Margaret Thatcher, our first and only female Prime Minister to date, died aged 87 on Monday and whatever your thoughts about her outlook and achievements, she made an impact.

Like many I’m sure, I could write a book on my personal thoughts about her legacy, but one article in the press today in particular attracted my attention. Apparently, Margaret “Maggie” Thatcher not only survived, but thrived on only 4 hours sleep a night.

Now I don’t have the responsibility or high-powered job that she had but I too normally rely on just 4 hours sleep to get me through the day. Always active, my sleeping pattern has caused much hilarity/concern/amazement over the years , and being a sensible person always living in fear of my next depressive episode I need to make sure that I get sufficient rest. This means in practice, more than 4 hours unconscious rest is required!

It would be nice to exist on just 4 hours of shut-eye but in reality for me that’s difficult. I am very physically active, increasingly demanding but absolutely hopeless if I only get 4 hours on a regular basis. My solution to this dilemma is to take mild anti-depressant/sleeping tablet-Amytryptyline. The joy of these tablets is that they don’t send you to sleep (I’m tired enough as it is) but they keep you asleep. This is exactly what I need as I am so exhausted by my efforts at the end of the day that I’m “gone” as soon as my head touches the pillow but after 4 hours asleep my brain wakes up again. My husband laughs when he says he brings me a cup of tea 5 minutes after I disappear upstairs only to find me snoring away merrily but  after only 4 hours of blissful rest I’m awake at 2am ready and raring to go and instead I am listening to his snoring!

Perhaps one day my brain will slow down and my energy levels will subside  so that I am able to live life at a more sedentary pace. My family will undoubtedly rejoice!

Until then, I will keep taking the tablets in the vain hope that one day I will survive without.