Persuasive Essay On Driving

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Sleep is something everyone needs, but can 't seem to get enough of. I also struggle with getting enough sleep. With working overnights at the hospital three to four nights a week, going to school three days a week, and having a family that depends on me it 's hard to find time for sleep. I actually just stopped working a second job to go back to school. I worked a daytime job Monday through Friday 8 Am till 4 PM and three to four over night shifts from 7 Pm till 7 Am a week. I was averaging about 88 hours of work a week. On top of all the hours I put in at work I have a family to take care of. I have a husband and three kids ages; 11,10, and 2. Sleep was very rare for me. I would sometimes go up to 60 hours without sleep. "With few exceptions, …show more content…
When going without sleep for so long it makes extremely difficult to do everyday normal tasks, such as driving. When I would drive from one job to the next I almost felt drunk. "In the U.S., drowsy drivers are responsible for a fifth of all motor vehicle accidents and some 8,000 deaths annually. It is estimated that 80,000 drivers fall asleep at the wheel every day, 10% of them run off the road, and every two minutes, one of them crashes." (Fryer. B. 2006). My reaction time was slowed and I found it hard to stay awake at red lights. It was extremely dangerous for me to be on the road. I would always make sure to take the back roads and avoid roads that had a lot of traffic lights. "More than 15 percent of fatal crashes every year are caused by sleepiness" ( American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2013, as cited in Coon & Mitterer, 2016, P. 170). I felt like I couldn 't function like a normal human being. I would find myself constantly falling asleep at my desk, during my day job. I was drinking a ton of energy drinks and coffee. It got to the point where the energy drinks and coffee were no longer helping and I was only drinking them to ward off the …show more content…
Of course as soon as I sat down on the couch it was game over! I would tell myself I was just going to sit for a minute or two but that would turn into me crashing. I would be woken up by my husband telling me to go to the bedroom where it is quiet and more comfortable. I would get up and crawl in bed and crash for 18 hours. I of course would feel guilty because I wasn 't doing anything with my kids. I wasn 't cooking for them, doing anything around the house, or being productive at all. If I wasn 't working I was falling asleep somewhere. I found myself forgetting everything. I couldn 't remember what bills needed to be paid or what activities my kids were doing. I finally bought myself a planner to write everything down and I carried it with me everywhere. Not only was I forgetting everything but I was a moody person. I would just have an attitude all the time. Every little thing irritated me. I have just recently stopped working my second job to go back to school. I still have a pretty chaotic life and still go without sleep. I do however get more sleep then I was when I was working two

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