PrepTest 111, Section 1, Question 21
A patient complained of feeling constantly fatigued.(35 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(13 more words not shown)
- AThe shorter one's(10 more words not shown)
- BThe first two(9 more words not shown)
- CSome people require(11 more words not shown)
- DMost people who(13 more words not shown)
- EWorry about satisfying(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If too little sleep is contributing to the fatigue, why not tell the patient to sleep more?
That's the apparent conflict. We aren't guessing whether this particular patient needs more sleep: the passage says the amount of sleep is contributing to the problem. Yet the advice we would expect never comes.
Perhaps there is some reason the obvious advice would backfire. More sleep might help, while being told to get more sleep might make it harder to do so. Imagine lying awake before an early trip, calculating how much sleep you can still get: “If I fall asleep right now, I'll have five hours.” You keep checking the time and become more worried instead of drifting off.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to explain the decision not to give the advice. I'd look for that kind of downside to the recommendation, or some other reason it would be unhelpful in this case. We need to connect the established sleep problem with the surprising response to it.
Working the answers
- A
Being easy to wake up isn't the same as being well rested. The patient could awaken easily and still feel constantly fatigued. This gives us no reason that advising more sleep would be a poor response to the problem described.
- B
The first two hours could provide the largest benefit without providing all the benefit. Additional sleep could still matter. We are also told that this patient's current amount contributes to the fatigue. B doesn't explain why the patient wasn't advised to increase it.
- C
We can accept that some people need less sleep than others. But we already know that this patient's sleep amount contributes to the fatigue. A fact about other people's needs doesn't remove the problem in this case or explain why the expected advice wasn't given.
- D
We aren't told that this patient has nightmares. Nor does their occurring near waking establish that advising more sleep would worsen this patient's fatigue. D supplies information about a different problem without connecting it to the decision we need to explain.
- ECorrect
The advice could create exactly the worry that interferes with getting more sleep. The patient might focus on meeting the requirement, become anxious about failing, and have even more trouble sleeping.
That makes the two facts fit together: insufficient sleep contributes to the fatigue, but telling the patient to sleep more could make that problem worse. E doesn't establish that this is what happened to the patient. It gives a plausible reason for withholding that particular advice.
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