Facebook Live with Dr Rangan Chatterjee at 2:30pm Friday 5 January

Oooh, the lovely Dr Chatterjee! I really enjoy watching your programmes. I hopefully won't be awake to join the FB live on 5 January (I'm on hols in Oz and it'll be 1.30am) but I'm interested in hearing your comments on sleep, specifically on how to achieve a good night's kip without resorting to the dreaded zoplicone which I do very occasionally when really stressed. I used to sleep like a log but since being widowed 5 years ago, it has evaded me.

Pretty much the same here. Cant remember the last full nights sleep. If i dont go to bed later than about 10.30pm i go to sleep fairly quickly, but then wake about 12.30, 2 am, 3.45, 5 am etc etc. So no longer than about 90 minutes at a time.
I too use zopiclone to help, they work but i still wake early. i am only given 14 at a time so try to conserve them.
If i go to bed later than 11 pm i can lay awake for hours, last night it was 3 hours awake followed by stop start dozing.
Are there any tablets which i could take on a more regular basis but which are perhaps not as strong or addictive as zopicline, or does it matter if i become a little addicted at this stage in my life - late sixties.
I worry that i have so little quality sleep i am damaging my health.
Help please!

I would have liked to take part in this discussion but I’m not on FB ( and don’t want to join) . If I post s question on this page, will I be able to read /hear a reply ?

Silver lining You sound just like me. I've tried going to bed at all different times nothing works. I fall asleep but only sleep for about an hour and a half at a time then awake for a few hours before I fall asleep again. I'm up at 6:30/7 am and mid morning I am really tired. I go to exercise classes five times a week and cannot do more than that ,I'm getting so fed up with not sleeping.

I happily follow all Dr Chatterjee's lifestyle advice except the regular get up and go to bed routine. I am so erratic and then find some mornings I get up so late, I'm not at all tired at bed time. I seem to lack motivation to change this routine. Can he suggest why this particular aspect of his lifestyle advice is so difficult for me?

Q My 20 yo granddaughter has put on a large amount of weight since she stopped growing and doing exercise at school, I would like to help but she will not oped up and discuss the matter. She enjoys eating a lot of fattening foods and is'en't keen to stop,
Any ideas?
Pat

I'd like to know how to get on the "Doctor In The House" programme. My husband has Crohn's and Parkinson's disease, and is constantly exhausted, unable to think clearly or to sleep. While he has few motor symptoms, the non-motor ones have a huge effect on our lives.

Where to start?

My DH and I both suffer from a great deal of stress due to running our own small engineering business. Money is tight, employees to pay, and everything else that goes with it. As a result of this neither of us sleep very well and take turns at pacing around the house often talking about work at 2,3, 4 am.

We are 56 and 66 and no sign of retirement as no pensions to speak of. Still have mortgage and debts so feel very sad that this seems to be "our lot" for ever.

On top of this I am suffering the worst menopausal symptoms with night sweats lasting all night long. I sleep with a fan blasting on me (DH has covers up to his nose) and still can't get cool. Horrible dreams (probably due to being overheated) and fixations on the stupidest of things mean that I find it very hard to function during the day. Horrendous headaches, hair falling out, feeling very down and I can cry over nothing at all. I have quite a few family responsibilities too and keep saying "I can't go on like this" but I know deep down that I have no choice.

I can't take HRT and GP very unsympathetic with a kind of "get on with it" approach.

I would be extremely grateful for ANY advice you can offer.

Another one for help with sleep hygiene, here. I know the 'up early same bed time' routine but it is difficult to fit in with one's life and even if I manage it, it does not work for me.

Last night I was still awake at 5.30am - a time when many people are rising for the day ahead. I am usually permanently tired and am fed up reading about how lack of sleep with help speed up dementia cancer and death.

I was given seven sleeping pills some years ago but have used half of them (in half doses) and really hate the drugged feeling the following day - worse than the initial tiredness!

Oh, I think this is hereditary, as my mother complained about insomnia too - and I just told her to go to bed at the same time each night, to relax and not look at the clock. This amazing advice, given freely my me when in my twenties and sleeping well, does not work!

Is there a magic wand (I guess not but thought I'd ask!)?

Another with sleep problems. I don't usually have any trouble falling asleep as I read and this helps me to drop off. But staying asleep is another matter as is getting back to sleep when I wake up. I am 54 and have some menopausal symptoms so far so I assume this is contributing. I get hot (but not flushes or sweats), I get restless, I then get stressed I am not asleep. If I didn't have to get up to go to work I could probably cope with the wake, read and eventually go back to sleep cycle but as I do have to get up this doesn't work in terms of giving me enough sleep and I am exhausted all the time. Please help before it destroys me and my relationship

Oh dear another problem connected to sleep. I go to bed at a similar time each night and get up at a similar time each day. I do plenty of exercise and don't drink anything containing caffeine. Yet I cannot remember the last time I had a good night's sleep. I have tried sprays for the pillow, hot drinks, rescue remedy and various other things that friends have recommended but nothing has made a significant difference. What can I do now?

I have an office job, which means I really don't get enough exercise each day - I drive to and from work too so I'm barely making 4,000 steps a day! Do you have any tips on how I can get myself moving, especially now it's the new year?

How frustrating. I have a hospital appointment at 2.15 tomorrow, I would have loved to have taken part. At least the need to get into central London involves two long walks each way so will do me good though I doubt it will make any difference to my insomnia

Hi Dr R. I'm hoping to join you tomorrow but on the off chance I can't, can you please tell me how I can reach this magical 10,000 steps without it seeming like a chore? I'm constantly hovering around the 7-8k mark.
Also, any sneaky tips on how to trick myself into drinking more water? I'm convinced that dehydration is partly to blame for my headaches.

I see that you advocate strength training and although I know it's very important as we get older, I'm not really sure how to get started with that? Are there any simple exercises you can recommend to do at home? Although I'm mobile enough and walk at the very least to the shops and back every day, I do tire easily come the afternoon. And my knees certainly aren't what they used to be. I have no interest in joining a gym.

Hi Dr Rangan! I'd like to ask how safe it is for me to continue with HRT over 60 - my doctor is making noises about taking me off it, which fills me with a sense of dread!!

I put a question at the start of this thread but am not on
fb and do not want to join. Where can i see this afternoons discussion? Thankyou.

I have to get up 2 or 3 times in the night to go to the loo - I stop taking any drinks from about 4.00 pm, and do not drink alcohol . I'd love to get up less often, and have better sleep, but am not sure how to know what is too much fluid in a typical day.

Which foods are particularly rich in iron?
I have just been to donate blood but was told my iron levels were too low. I think the baseline is 125 and my reading was 118.
I don't want to take supplements.

Thank you laura

I was happy with the answer to my probiotics question - and have bought the book (and sent one to each of my sisters). I like the idea of organised common sense I can refer to and that keeps me motivated. I am, however, sceptical about overdoing the claims to "reverse" disease - if he's not careful it will start to make him sound creepily omniscient.