Effects of Sleep Medication
Does using prescribed medication (like low dose Serequel) for sleep still allow us to move through all the cycles properly? Are we still releasing the correct hormones & receiving all the needed benefits? Or are we skipping through those & essentially laying there like a sedated log for 7 hours… Thanks so much for everything!
Night blindness and vision in dark environments with light interference
Greetings from "Down Under". I'd like to learn from your expertise in ophthalmology to understand how the eye works in low light settings and (if I'm correct in my understanding) advocate for education around vehicle 'cabin illumination' and emergency/warning lights on roadways at night. My work involves lots of driving. I've noticed that (more and more) people are driving around with mal-adjusted 'low beam' headlights, which causes night blindness to me if I'm driving ahead, particularly in very low light (rural) driving conditions. I suspect that what is occurring here is with the advent of cars with larger and larger vehicle information screens 'night blinding' them to the dark outside world, they are adjusting their headlights improperly to compensate and see more of the outside world and not realising that this is creating safety issues for other drivers. In addition, I've noticed that when emergency services or roadwork warning devices are used in dark roadway conditions the warning lights are often so bright that I cannot see the people on the roadway that these lights are designed to protect (thereby creating a potential safety concern). While these lights are fine (and even required) in a well-lit intersection, on a dark (unlit) section of roadway, they are causing more safety concerns for me than they are solving. Could you explain what ophthalmological mechanisms are in play, and if there are any workarounds to 'night blindness'?