One bad night meant two weeks living as a zombie

There was a time in my life when I took pride in being able to function on little to no sleep.

They were the days when I could party through a night or even two, then be up and about bright-eyed and bushy tailed as though everything was normal.

And even when my partying days were over there was a period in my life when I would work around the clock at least once a week, and at one stage I even worked 52 hours straight.

But, sadly, those days have gone the way of the hair that once covered the top of my head.

And I might even be paying the penalty of by earlier sleep misdeeds

Recently my grandson became ill at night, and after monitoring him at home for a few hours it became inevitable that we would have to head to the hospital to seek proper medical help.

He basically spent the rest of the night asleep in a hospital bed while I sat in a chair beside him, listening to his strained breathing and being hyper-vigilant.

So, no sleep for me that night, which should not have been a problem.

Except I forgot that I am old now, and my body no longer functions the way it once did.

Instead of immediately bouncing back, I became a narcolepsy-riddled zombie. For. Two. Whole. Weeks.

Yes, it seemed I was suddenly dealing with the loan shark of sleep, who demanded that the six or so hours I missed be repaid with 50 or 60 hours of extra shut-eye.

Who knew that staggering rates of inflation affected our body's needs for sleep in such a manner?

But it did, and I spent the ensuing two weeks hating alarm clocks, loathing mornings, struggling through days and evenings, and falling asleep while watching favourite television shows.

Heck, I even missed the half of a State of Origin game, all because my eyes lied to me when they said they needed only a brief rest during the half-time break.

"It'll be fine," they said.

"Just a couple of minutes and then you'll be able to pay greater attention, find the energy to get more excited, when the Blues wrap up the game in the second half."

But they lied to me, as I discovered when my bladder shook me awake a few hours later.

And it all left me wondering, is this just another thing that happens to you as you get older, that no-one speaks about.

Honestly, I think getting older should come with a warning label to prepare people for all the things that come with advancing years - like shrinking joints, loss of bone density, hearing and vision problems, and falling apart if we don't get enough sleep.