Amused or frustrated? A bit of both....

An article I just saw on the BBC News website made me smile.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8143364.stm

Apparently, a study to measure levels of activity has been foiled by some creative pre-teens. They were given pedometers to measure how much walking and running they do over the period of a week. Researchers were puzzled by the very high levels of activity seen in many of the children, especially so in those that were, ahem, a little chunky. Until they realised that these "hyperactive" kids had actually been attaching the pedometers to their pet dogs (presumably walked by mum or dad).......

I've worked in research for several years, as well as having been a nurse many years ago, and am no longer surprised by what some patients will do. Part of me is secretly amused by their attempts to buck the system (a British trait I think), but it can be pretty frustrating when you're trying to get real answers to important questions! When I was working with a sleep clinic a few years ago I remember hearing a similar story

It was in a study on truck drivers to identify if they were having "micro-dozes" while driving. This is probably not that uncommon as it is a symptom of Sleep Apnoea at night, and SA patients are typically big guys with thick necks and a bit of a belly who like a beer or two. Longterm, SA can result in serious health problems, but there is the more immediate risk of unintentionally "micro-dozing" during the day and causing an accident if doing anything with machines/cars/lorries. (Does your bloke do that thing where he snores heavily then stops breathing for a bit? See a GP). They are also driving very long distances on very long, very straight motorways, for very long periods of time. Understandably, some of these guys were very worried about both losing their licences and livelihood, so attached their monitors to pets in the cab. I heard of one that used a hamster.....

Maybe these are the fathers of the kids in the activity study?