My heart skipped a beat when I saw this message from a client

I was due to start working with a new client tomorrow afternoon. 24 hours too late. I got a message from her in hospital this morning. She had fallen asleep at the wheel and had an accident with her kids in the car. She's been admitted for chronic sleep deprivation. Thankfully her children are okay (besides being physically shook up). This mother had been suffering for 7 months before she reached out for real help. I'm so so sorry that it was not in time to prevent this accident. But she's so lucky it was not worse for her family, or someone else's this time.

So I did some quick research, and what I found really alarmed me. I was already passionate about helping families out of sleep deprivation. But this is literally a wake up call...

• Adults with children in the household are more likely to drive drowsy than those without children (59% vs. 45%).

• According to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, people who sleep six to seven hours a night are twice as likely to be involved in such a crash as those sleeping 8 hours or more, while people sleeping less than 5 hours increased their risk four to five times.

• A study by researchers in Australia showed that being awake for 18 hours produced an impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .05, and .10 after 24 hours; .08 is considered legally drunk.

I only hope anyone else in a similar situation reaches out for real help sooner.

Leave a comment if something like this has happened (or nearly) to you and what did you do to overcome your sleep deprivation?