses these distractions

01:51and they take over your mind and you can become very very single minded.

01:56It's this must get home thing and that I think is why we have so many accidents unfortunately

02:02in the hour or so before dusk, before iftar.

02:06It is very very very important to take the suhoor meal and to take it as late as possible.

02:12So you like to take foods which have complex carbohydrates, what do you mean by that?

02:17They break gradually down, like your cereals, you like to take your wholemeal breads, avoid

02:22caffeinated drinks because caffeinated drinks cause dehydration, avoid fried items, avoid

02:27spicy items during suhoor time, don't take a very heavy iftar because your gastric system

02:34has slowed down for 15 hours, you want to recharge it slowly.

02:39Plan the journey ahead, leave in lots of time, make sure if you're not fasting that

02:46you're well hydrated, you have the car air con turned down to cool, you have your mind

02:53on the job.

02:54Driving, when you're the driver, is 100% occupation, you have to spend all your time

03:00and all your brain power on driving, don't be distracted.

03:04Try to keep yourself not too hot, not too cold, try to drive outside those busy hours,

03:11leave plenty of time to get where you're going early, if possible on different days take

03:16turns in driving with friends, preferably use public transport if you can, avoid putting

03:23yourself under pressure.

03:26Also feel for the signs of tiredness in yourself, and I would recommend anybody who doesn't

03:32have to be on the road to not be on the road for the two hours to an hour and a half before

03:38iftar if at all possible.