Sleep - how much do you need/get???

[monarch64]

Skippy, I''m kind of like you in that in my teens and early twenties I required like 12-13 hours of sleep! I would get 9 hours a night in HS, then I would come home and take an hour long nap before dinner sometimes and it was never enough, I slept as much as I could on the weekends. Now I find that I need much less sleep and I couldn''t sleep 12 hours if I tried! I would have to have the flu or something to sleep that much anymore although there are times the thought of sleeping that much at a time sounds heavenly.

I probably NEED 8 hours a night but usually end up getting around 7-7.5 hrs now. When I was working so close to home, I used to come home on my lunch break and get in a 20-30 minute nap sometimes, it was so nice. If I napped when I got home from work, though, I would never be able to fall asleep later that night and I would be so grumpy when I woke up from the "evening" nap for some reason! I got in a bad habit of doing that for a while, though, and then I would be up all hours of the night. I thought I had insomnia for a long time, even if I didn''t nap all day or when I came home from work I still could not fall asleep at night, it was awful. I''m doing better now, and ironically I don''t really have a set schedule, I just go to bed when I feel like it and don''t worry about getting up at a certain time. Maybe this is allowing my mind to relax and not worry about having to get up or go to sleep so it just happens more naturally...

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 7/19/2007 5:38:08 PM
Author: monarch64
Skippy, I'm kind of like you in that in my teens and early twenties I required like 12-13 hours of sleep! I would get 9 hours a night in HS, then I would come home and take an hour long nap before dinner sometimes and it was never enough, I slept as much as I could on the weekends. Now I find that I need much less sleep and I couldn't sleep 12 hours if I tried! I would have to have the flu or something to sleep that much anymore although there are times the thought of sleeping that much at a time sounds heavenly.

I probably NEED 8 hours a night but usually end up getting around 7-7.5 hrs now. When I was working so close to home, I used to come home on my lunch break and get in a 20-30 minute nap sometimes, it was so nice. If I napped when I got home from work, though, I would never be able to fall asleep later that night and I would be so grumpy when I woke up from the 'evening' nap for some reason! I got in a bad habit of doing that for a while, though, and then I would be up all hours of the night. I thought I had insomnia for a long time, even if I didn't nap all day or when I came home from work I still could not fall asleep at night, it was awful. I'm doing better now, and ironically I don't really have a set schedule, I just go to bed when I feel like it and don't worry about getting up at a certain time. Maybe this is allowing my mind to relax and not worry about having to get up or go to sleep so it just happens more naturally...

Oh my gosh, we are the same Monnie

I used to need a nap in high school too!!!! Funny!!!

I am like you too on the other parts highlighted.

 

[snlee]

When I was a teenager I used to sleep 11-12 hours a night on weekends. I''d sleep in till 1pm! If I did that now, I''d have a headache and feel tired the rest of the day.

 

[Lynn B]

Interesting thread.

I function the best on 8 hours... but since I get up at 6am (weekdays) that means *falling asleep* at 10pm, and that''s not realistic, because it can take me up to an hour to fall asleep (and I can never seem to be in bed at 9pm!

) Plus I wake up frequently and it takes me a while to get back to sleep.

Before I had kids I slept like the DEAD. It was WONDERFUL! Then, bingo, I birth a child and that''s over FOREVER. Egads... both my kids are grown and out of the house now, but the light sleeping CONTINUES to this day!!! Let MY CAT sneeze or even just make a little *squeak* and I am WIDE AWAKE INSTANTLY!

(BLASTED BRATS!

)

 

[Pandora II]

FI brought me home a really interesting article on sleep - he's an intelligence analyst so gets to see loads of really interesting but often weird and useless info!

Apparently teenagers are well known for needing 11 hours or more sleep - their body clocks are also wired somewhat like mine: can't sleep till 1 or 2 in the morning and then can't wake up. Apparently it's due to melatonin levels.

There is a school in Washington that is pioneering a new system where High School starts at 2pm and finishes round 9pm. They are getting great results on behaviour issues and also grade increases.

This was part of what made me ask my psychiatrist if I had a 'treatable' condition when I saw him this week - oh for a miracle that would make me bound out of bed at 7am.

It always really bugs me that my work colleagues who come in at 8.30am, take an hour's lunchbreak and leave at 5pm are seen as being so much more dedicated and hard working than people like me who start at 10.30, never take lunchbreaks and leave at 8.00pm. I do nearly 2 hours more than them a day yet I'm always regarded as slightly lazy (luckily not by my boss!)

