Imagine tossing and turning in bed when everyone else is fast asleep. And then finally dropping off in sheer exhaustion when your daughter heads off to work after breakfast.
Imagine tossing and turning in bed when everyone else is fast asleep. And then finally dropping off in sheer exhaustion when your daughter heads off to work after breakfast.
Madam Aisha Abdullah, 52, who lives alone, can certainly relate to that. She has had sleepless nights for more than 20 years due to chronic insomnia. She's also had chronic heart disease for several years. Then, last year, she was diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes.
She developed insomnia partly because of very long work hours.
After finishing her O levels, Madam Aisha worked as a factory hand for about 15 years. She would start work at 7am, but often work overtime for many hours. She'd sometimes return home past midnight and lie in bed, unable to fall asleep.
She left that job to become a material controller at a factory for the next seven years. There, she needed to keep track and note materials used used in the firm's production. The self-professed workaholic worked from 7pm and put in a lot of overtime too. She would then return home to do some chores and cook for her parents. Her sleep problem persisted.
'I couldn't sleep at all and on days off when my friend wanted to go to the market at 8am, I'd be too weak to even open my eyes,' she said. 'I'd sleep an hour or two before getting up at 10am and still feeling very tired.'
Madam Aisha, who has a 34-year-old daughter living in Kuala Lumpur, now lives on public assistance but she says she is happier than before.
And the improvement is thanks to Dr Ong Chun How, a consultant and sleep specialist at the department of despiratory and critical care medicine in the Singapore General Hospital.
Madam Aisha has followed her advice and is taking medication so that she can get more sleep. This is also essential in managing the chronic illnesses she suffers from.
'When I was young, I used to think I could live without sleep. Now with more sleep, I feel so much better and I think it's helping my chronic diseases as well,' she said.
Given her many illnesses, she sleeps in a unique manner, placing two pillows under her head and two more under her legs for better blood circulation.
What she bemoans though is the large quantity of medicine she has to take. 'It's like a cocktail, but not a nice one,' she said with a chuckle.
Dr Ong said insomnia usually comes with depression and chronic illnesses in a package.
'The average adult needs 8.3 hours of sleep. Yet in an industrialised society like Singapore, we usually get far less. In fact, sleep deprivation doubles your risk of hypertension,' she said.
And if one casts the net wider to include all other sleep disorders, it is clear that chronic diseases and sleep disorders are closely linked.
Studies show that sleep disorders increase the possibility of hypertension, heart disease and stroke by two to three times.
Thirty per cent of all heavy smokers suffer from both chronic heart disease and insomnia.
A large proportion of diabetics tends to be overweight and hence a greater likelihood possibility of suffering from sleep apnoea. Conversely, sleep apnoea can lower one's glucose tolerance level and this could result in higher risk of diabetes, said Dr Ong.
However, there's hope for people who suffer from chronic illnesses and insomnia. They can significantly improve their quality of life like Madam Aisha has.
'Control and adjust the medication that you take for chronic diseases and sleep disorders simultaneously and, most importantly, get your sleep condition diagnosed early,' said Dr Ong. 'It can make a world of difference.'
