Question to general practitioner Maarten: Sleeping problems
Maarten Vasbinder lives in Isaan. His profession is general practitioner, a profession that he mainly practiced in Spain. On Thailandblog he answers questions from readers who live in Thailand.
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Dear Martin,
Although I think I am healthy and live a healthy life, I still have a question for advice, because during the day I am mostly dead tired. I had thought that after my retirement (2016) this would change, but alas. I sleep very badly. All my life. I think this is because of my work as a nurse in the past. The many night and other irregular shifts have completely reversed my natural biorhythm. In recent years I've been fine with making up for my sleep deprivation by sometimes sleeping during the day, but as I get older it's increasingly difficult for me to get through the day energetically, and I'm starting to find the lack of it more and more uncomfortable. My question is: what can I do to sleep better and longer and therefore be more rested during the day?
I am 71 years old, weigh 86,5 kg, am 1m79, so a BMI of 27, waist circumference: 98 cm. I take daily 10 mg Amlodipine, 10 mg Alfuzosin (prescription cardiologist BKH Korat). I eat healthy, ie more fish, less meat, fruit and vegetables every day, drink alcohol very moderately and have not smoked for 16 years. From my Thai wife I have been getting a dragee Royal Jelly (honey extract from queen bees) in the morning to build up resistance, because I do fitness 400 mg magnesium citrate (good for the muscles, she says), and to get rid of Corona to keep a pill of Vit D 20ug and a dragee Multivitamin.
On average I only sleep about 4 hours a night and to achieve that I have to be sure not to eat after 16.00 pm. If I eat after that time, I will not be able to fall asleep until later, and I will wake up earlier. I also notice that if I exercised in the afternoon (plus an empty stomach) I get a night's rest of 6 hours. So the strange thing is that I don't sleep because of daily mental (over) fatigue, but need extra physical effort on top of that fatigue. I can no longer exercise every day. Sometimes I have to rest in the afternoon before exercising, but of course I try to avoid that as much as possible.
I am not in favor of sleeping medication, but now that I am over 70 years of life, I would still like to have dinner again in the evening, drink a good glass of beer or a drink, smoke a small cigar and then go to sleep and be energetic during the day the hit. But unfortunately: it seems like I can only eat 2 x a day and have to exercise 4 x a week.
You sometimes hear of people who can go to bed after a copious meal, or who take a good glass as a nightcap. I would like that too.
Dr. Maarten: Can you shed some light on this for me annoying and very tiring issue?
Thank you very much,
Regards,
M.
******
Dear M,
One of the toughest questions lately. Sleep deprivation is a very common problem over 50.
A great-uncle slept only 3 hours a night and spent the rest of the time reading. When he died he had read more than 30.000 books.
Some simple advice is not to eat a few hours before sleeping and not to watch television.
Both amlodipine and alfuzosin have insomnia as a side effect in 1% of cases.
Here's some more data. There is also talk of an internet course on sleeping: https://www.gezondheidsnet.nl/slapen/ouder-worden-en-slaap
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Maarten
Do you have a question for Maarten and do you live in Thailand? Send this to the editor: www.thailandblog.nl/contact/ It is important that you provide the correct information (see list at the top of the page).