Sleep Problems? Why the Sound of a Lawnmower Brought a Smile to My Face!

If you’ve ever experienced sleeping problems then you would almost certainly agree that any sound or disturbances whilst you’re trying to catch some shut eye is not a perfect scenario!

In fact, if you work night shift or any type of shift work and you’re trying to sleep during the day, achieving the perfect slumber can become somewhat challenging.

So what about the sounds of a droning lawnmower? Does the image of cotton buds stuck in your ears and your head stuck under a pillow sound familiar?

Well I don’t know about you but as a shift worker I’ve certainly ‘been there and done that’ – cotton buds and all!

But I must say when I heard the droning sounds of a lawnmower the other day it actually brought a smile to my face.

Why? Well, let me explain.

You see I live in a hot and humid tropical environment in Queensland Australia. A bit uncomfortable for some, but I actually thrive in the heat. And as Queenslanders we are certainly used to the rain – lots of rain.

Now as we hadn’t seen any rain in over 4 months, lawnmowers in my local area had pretty much been made redundant. Parked and left abandoned by their owners in their garages – the droning sounds of the trusty lawnmower had become a distant memory.

So when I was awoken from my ‘nana nap’ by my next door neighbour as he started the engine of his lawnmower, it really did bring a smile to my face.

And my sleeping problems and lack of sleep had all but been forgotten.

After just a couple of days of heavy rain you could almost watch the grass grow as it sprung back to life. Now when I refer to heavy rain, I really do mean ‘heavy’. Visualise a steam train coming through your bedroom and you might be able to get an idea of just how heavy the rain was as it came hammering down on our 100 year-old tin roof.

But hearing the pounding sounds of rain on our tin roof meant that the grass would finally become lush and green (it had been brown and prickly for months), and it would certainly be needing a good ‘once over’ by a lawnmower.

So the next time you experience sleeping problems because of disturbing sounds in your neighbourhood – don’t go crazy tossing and turning in your bed trying to block out the noise.

Even though they might be keeping you awake, sometimes you just have to be grateful for these sounds and what they represent. After all, being sleep deprived because of some heavy rain and a noisy lawnmower can actually be a good thing!

P.S – Of course the sound of your next door neighbour having a wild party until 2am is not the sort of sounds that I’m talking about … this is when you storm over there in your polka dotted pyjamas and bunny slippers (which is bound to give them a fright) and yank that stereo chord right out of its socket!