Les – Interview 27
Les has had several very interesting and different jobs in his lifetime, ranging from being in the army, to being a theatre manager, working in the Sudan, and being a driver. He only retired finally when he was 80. Les has several health problems which contribute to making his sleep very disturbed, but he won’t let his poor sleep affect what he does during the day.
Les has noticed that his sleep started to deteriorate when he had a hip replacement about 14 years ago. From that point on he noticed a gradual decline in the quality of his sleep. Although he finds he can fall asleep quite quickly, Les will then often wake up several times in the night. He believes this is for several reasons; he has carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes a lot of pain in his arm and hand; he also worries about lots of different things, but mostly he believes his mind is so active he finds it difficult to switch off once he has woken up.
On a bad night Les cannot get back to sleep so he will get up, make a cup of tea and sit in the front room where he will do crosswords, or read a book until he feels dozy again. This can happen several times a week, but Les doesn’t find that he feels any worse in the morning. In fact, he is always bright and wide awake in the morning and will not waste time in bed.
Les will not doze or nap during the day as he is concerned this may interfere with his night time sleep, although he may drop off for a minute or too if he is watching football on the television in the evening.
Les very much values his independence and loves to drive, usually going out at least once every day. He has always loved driving and finds it very relaxing.