A stressful event or two in a short period of time can shake you to the point of chronic insomnia.

Thank goodness it’s Friday…I think!

On Wednesday I knocked over a cup of tea in my car over leather seat and sheepskin and door. Sure it was annoying and I berated myself for carelessness. Later in the day I drove my son to rehearsal for #MidsummerNightsDream and decided to buy take-away dinner. I parked at the blind bend on High St #Bendigo – near the gym…you might know the one, and was nearly squished by a long loader that couldn’t move over and I couldn’t open my car door to avoid the situation. It was so close I could have touched it. I screamed in fear of death! To be honest I was quite rattled by the experience!

Two hours later and driving home through the quiet town of Axedale, Victoria and a car speeds across the intersection with no intention of giving way. I immediately slammed on my breaks and left tyre skids on the road. Way too close for comfort and would have been a serious collision. I drove the rest of the way home at 20 km under the speed limit of 100. That was my Wednesday and I was so grateful that we arrived home in one piece.

Thursday and scouting around the op shops for my son’s performance shoes with opening night the following evening, I hit and kill a bollard…in this case a short solid timber post designed to stop cars. Now the town is full of these things but I was too close when I made my u turn so I didn’t even see it. I was actually really focussed on the oncoming traffic after the last two close calls and as a consequence, damaged my car which now needs repairs. The bollard was put back in place with a few scars, with the help of a kind passerby.

So the million dollar question was…Did I sleep last night? The truth is any event can be the pre-cursor to developing insomnia. Firstly you begin acting out the events in your mind trying to assess and re-assess the situation. That can cause you to have delayed sleep and instead of falling to sleep within the normal range of 20 or so minutes you have delayed sleep onset of 30 minutes plus. When that type of behaviour continues the constant rumination of events that now affects your sleep quality can change to rumination and thinking about sleep itself, which keeps you anxious and alert when you should be sleeping. If your poor sleep has been going on for 3 months+ that can be a sign of chronic insomnia and you are well advised to get sleep sorted by a sleep specialist trained in diagnosis and treatment of insomnia.

As for my sleep that night after all of those stressful events…I slept within all of the parameters of normal sleep for my age. However the week isn’t over yet, so I’m wishing good luck to my son for opening night and double good luck to me.