Opinion

Q: My doctor insists that I should get more sleep, but if it feels OK to sleep for just about five hours a night, isn’t that what my body naturally needs? I am 53 and in pretty good health. -- Steve R., White Plains, New York A: Sleep is a complicated phenomenon. You may feel like it’s just a passive respite from the daily grind, but your body is as active while you sleep as it is while you’re awake. Among the various bodily functions that are affected by the lack of sufficient sleep, there’s memory consolidation, abstract thinking and cognition, neuron repair, gut biome health, and immune system strength and resilience. And that doesn’t even include what goes on in your bone-building osteoblasts and your lipid- and glucose-processing liver when you sleep -- or the disruption of those processes that happens when you don’t get enough sleep.

Dear Amy: I met my husband when I was a part-time sex worker and he was a client. We’ve been happily married for 30 years (I found a new career when we started dating).

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m an 80-year-old male who learned from a much younger male about the tremendous improvement he’s had in his life since undergoing a TURP (transurethral resection of the prostate) procedure.

Do you ever get stuck in the vicious cycle of worry and fear in your life? As a published author of a managing fear book, I struggled with fear and anxiety for over 20 years. Here is a brief summary of what I did to overcome the cycle of fear and anxiety in my life.

Q: I’ve gotten my food habits pretty well under control, but I’m still gaining weight! What could be causing that? -- Kayla E., Tucson, Arizona A: That is a great question -- because so many people find out that their weight issues develop from a combination of problems, not just overeating or eating the wrong foods. You know, of course, that for long-term weight management, you need to crank up your metabolism and build more calorie-burning muscles by getting plenty of physical activity (300 minutes a week minimum). Plus, muscle and metabolism decrease by 5% per decade, so you need to eat less to keep weight constant. But other contributing issues could include: 1. Lack of restful sleep. Too little sleep increases secretion of the “feed me” hormone ghrelin and suppresses the “I’m full” hormone leptin. It’s also linked to elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol and a growth hormone deficiency -- both can contribute to obesity. For great sleep improvement info go to https://health.clevelandclinic. org and search for “insomnia.” And ask your doctor for a referral to a sleep clinic or expert.

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband has a tumor in the right sinus of his face, and the biopsy results show that it is cancer of the salivary glands (adenoid cystic carcinoma).

I am the grandmother of two wonderful kids - a 7-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy. My son-in-law has been overly critical of my granddaughter since she was four, and now is starting to treat the younger child the same.

Do you struggle with your mental health and have a difficult time in getting the people you know to be more understanding? In some cases, your colleagues might give you a hard time regarding your anxieties and depression. As a result, here are seven suggestions on how to deal with the people you know regarding your mental health issues.

Dear Amy: I’m a 28-yearold man. My best friend from childhood, “Kenneth,” recently got engaged.