Pregnancy and Neighbours Car Horn

pulliptears

Pregnancy and related hysteria aside you should speak to your local PCSO.

A few years ago a neighbour opposite had a son who left for work any time from 3am to 5am. He'd sit in his car under our bedroom window with the engine running to warm it up whilst he defrosted it. Fair enough. What wasn't fair enough though was the further half hour he sat there with his music on full blast, texting, rolling his fags for the day etc.
I tried the nice approach, he carried on. I actually tried to speak to him at 4am a couple of times but as soon as he saw our door open he scarpered. He knew full well what he was doing.
We approached the PCSO after seeing him in the street one day. He paid a friendly visit to knob head and the problem was fixed overnight.

Tropez

alias*alibi wrote: »

That's really interesting as I must admit, if I am woken by a damn plane coming in to land at 5am, my heart rate is immediately elevated and I feel in a heightened state for quite some hours after.

Yeah, it's to do with your body's fight or flight response. When you are suddenly awoken, your body floods with adrenaline anticipating trouble (harking back to the early days of humans when any sudden noise was likely a predator), which causes a large jolt to your heart which had previously been in a state of some relaxation.

Tigsteroonie

Incidentally, the baby in the womb can be asleep while your partner is awake, and vice versa.

duchy

Yet I worked through my pregnancy - and was daily woken suddenly by first my husband's alarm going off for work and again mine for my later start some hours later ......and my son had no sleep issues and slept through the night from six weeks.....and neither alarm was gentle.

Pregnancy is a normal function of the body and over the centuries women just got on with it- and babies continued to thrive. There's a lot of hysteria and me me culture around pregnancy nowadays - mostly perpetuated by drama lamas.

In a normal low risk pregnancy an alarm clock or a car beeping is not going to do any damage over and above momentary annoyance !

Tropez wrote: »

It's curious that everyone seems to dismiss sudden awakenings from sleep.

According to research in Japan, being repeatedly woken suddenly, especially if during deep sleep cycles, can be hazardous to one's long-term health. A study from 2004 linked sudden awakenings such as those from traditional bell alarm clocks to elevated heart rates and a significant spike in blood pressure (this is due to the way blood thickens during sleep states as no fluids are being ingested). There is evidence which suggests that if this is allowed to continue over weeks and months the effects can cause increased levels of stress, leading to sleep disorders, depression and strain on the heart. There are also implications for memory and cognitive function, which grow more pronounced the longer that such awakenings continue. Occupational accidents occur with more frequency in people who use traditional bell alarm clocks, or are otherwise frequently awoken by loud, sudden noises.

Even in one-off situations, the effects of some of these awakenings were detected in people for up to two hours after they had been woken.

And yes, mothers - one study suggested that mothers dealing with newborns who go through the sleep-wake-repeat cycle might as well be getting no sleep at all as the effects of eight hours of regularly interrupted sleep counts for less than four hours of non-interrupted sleep.

A study in Germany has even linked alarm clock bells and other such sudden jarring noises awakening people to obesity, and rather controversially suggested this might be a reason why some new mothers have a few problems shedding those... pregnancy pounds.

It may be that the best thing you can do is try and adapt your wife's sleep cycle and buy her a non-jarring alarm (sleep experts recommend natural sounds - rivers, rain, stuff like that) to wake her up before the peeping pillock next door makes his morning noise. At least that way the short-term effects on her mood and strain on her body shouldn't be quite so adversely affected.

browneyedbazzi

MothballsWallet wrote: »

The part about only using your your horn to warn other road users is correct: I remember seeing it in the Highway Code (I did read through it when I was learning to drive).

Yes, that's the purpose of the horn (so you're not meant to use it to intimidate other drivers or pester them into moving etc) but the regulation only applies to vehicles on the road. OP stated that it's illegal to use the horn whilst stationary - full stop - which is incorrect. Using the horn while stationary on a road is a breech of the Regs, using the horn while stationary on private land (like the neighbour's drive) isn't.

Tropez

duchy wrote: »

Yet I worked through my pregnancy - and was daily woken suddenly by first my husband's alarm going off for work and again mine for my later start some hours later ......and my son had no sleep issues and slept through the night from six weeks.....and neither alarm was gentle.

Pregnancy is a normal function of the body and over the centuries women just got on with it- and babies continued to thrive. There's a lot of hysteria and me me culture around pregnancy nowadays - mostly perpetuated by drama lamas.

In a normal low risk pregnancy an alarm clock or a car beeping is not going to do any damage over and above momentary annoyance !

Oh I know pregnancy is quite a normal function, but being woken every day by sudden jarring sounds is not normal. It may well have no effect on the pregnancy but it could have an effect on the mother.

Regardless of whether someone is pregnant or not, there are proven health implications for repeated disturbed sleep. Sleep itself is a very important function and is clearly and obviously linked to mental and physical wellbeing. The number of medical conditions associated with various levels of sleep deprivation is staggering, and if the OPs partner is one of those who finds themselves unable to get back to sleep after a sudden awakening due to the flood of adrenaline in their system, then this is very much worthy of some concern and would be even if she were not pregnant.

Skintski

I'm ignoring the pregnancy thing but still totally amazed by how many think it is ok for a neighbour to be so inconsiderate to others to continue doing something so completely unnecessary. There are families with kids in our road and want them to sleep in, there are those who work unsociable hours etc.

I personally would be horrified if I discovered I was irritating my neighbours. People are so selfish these days, what's wrong with everybody?! It's something so minor that could so easily be fixed and yet people are only interested in themselves.

System

Sounds a bit like the person that moves in to a quiet rural village then complains about the church bells and cocks crowing. Is the OP the only one with the problem? Are any other neighbours affected or is this a case of hypersensitivity?

thorsoak

The sound of a car horn is no more dangerous to a pregnant woman than would be the ring of an alarm clock at the same time each day. As she doesn't need to get up then, she can turn over, and snuggle back down again until she does have to get up for work.

missbiggles1

Tropez wrote: »

Oh I know pregnancy is quite a normal function, but being woken every day by sudden jarring sounds is not normal. It may well have no effect on the pregnancy but it could have an effect on the mother.

Regardless of whether someone is pregnant or not, there are proven health implications for repeated disturbed sleep. Sleep itself is a very important function and is clearly and obviously linked to mental and physical wellbeing. The number of medical conditions associated with various levels of sleep deprivation is staggering, and if the OPs partner is one of those who finds themselves unable to get back to sleep after a sudden awakening due to the flood of adrenaline in their system, then this is very much worthy of some concern and would be even if she were not pregnant.

So we're all wrecking our health by using alarm clocks? Seriously?