Do you sleep through the night?

Let's talk sleep.

How well do you sleep?

How often do you wake?

Do you battle with insomnia?

What are your evening routines?
What apps, products, people, etc, help you wake in the morning?

Do you feel there's room for improvement with your sleep habits?
Why / why not?

Share whatever you want about sleep, that was just a writing prompt to get folks thinking.

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A friend really struggled with getting her daughter to sleep through the night. She realized it wasn't really improving no matter what she tried. She didn't care, she was functioning fine with disrupted sleep. Eventually her daughter grew out of it. But a bunch of people seemed to ask her along the way about her daughter's sleep habits, unsolicited questions likely due to her apparent exhaustion.

If someone asked her, "Does your daughter sleep through the night?" She would turn the question back at them and respond, "Do you?"

It was effective at getting people to stop bothering her, but it also led to some interesting conversations that got people thinking differently about sleep.


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I used to operate on very little sleep. 5-6 hours at night with an occasional nap during the afternoon. I used to only crash to sleep as I felt like falling down from exhaustion. I would sleep through until whenever my alarm went off, pop out of bed, and get back to work.

I'm not that way anymore. Not unless I have something crazy like this draft that due in 2 weeks that's totally impossible. Then I do it. But I always pay for it the next month. The concept of a sleep deficit has finally caught up with me.

I don't sleep through the night anymore. Children changed me. I sleep for about 3 hours at a stretch, get up, pee, check on people, and get back into bed and crash back to sleep. It doesn't seem terribly healthy, but at least it is consistent. I figure as my kids age, I might be able to sleep longer without waking, but who knows. It's not that I'm worried about them so much as I'm out of practice, forcing myself into another sleep cycle without getting out of bed is no longer something I'm used to doing.

 

I finally sleep through the night. I got to bed around 11 and fall asleep relatively quickly. It's only when I'm anxious that I stay up all night.

Tonight I'm anxious. I have an appointment at 11 AM. I want to buy this house tomorrow. I'm researching the right price. I'm trying to make sure that I buy it properly. So I'm up researching this small little village and just how many properties are moving in it. I wish I could give the family what it needs to heal. Brother passed away. Mother is executor. There is a mortgage. There are kids. They want to tidy this up quickly and move on. They need some money to walk away with. I'm trying to figure out just how to do it.

 

Thanks. Not my loss, but still I feel bad for the family. They need to sell the house. I need to buy it. We need to find a middle space that it makes sense for everyone to walk away with what they need.

 

How well do you sleep?

Most of the time I think I get enough sleep. Maybe not ideal sleep, but enough that I'm not dragging all the time. But I don't think I sleep as "well" as I used to. Somewhere in my early 30s my quality of sleep did a nosedive.

How often do you wake?

On a good night I'll wake up maybe once, around 4am. Usually to pee, and on a good night I'll fall back asleep right away. Most nights I tend to wake up 2-3 times at least. And several times a week I struggle to fall back asleep.

Do you battle with insomnia?

Yes. Probably not as bad as many do, but I often find myself lying awake, physically tired, but my mind completely engaged. On some occasions I am anxious over a problem or the next day. But usually it is just that my mind won't stop thinking, wandering, whatever. I'll wake up at 3-4am, try to go back to sleep, and it's like my mind thinks it is 8am and I've already had two cups of coffee. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep too, but this occurs less often.

What are your evening routines?

I'm sure that some of my routines contribute to my sleep issues. I spend far too much time in front of a screen (computer, tablet, phone, etc.) than I should. I often read on my tablet before bed, which I know isn't the best idea. Other times I'll play computer games for 30-90 minutes before bed, which probably keeps my mind more active than I should have it before bed.

Maybe two years or so ago I started taking a little melatonin before bed. This has helped me fall asleep, and usually helps me fall back asleep when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning.

What apps, products, people, etc, help you wake in the morning?

Usually just coffee. I use an alarm to get up at whatever time I need to (usually within the same 30 min window), then have a cup or two of coffee.

Do you feel there's room for improvement with your sleep habits?

Absolutely.

Why / why not?