It's like my mother who feels I'm a complete wastrel because I never get up at weekends till 11am if I don't have to. She's up at 7am but fast asleep on the sofa by 8pm, whereas I'm busy till 2am at least. Her available hours - 13, mine - 15. Hee hee, I win

 

[Miranda]

I really need 8-9 hrs. 9 is better. I sleep the best right after I fall asleep. I''m a light sleeper in the AM. DH is the opposite. He tosses and turns at bedtime then sleeps hard in the morning.

 

[katebar]

Date: 7/19/2007 9:06:25 PM
Author: Pandora II
FI brought me home a really interesting article on sleep - he''s an intelligence analyst so gets to see loads of really interesting but often weird and useless info!

Apparently teenagers are well known for needing 11 hours or more sleep - their body clocks are also wired somewhat like mine: can''t sleep till 1 or 2 in the morning and then can''t wake up. Apparently it''s due to melatonin levels.

There is a school in Washington that is pioneering a new system where High School starts at 2pm and finishes round 9pm. They are getting great results on behaviour issues and also grade increases.

Pandora II schools in Victoria here in Australia are implementing this too but with schoool starting at 1030. There has just been a major study done on the secretion of melatonin which is the precusor to sleep. In an adolescent the ''squirt'' of melatonin occurs later in the night hence them going to be late at night here is a newspaper article on this Sleep.
I am a psychologist and we can teach our clients reset our body clock if it has gone out of ''whack'' due to lifestyle. However the bottom line is that some people are better sleepers than others. Some people have delayed body clocks etc.
If you have always been like this chances are you will never be an early risers whci as you say is a bummer for working.

 

[Harriet]

I need 7.5 hours. I usually get that unless I have trouble falling and staying asleep. I had 5 last night and I feel terrible.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 7/20/2007 8:11:29 AM
Author: Harriet
I need 7.5 hours. I usually get that unless I have trouble falling and staying asleep. I had 5 last night and I feel terrible.

Wow, that is good. I am sorry about last night.

 

[Harriet]

Thanks. I took a nap when I got home, and feel fine now.

 

[Gypsy]

I can get by on less than 8 during the week.. 7 is okay. But after three nights of 7-6... I need nine or ten so on Wednesdays or Thursdays I usually crash early. However, I pretty much must get 10-12 hours a day on the weekends. Whether it''s all at once... or by nap. It''s gotta happen.


Today I was exhausted but once I took my lunch walk... I was better. Then I took a 15 minute power nap when I got home. I''ll probably crash at 9 tonight though as I''ve got to get up early for a weekend (GTG) tomorrow. Exercising has actually been helping my energy level and letting me get by with less sleep.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 7/20/2007 11:02:04 PM
Author: Gypsy
I can get by on less than 8 during the week.. 7 is okay. But after three nights of 7-6... I need nine or ten so on Wednesdays or Thursdays I usually crash early. However, I pretty much must get 10-12 hours a day on the weekends. Whether it''s all at once... or by nap. It''s gotta happen.


Today I was exhausted but once I took my lunch walk... I was better. Then I took a 15 minute power nap when I got home. I''ll probably crash at 9 tonight though as I''ve got to get up early for a weekend (GTG) tomorrow. Exercising has actually been helping my energy level and letting me get by with less sleep.

Have fun at your GTG Gypsy, remember to take lots of pics for us, please. hehehe Great job on the walk!!! I agree exercise really helps

 

[Picos]

I dont nap. I can''t nap; it makes me cranky.

I work odd shifts (no 9-5 here!) so a nap could come in handy but it''s just not probable.

I love to get 8 hours of sleep (bed at midnight, up at 8am) but thats not possiable because I stay up to midnight even though I have to go in to work early the next day *g*. But I''m OK with just 7 or so.

Less than 7 and I dont walk straight. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if I''m getting old since I go to bed so early.

 

[WTNLVR]

I''ve read that as you age you sleep less. The elderly average about 4-6 hrs a night. I''ve confirmed this with elderly relatives. I used to sleep from 8p-1pm the next day when I was a teen. Now, at 45 I go to bed at 9pm and am up at 6 for work, but 7 is more normal. No problems falling asleep at all. I am a morning person. Hubby the night owl can go to bed at 2am but sleeps till 11 am in that case. He has lots of trouble falling asleep. Takes Melatonin which works great taken regularly. I think it is also seasonal. In the winter I think I could sleep 11/24 hrs a day LOL (I live in the northeast).

 

[shel]

6 hours, but 7 is better.