01/04/2026
TRIGGER WARNING: sleep deprivation, maternal mental health
I once drove home from an overnight consultation so exhausted that a woman called me from the car behind.
She’d seen my logo on the back of my car.
She said: “I don’t know who you are but I’m assuming from your logo that you’re tired and I wanted to tell you you’re swerving all over the road.”
I thought I was driving perfectly.
I had no idea.
I’ve been a sleep consultant for 24 years. I’ve sat with thousands of mothers at their lowest point — in the dark, in the fog, in that specific kind of broken that only comes from months of waking every hour or two.
And this needs to be said, because im tired of seeing posts telling exhausted mothers to jut keep going your baby needs you. This is what motherhood is.
I understand the intention. But I also know what I’ve watched happen to women’s bodies and minds when they push through broken sleep for too long without support.
So let me be honest with you about what sleep deprivation actually does.
After 19 hours without sleep, your cognitive function is equivalent to being legally drunk.
Think about that the next time you buckle your baby into the car after a rough night.
Research by neuroscientist Matthew Walker shows that just one night of 4-5 hours sleep reduces your natural killer cells — your body’s cancer-fighting immune cells — by 70%.
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