Sleep

This post is by Don Weiss, pharmacist, friend, and author of the murder mystery, Picture Perfect, available on Amazon.

Men of a certain age enter what is called the Age of Prostatism. Although it sounds vaguely religious, it has nothing to do with religion. Unlike the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, the Age of Prostatism refers to the time in a man’s life when the prostate gland begins to enlarge. This may lead toward the possibility of developing Prostate Cancer for some of us. For most of us, it means that we will be getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (maybe two or three times a night), disrupting an otherwise peaceful night’s sleep.

History describes how young Indian braves were given water to drink on the eve of battle so that the would be up early ready for the fight ahead of them.

I’d be willing to bet that the young warriors had to stand in line behind the tribal elders to get to the bathroom.

An ever growing prostate is only one of the reasons for interrupted sleep. As we age our need for sleep seems to diminish. Maybe it’s God’s way of telling us that “Hey, you don't have that much time left, so don’t waste it!”

When I was a young man living in my bachelor apartment, I could sleep uninterrupted for eight, nine, or even ten hours. Once I slept through a fire alarm and when I was in college, I slept through an earthquake. Those were the days, my friends. Now it’s up at 3:30 a.m. on the dot to stumble to the bathroom and stumble back to bed. Sometimes I can go back to sleep, other nights I can’t. So what do I do?  I lie awake, thinking, looking back on my life (I recently turned 64), or I get up and write a blog post.