I go to bed fairly early, half past ten. And I read for half an hour to an hour. Sometimes I go to sleep at half past eleven and wake up about two. Sometimes I won’t go to sleep at all until about half past two, three. So it’s varied, but there doesn’t seem to be any pattern why it’s varied.

Okay and then how long would you sleep for in the morning?

If I’ve had a fairly good night’s sleep that is, you know, I can go back to bed again, I’ll get up at half past seven, but sometimes if I’ve had a really bad night my husband let’s me sleep in and I sleep in to about ten.

Okay so you’re kind of catching up on sleep?

Try to catch up yes.

So you go to bed at half past ten you say?

Half past ten.

And then sometimes, sorry, what was the half past eleven?

That’s reading, reading, reading!

Do you read every night?

Pretty well yes.

So you read for an hour in bed?

Yes.

Then turn out the light and then

Hopefully go to sleep.

And how often do you not?

I would say two, three times a week, not.

Okay so you’re just laying there?

Worrying usually. Yes.

Till two or three in the morning?

Yes can be.

Gosh that must be

it’s quite wearing yes. And I get very, very bad tempered.

And when you’re on holiday do you sleep any differently?

Yes. I sleep much better on holiday. We have just come back from the Isle of Wight. Very wet and windy week. And I did sleep yes. I was much better. So ut then the day time was different I think.

In what way was it different?

Well I mean we were busy going out places and we did a lot of eating during the nd of course being in a hotel you don’t need to watch what you’re drinking for driving and things like that, so it’s very artificial really. And it is different.

But you managed to sleep?

Quite well yes.

What was the difference then? Was it that you were able to get to sleep or that you stayed asleep?

I still read when I went to bed, but when the light went off I would fall asleep and then I’d wake but because it was different sounds I seemed to be able to lie there and not worry so much and eventually go off again. I was only awake about twenty minutes, half an hour. So it was lovely.

So there was no getting up and wandering around?

No. well just going to the bathroom and that was all.

And is that your normal experience of being away?

Being away on holiday yes. I do sleep better.

That’s the answer then?

Go away on holiday all the time. I like that. I like that.

Sleep at the moment is a disappointment I suppose, because I feel I’ve improved my life style by doing all the things, diet, exercise and all this, and I’d hope that the sleep would improve more than it has.

So how important then is sleep to you?

It is, if you don’t want me to be bad tempered.

Is that the only reason?

I think so, yes. I’m quite a, I don’t like being unpleasant to people.

So it does have that much of an effect on you?

Oh yes, yes. I grump and groan!

And is that all day or

Oh only till about eleven.

Okay so that’s interesting. So have you got a recollection in the past of you being a morning or an evening person or neither of those?

I am definitely not a morning person.

Right. So the grumpiness is not only necessarily if you think about it being a shorter sleep?

Yes.

Have you always been grumpy in the morning?

No, no, I’ve not always been grumpy. I just like to be on my own when I wake up and if my routine is broken that’s annoying.

In post retirement have you had other times in your sleep that’s been

Well for different reasons yes. I find at night that any worries you’ve got are multiplied and it all seems much worse. At one stage I actually would write down solutions, but I found that made it worse as well. So I don’t do that now.

Why did it make it worse?

I don’t know. It was sort of reminding me during the day what I was thinking about I think.

Ah so
So I stopped doing that. I was trying to be scientific and put it all downI read somewhere that if you write down what you’re dreaming about you can solve it the next morning, but it doesn’t work.

It didn’t work?

It didn’t work at all.

It made you more focused on it?

Yes.

Were these dreams that were keeping you awake or was it just thoughts?

Thoughts mostly, thoughts. And then sometimes it would turn into nightmares, but, and when I have nightmares I’m quite active then, I sort of throw myself around a bit. So, and that upsets my husband.

So you’re a nightmare thrasher rather than somebody who just lays there?

Yes. That’s when I’m asleep and I have a nightmare. But when I’m worrying I lie there. Oh dear. It sounds dreadful.