The Sleep Thread

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
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Lately I've been sleeping ridiculously long hours. Sometimes 10 to 11 hours a night (or should I say morning). It hasn't always been this way and sometimes I find sleeping difficult. I'm a night owl and usually don't go to bed before 1.30 AM.

What about you? Do you have problems sleeping? How many hours do you like to sleep each night? My minimum is seven hours - but I prefer eight or more. Do you have techniques for getting to sleep? Please share your experiences...
 
I'm a night owl too, always have been since i was a kid. I have way more energy at 9pm than 10am. Lots of time life forces my sleep cycle to be more "normal" but my body rebels on the weekends and will stay up late and sleep in late if it can, tho lot of weekends i am out doing art show so i have to up and out before daylight. I find i do better on those day just to not sleep the night before and just crash after the event.
 
I like at least 8 hours but that hasn't happened for a long time, some nights are less than 5 so I have been feeling very tired and sluggish, I am hoping this holiday has helped to reset things to the factory setting so I can get back into some kind of routine and start sleeping properly again.
 
I like 8 but function pretty well on 7 a night for long periods. I never have trouble falling asleep.

I’m a morning person. I feel like I’ve missed something if I don’t see the sunrise from my kitchen window, or better yet from the sand if I’m on holidays.

Stress is the killer. I go to sleep but wake after just 3 hours and I’m usually not able to get back to sleep. Using nervous energy to clean or cook. Sometimes I read. It was so bad after a string of deaths starting with Dads in early 2016 that I was tempted to try medication. However I found the best way to ensure a good nights sleep was a good long walk. If I can get at least an hours walk in I sleep much better.


Yesterday I walked 40 minutes on my lunch break at work by parking at least a 10 minute walk from the shop I needed to go to then walking the long way around the block to get back to my car.
 
Frizz1974 said:
If I can get at least an hours walk in I sleep much better.
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Very good advice indeed. That waking up after 3 hours is a dreadful thing. I've trained myself to think about menus and recipes (which I find soothing). Its easier being retired of course as there is far less stress. Well, that is the theory...
 
I got about an hour at work last night, then and hour and a half late this morning before my wife called me to go see who was at the door. Someone triggered the security cameras and was standing in our front porch, ringing the doorbell and blowing large clouds of vape smoke.

It was only the landscaper asking about scheduling the fall cleanup.

Then I got another hour and a half before getting up to go get my son from football practice.

So, 4 hours sleep today. At least I have tonight off, so I will take melatonin and hopefully get 5 or 6 hours consecutively.
 
I find it difficult to switch my brain off at night so I tried all the usual: no caffeine after 7pm, no electronic device use after 8pm, no fast paced tv programmes etc but no difference. A while back I went to see my gp,she gave me some sleeping pills which didn't help either.

As I spend my working day in an office I don't get much exercise so after dinner I clean, iron, gardening to burn off energy, I agree with @Frizz1974 regarding exercise, it does help. Unfortunately now we are late in the year it is dark early, cold, windy and at the moment heavy rain so no gardening now until next year.
 
Sometimes I only get a few hours at night, but I take a nap during the day. The medication I take for my heart has some weird side effects like very vivid dreams. So I get up and watch some old reruns like Mary Tyler Moore, Fraser, Alfred Hitchcock, Cheers, and old movies. This is Rita Hayworth month, so I watched Gilda, and went to bed humming Put the blame on Mame boys. Lol. Television is better at night anyway. My idea of Heaven would be a Big soft bed, lots of fluffy pillows, and all the ice cream I could eat.
 
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It's reassuring to read some of the posts in this thread and to know that I'm not the only one regularly surviving on only 4 or 5 hours' sleep. I haven't the faintest idea any more of what it must be like to get 7 or 8 hours unbroken sleep.

I've eliminated chocolate in the evening (lunchtime only now) and eating heavily too late in the evening. That's made a slight difference. Exercise is good too, but I'd suggest not too much. I find it impossible to get a decent sleep if I've cycled for more than say 40 miles in the day. Walking short distances or gentle gardening seem to be better options.

Karen W said:
My idea of Heaven would be a Big soft bed, lots of fluffy pillows, and all the ice cream I could eat.
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I'd go along with that - but hey, you forgot the chocolate !
 
No, it's an over the counter medicine. It's about the safest sleep aid available here.

Clonezapam and Zolpidem, both prescriptions, are dangerous drugs. I've drank gallons and gallons of alcohol in my life, but I never had any kind of memory blackout from it.

I've been prescribed both heretore mentions drugs, and there were a few nights that I can't recall anything after taking them until I fell asleep.

And then, when I woke up, I didn't actually feel rested.

Melatonin is far better, albeit not as strong, but I only take it once a week or two, so its effectiveness doesn't wear off.
 
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After 20 years working 7.30 am to 7.30 pm Monday to Friday and sat morning at work. I survived on 7 to 8 hours sleep. Last 20 years I've worked for myself and didn't start work until 9ish in the morning. So I then got about 9 hrs a night. I've cut right back my hours now so I'm sleeping about 10 hrs now. I hate pills of any sort. I only take a bp pill. And a pain pill, (long story) so I have a few drinks at night to help me sleep. It works.

Russ
 
I'm a restless sleeper and I wake up lots of times of a night. I've tried all sorts of things but at the end of the day (heh!) nothing seems to work. I probably get 5 to 6 hours of sleep at best. But I'm just used to it now.
 
I'd likely sleep better if my cat didn't like to push me off the bed. How a small cat has the ability to push a human off the the bed i don't know but Mr. Mew does it once or twice a sleep...i wake barely balenced on the edge of the matress or with my legs already hanging off the bed. Shutting him out of the room does not result in more sleep...that constant scratch at the door accompanied by meows does not lend itself to a goodnight sleep.
 
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