Insomnia (18)

In The Promise of Sleep, the author, William C. Dement, gives two accounts of insomnia that led to two very frightening outcomes.  First, he writes about a story that occurred in 1991 when a woman who was, at the time, experiencing some very traumatic life changes that led to an extreme amount of stress.  She began losing sleep at night for an extended amount of time, and because of this, got into a serious car accident while she had her sister's children with her.  There were no deaths, but various injuries of different severities.  Because of the woman's sleep deprivation, she was caught off guard by her sleep debt while driving, which resulted in her running a red light.  The second story was about a friend of Dement's.  The man and his wife had travelled to France, and due to the intensity of the jet lag the couple was experiencing, they crashed into a ravine.  The man walked away from it, but his wife, however, sustained fatal head injuries.
What strikes me the most about this section of The Promise of Sleep is the serious effects of sleep deprivation and insomnia that aren't always taken into consideration.  For example, one's concern while experiencing insomnia is often limited to his or her ability (or lack thereof) to sleep at night.  Falling asleep while driving, on the other hand, will more than likely not be a huge concern of this particular individual.  Dement's discussion of these two accidents is eye opening when it comes to the effects of sleep deprivation as a whole, and I think it's important to be aware of these potential problems in order to prevent further accidents.