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Edited by Martin Cadwell, Saturday 1 August 2026 at 17:36

Jumbled and Slow

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a silhouette of a female face in profileJumbled and Slow

[3 minute read ] 

If you don't get any dream-sleep or sleep that includes Rapid Eye Movement (REM sleep) for about seventy-two hours there is a good chance that you will not be operating within your normal thresholds of satisfaction. No, really!

I am not a sleep expert or an expert on anything really, however, I know a little bit. For example, if you take some of the cerebrospinal fluid out of someone who is tired and put it into someone who is refreshed from good sleep the recipient will be instantly tired and wish to go to sleep. Here is another thing: many drivers micro-sleep which is why they think the driver ahead suddenly braked on the motorway ahead of them; they didn't but it seems so for someone who can actually be micro-sleeping from between a quarter of a second and a full three seconds. Yes, three seconds! At 70mph (112kph) that is 93 metres! The quarter of a second is 7.7 metres travelled. In case you are wondering - in a 20mph (32kph) school zone the distance travelled for the same times are 26.6 metres and 2.2 metres respectively.  Another thing: if we can make 5-hydroxytryptophan in the brain we will feel sleepy. I seem to remember that eating digestive biscuits will do this; just the biscuits. Feeling sleepy at the wheel? Stop for a break and get some energy from seven or eight digestive biscuits. Full? Then let's go! (Best not do that).

A good few years ago the police stopped calling 'accidents' on the road 'RTA's (Road Traffic Accident) and now call them 'RTC's (Road Traffic Collision). I think we know why.

Do you want to be able to hear every word the teacher at school says? According to word-timer.com the average speech speed is 130 to 150 words per minute or, without too much maths, slightly over two words per second. Just two seconds of micro-sleep means four or five consecutive words are missed. 

Here are twenty-two words. If they are spoken out loud which four consecutive words would you prefer to skip? 

Stop for a break and get some energy from seven or eight digestive biscuits. Full? Then let's go! (Best not do that).

Does the sentence make any sense with four consecutive words missing? If not, then skip the whole sentence, eh?

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