Just a thought that occurred to me this morning.
Last night I switched the light off at about 10.15pm, but takes me a while to get to sleep, probably at least 1/2 an hour. When I woke and looked at the time it was 7.45am. Fairy nuff I thought, but didn't get out of bed and next thing I knew it was 9am.
Does your body know how much sleep it needs? Or was I being really lazy?
Oh, and I should add I probably woke up about 4 or 5 times during the night as well, but generally go back to sleep pretty quickly.
My head seems to think 4 hrs is enough, my body usually says otherwise but the head always wins
I have children.
No, I can't have too much sleep.
When I was a student I slept too much.
Nowadays I probably get the right length but it is normal of a poor quality as I have become a light sleeper over the years 🙁
enjoy it.....once you have kids you will be permanently tired and never get enough sleep
No, i can't ever have enough sleep. When on hols, I tend to get between 10-12 hours a night and feel fantastic for it. I tend to need a lot of sleep, or at least 6.5-7hours of unbroken sleep which i generally don't get as i'm a lighter sleeper and woken up by my flatmate/bf/neighbours.
enjoy it.....once you have kids you will be permanently tired and never get enough sleep
Thank goodness for kids that are grown up and flown the nest!
No, i can't ever have enough sleep. When on hols, I tend to get between 10-12 hours a night and feel fantastic for it. I tend to need a lot of sleep
Ah, so it's not just me that feels 10 hours is needed. It's odd in my case though, as they I thought it was said that you needed less as you get older.
I usually sleep around 6 hours a night but once a month or so I have a lie in and sleep for around 10 hours. I always feel much worse after a long sleep, pretty tired all day. I guess it's a personal thing. My wife could easily sleep 12 hours a day and really needs at least 8 hours.
I need at least 8 hours, and still tend to feel tired with that.
I have been trying an app called sleep cycles on the iphone for the past week, uses the accelerometer in the phone to measure movement in the night, it shows I am a very restless sleeper. I would love to be able to have nights of quality deep sleep.
10.45pm to 7:15am......?
he he......
he HE HE!!
/laughs hysterically
I reckon I got about an hour of sleep last night. Went to bed about 11:00, dozed till my wife came to bed about twelve or so. Spent the rest of the night wide awake.
I think you can have too much. You end up groggy and out of it quite a lot of the time.
I think most people sleep in 90 minute cycles. So if you woke up at 7:45 you were probably 15 minutes into the cycle which didn't finish till 9:00
If you'd got up then you'd have spent all day feeling like you were all soapy and hadn't been spun dry.
need about 6 hours a night [ 7 is nice] if i dont excercise much goes up to about 7-8 if i excercise.
Cant ever lie in but i can have an late night easy enough
I don't really understand how you can get too much. Unless you set an alarm your body is going to sleep as long as it feels it needs, unless you have some sort of hormone issue!
That said, if left alone, I sleep from about 3am to about 11am. I wake at 11 pretty much on the dot without an alarm.
When on hols, I tend to get between 10-12 hours a night and feel fantastic for it
I am the opposite to this, if I sleep for too long then I feel pretty sluggish and groggy. I seem to operate best on around 7 hours sleep. I have read about 90 minute sleep cycles etc... and it's all quite interesting.
I also tried a mobile app that tracks your movement during the night and length of time you're asleep etc.. and then lets you rank how good you felt the sleep was when you wake up. It then adjusts your alarm to what it thinks would give you the best sleep length, seemed to kind of work! Was at least interesting to see the movement and compare to the sleep rating I gave each morning
How did the app track your movement, did you have to sleep clutching your phone?
How did the app track your movement, did you have to sleep clutching your phone?
Between the cheeks.
I saw some research once which concluded that anything on average over 8hrs a night reduced your life expectancy. Don't have the details so a pretty pointless post really, but would like to understand the science behind that.
[i] How did the app track your movement, did you have to sleep clutching your phone?
Between the cheeks. [/i]
What if your wife wants to have sex with you while you sleep?
How did the app track your movement, did you have to sleep clutching your phone?
Its placed under the sheets in the corner of the bed.
It has kinda confirmed what I already really knew that I don't sleep very well. I know I have to do something about it. At some point this year I expect to be splashing out on an expensive mattress.
Isn't 8 the recommend avg sleep?
It can all depend on how hard your bodies been working, if you have an infection etc etc.
Sleeping too long is quite often a sign of depression. Waking up in the night could be stress or any number of things! If you are waking up alot in the night though your never getting in to a proper deep sleep.
I've not had a proper sleep for 2 years now, which coincided with the birth of my son 😈
samuri - MemberWhat if your wife wants to have sex with you while you sleep?
Sneaky cow, you'd have thought she'd have the decency to wake him up and let him share the experience....
I regularly get 12 hours sleep. I am a student though...
Sleep...what's that?
Sleeping too long is quite often a sign of depression. Waking up in the night could be stress
Oh...
How did the app track your movement, did you have to sleep clutching your phone?
Its placed under the sheets in the corner of the bed.
