Toe in the Water

Sleep

Sleep

I read somewhere that Churchill hardly slept at all at night. Instead, he made up for it by snatching ten minute catnaps during the day. At moments when the pressure was off, presumably.

Apparently, Maggie Thatcher did the same thing. In fact, it may be that many of the high-powered folk who run the corridors of power, influence, and money have similar habits.

It’s a lifestyle that most of us ordinary folk find hard to understand or even believe. We can’t imagine doing without a good night’s sleep to recover from the rigours of our days. So we put it down as an urban legend and wonder how these stories begin.

And then we get old.

I’ve heard it said that old people don’t sleep as much as they used to because “they don’t need it as much.” But now I’m in a position to disagree. We sleep just as much as we always did but not in one great big lump. Our nights are divided into a few hours of sleep separated by frequent visits to the bathroom. It’s the decreased capacity of the bladder that decides these things and when a man has to pee, he’s gotta pee.

During the day, of course, we catch up by short naps in front of the television or sitting in a chair with the book we were reading slipping out of our hands. It all adds up and I can say that, putting everything together, we most likely get the same amount of sleep as the younger ones around us.

Admittedly, my test sample is very small. In fact, it consists of one person only - me. But, as Andrea says, “Everyone does it.”

So nod off, gentle geriatric friends, you’re just catching up!

Word count: 292