Microsleep — My Personal Experience of A Potent Driving Hazard

Stay alert and stay alive into 2025.

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Little things do matter and cause great consequences.

The above quip is from my high school maths teacher. Back then, Mr. Aŕaroḿi used that phrase to drive home some tricks and quirks of mathematics.

He also used this to illustrate that seemingly insignificant choices today can significantly affect our future.

For example -9 * -9 will not give you the same answer as -9 * 9. While the former product raises you by 81, the latter puts you back by 81 (that is -81).

No where is the impact of small things more immediate and poignant than the risks and hazards posed by microsleeping while driving.

Try as we may, no man can cheat nature. Microsleeping will catch up on you if you’ve had a sleepless night, or been at work without a respite of sufficient hours of sleep and rest.

Drivers and all workers are susceptible to micro-sleep and its attendant hazards and accident risks.

Writing in SleepFoundation.org, Jay Summer and Dr Anis Rehman describe microsleep as follows,