Ron – Interview 24

Ron is a retired Chairman/Managing Director. Ron has a number of health problems, some of which interfere with his sleep, but he tries to keep fit and goes to the local sports centre on a regular basis. He recently visited his doctor about his sleep because he was often waking at 3 am in the morning and was unable to get back to sleep after that.

Ron currently shares his home with one of his daughters. At the time of interview he was awaiting major heart surgery which was causing him some anxiety and making him dream. His sleep is disturbed on average about three times a night because of having to go to the toilet, and he often finds that when he wakes up he won’t be able to get back to sleep again. Ron visited his doctor for help with his wakefulness and has been prescribed some sleeping tablets which he finds do make a difference. He will usually take them an hour before going to bed, then read a book in bed for a while before falling asleep, although sometimes he will fall asleep whilst reading.

Ron will usually take a nap during the day, by laying down on the sofa, reading the newspaper and then falling asleep for about half an hour and this helps him to keep alert for the rest of the day.

Ron’s advice for others on how to get good to sleep is to have a warm milk drink with a banana before going to bed. He also suggests tightening and relaxing every muscle in your body systematically and he finds this really helps him to prepare for sleep.

Ron has tried several different strategies over the years to help with his sleep and has found…

Age at interview 74

Gender Male

One last thing if you could give some advice to people on what to do if they are not sleeping, what would you suggest, what would you say to people?

Well you know I have often said to people, this was years ago, I would say the best thing to do probably if you don’t want to take a pill is warm some milk and go and get a banana and slice it up and eat it before you go, and that will help you to sleep.

And that works?

Well it does work.

Anything else?

No I don’t know an awful lot about it, all I am suggesting is that they have got to try and forget what the problems are, because it is always problems that keep you awake. There is always something there that you, and the other thing too, I have learned I used to be able to, at one time hypnotise myself. Because I did a course with somebody and I did it for about a year or so, and I don’t know why I stopped doing it. But I could actually hypnotise myself and put myself down and what I told people to do when they had problems is to go through the hypnotist route which is where we start and that is to make all of your limbs and muscles sleep. Do you know that one?

No.

Well if you actually relax completely and you think about your toes. And you think about, and you try to make them sleep, then you go down to the ankles and you come up the legs and all the muscles you think about them sleeping. That is how you hypnotise. And then when you get to a certain, if you come up all over the body and then when you actually get to the point, which you have to do, your body should be relaxed at that stage, then you start to relax your brain by thinking of something lovely and you will enjoy or you like or something you want. Not miserable things, but generally going swimming, in the garden, enjoying the flowers and that is when you start to go down with your hypnosis and you go right the way down. I am telling you that seems to do it.

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Ron doesn’t feel sleep is quite so important now he is retired, and in fact sees it as a way of…

Age at interview 74

Gender Male

If you could take a pill though to stop sleeping, you say sleep is not important to you. If you could, if there was some way you didn’t need to do that would you avoid sleep altogether?

No, not really. I don’t think you can.

But if there was some way – a pill, if there was a pill that would stop you sleeping?

Well if you had asked me that when I was in business I probably would have said yes, but now I am retired I don’t think it applies, you know, now I have got no reason for suggesting I want to stay awake for 24 hours. I don’t party, I don’t have girlfriends. No relationships at all.

So it is a kind of passing away the time I guess?

Well probably. I mean I wouldn’t know what to do for 24 hours.

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