Sleep deprived and under pressure: Carrie Lam discusses coping with life as Hong Kong’s leader
City’s chief executive says she suffers from high blood pressure and has little free time
Hong Kong’s leader has revealed that she has to take medicine to control high blood pressure and can only have three to five hours of sleep each night, in a radio interview broadcast on Wednesday.
In the pre-recorded interview on Commercial Radio, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said: “I am very careful about my health … For example, I have body check-ups regularly and take some medicines to control my blood pressure, because I have a little bit high blood pressure.”
Lam said she had been having a busy schedule since she took over in July.
The worst period was before the release of her maiden policy address in October, where for two weeks she only had three to four hours of sleep a day and spent the rest of the time working, she said.
“Now it’s getting a bit better,” she said. “I can still have five hours [of sleep per day].”
But Lam said Hong Kong’s growing economy had driven her to do more.