I should be more regimented. I should stop with the electronics late in the evening. I also carry around a 32oz insulated mug full of water all day, including in the evening. Sometimes I'll drink 64oz or more of water with/after dinner. I'm sure this doesn't help me any.

 

Well, that poll is a bit lop sided for me.
Because NOW I sleep better.
But I've worked at it.

I'm a natural vampire...staying up late at night easy.
But since my mid-30's I've gotten up before 7:30 without an alarm.

So I was getting on my better nights...between 5 to 6 hours of sleep.

But for a long time, I was waking in the middle of the night.
And then not being able to get to sleep again...until just a couple of hours before I "had to" get up to commute to work.

I can't go to sleep before 10, otherwise I'll wake up in the middle of the night.
My brain has to "let go"...it just doesn't stop sometimes.
And I was tossing and turning...a restless sleep.
Grinding my teeth

I was exhausted all the time...at least during most of the day...and that's not good, I use my brain for a living. (high-level tech work, with the expectations that go with it)

Initially, I thought I may have sleep apnea, like my cuz (which I would hate, since I wouldn't be able to deal with those air masks...I would have gone for the surgery)
I did ALL the sleep studies... (damn those wires are a pain, I'm shocked I slept at all with them)

I slowly figured it out...

First, I'm light sensitive...so I have to turn off ALL lights, otherwise it throws off my circadian rhythms and stimulates my mind.
Second, I have to sleep naked...I run hot, clothing of any kind burns me up and entangles me. (plus I keep the temp down LOW)
Third, I make sure there's nothing that stimulates me before bed and I make sure to wind down.
Last, I've changed jobs so it's not toxic and stressful. (working at home now allows me to sleep until needed and not have to catch trains, cars, etc to get to work with schedules)

I think this is the best sleep I've gotten in a long time.
I still go to bed later, after 10 and only 5 to 6 on average.
But it's a BETTER sleep.

I always say, "I work hard to be lazy" (y'know be proactive and efficient at work)
But here, I really worked for my rest.

 

I often have split sleep if I don't take something to keep me asleep. I'll wake up around 2 and not go back to sleep until 3. I have pretty severe allergies, so I usually take a Benadryl at night during allergy season. Then, I sleep through the night.

I use the Android app Sleep to track my sleep. It works well for me. I've found it helpful in understanding my sleep patterns.

I usually take a shower or bath, brush my teeth, and read for a bit before going to sleep. It helps get me in the right frame of mind for sleep.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

I usually wake once in the night, but this is mainly because I have a geriatric cat (she's, like, 24) who wakes me up for either attention or food (or both). I usually get up for about 5 minutes and then head back to sleep. I fall asleep again pretty quickly regardless of what time it is.

My long-term average is about 6.5 hours of sleep each night. Some nights, it's as low as 5.5 or 6, but I sleep in an extra hour or two on the weekends, which makes up for some of it.

About a month ago, I decided to make a concerted effort to get more sleep. I've been reading the recent revisions on health sleep times, and I figured I should try to hit the 7 to 9 hours of sleep for my age group.

I started using the iPhone's "Bedtime" app, which gets you to set a bedtime. You can only set one bedtime and one wake time because that, apparently, is the best practice. I use it during the week only, as I'd rather get some catch-up sleep on the weekends. I go to bed the same time every night now though.

I would normally go to bed between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. and get up at 7:30. I now go to bed around 12 or 12:15 a.m. and get up at 8 a.m. I've been averaging between 7.5 and 7.75 hours of sleep a night now. This means I'm now getting 5+ more hours of sleep each week. That's a pretty big chunk. I still feeling like I'm paying off my sleep debt, but I've noticed already that my concentration is a bit better and that I'm less drowsy at certain times of the day. I'm also wondering if it will help my recovery between bouts of exercise.

It's a work in progress, but I think over the next few weeks I might see even more benefits of sleeping enough. I'm hoping it will improve my mood and allow me to concentrate even better.

Now if only my cat would let me sleep through the night.

 

Tramadol ruins my sleep. I have it for a variety of reasons, but I rarely take it because I wake up every hour when I do. It gives me wacky dreams. No thanks.