Yup, just put it on the bed and it picks up the movement of the mattress. Was quite surprising to see how much I move during the night!
I've an interest in sleep, so ahve accumulated several textbooks on it, and the effect it can have on your health...
Sleep's actually pretty complicated, and sometimes it's a wonder it happens at all! (as demonstrated above, sometimes it doesn't!).
The 90 (ish) minute sleep cycle thing is true, and broadly put is separated into 'resting' sleep, and 'non resting' sleep. Both are needed, but as the name suggests, it's the 'resting' part that makes you feel less tired the next day.
The vast majority of people build up significant sleep defecits - i.e you need 8 hrs a night, bet get only 6. Therefore after a week you ahve a defecit of 14 hours. You don't actually need to sleep for an extra 14 hours, as the body will adjust the 'ratio of resting/non-resting' sleep to allow you to catch up.
The reason people feel tired after a looong sleep (and think it was bad for them) is that you're probably in a position to have the extra sleep (weekend, no alarm etc) and that despite the extra hours, you [b]still [/b]haven't 'paid off' your sleep defecit, hence feel tired.
The other misconception is that there is a 'set' number of hours you need to sleep for - as long as you're functioning OK and not feeling knackered, you're getting enough sleep!
DrP
of note, I've also read said textbooks.....!
DrP
chvck this may be a personal question but do you sleep alone? If not then that app is useless!
I tried it....tested it on the first night with us both in the bed. When you are in test mode it makes a beep each time it senses movement........sure enough each time MrCM moved on the OTHER side of the bed.....beeeep!!!
So - sacked that one off pretty quickly as a total waste of 69p!!!!!
I read an interview with a sleepologist professor dude from an NHS Sleep clinic (doubt that was his real title, but he knew a lot about sleeping and seemed quite clever)
He said that everybody has an optimum number of sleep hours, changes for everybody but said it is usually around 7 hours. You can sleep more, with no real benefit or harm. If you sleep less you build up a sleep defecit. Doesn't make any difference how big this defecit is, you only need your optimum hours to 're set the clock'. i.e: sleep for 5 hours for 5 days, build up a 10 hour defecit, only need your usual 7 hours to get back to normal. That was assuming everything else was normal (exercise, illness, drinking etc)
*edit, typed this whilst other informed replies were being posted above**
I once had to wait four weeks to see my gf one summer holiday when I was a student. I wasn't working, so I deliberately slept loads and loads to make the time pass (aww). I felt like crap and was really quite confused.
Anyway - I reckon the time at which you get up is as important than the amount of sleep you get. 7 hours between 2am and 9am leaves me feeling great, 7 between 10pm and 5am - ugh.
It's to do with the time at which serotonin levels rise in your brain - varies in different people, making us morning or night people.
once had to wait four weeks to see my gf one summer holiday when I was a student. I wasn't working, so [b]I deliberately slept loads and loads to make the time pass (aww)[/b]. I felt like crap and was really quite confused.
One of the oddest and funniest things I've read on the internet! Bravo sir!
DrP
According to my wife, it is impossible tog et too much sleep. She would, if allowed, sleep for about 14 hours a night, although she does have a bad habit of waking up a lot and then going downstairs to get a drink or a snack.
I seem to function fine on anything between 5 and 7 hours or sleep a night, but will sleep more if I have nothing to do and/or no dogs to take out or feed. I do have a problem with long lie-ins though... I can't do them. I feel as though I need to do something so, whilst my wife sleeps, I use iPad or laptop and make myself familiar with the day's news, sport, tech stuff, comedy, cartoons, and/or TV.
Anybody used sleeping tablets? What are your experiences? Good or bad?
I go to bed and it can be anything from 1 to 2 hours by the time i fall asleep, last night i went to bed at 11 but didn't end up getting to sleep while half 1ish (checked phone after going to the bog).
I dunno whats up wi me, i've always taken a while to get to sleep, even as a kid, i find it hard to switch my brain off and drift off, as it were. I'm tired when i go to bed but cant seem to sleep.
Ive been toying with the idea of getting some tablets to see if they can help.
I also find staying up late can make me feel better, even if it's at the expense of less sleep. I watch TV, faff with the computer, play games, unhindered by housework or kids. This is very theraputic - it improves my mood significantly which more than compensates for less sleep.
I can sleep almost indefinately!I have no problem sleeping 12-18 hours at a stretch (with wee/drink breaks).Usually 10 often 12.Less than 8 and Im less than good company .Less than 6 and I'll kill the first person I see and try not to get too much blood on me.
I once had to wait four weeks to see my gf one summer holiday when I was a student. I wasn't working, so I deliberately slept loads and loads to make the time pass (aww). I felt like crap and was really quite confused.
How can you deliberately sleep? IME you can't put your head down and say "I'm going to sleep now" if you don't need it, you just dno't go to sleep. And if you wake up and have had enough sleep you stay awake and watch the ceiling.
I can easily "wake up" with a sequence of alarms, cross the room to turn them off, speak to people, then wake up 2 hours later with no recollection of doing any of it.
I have used melatonin tablets with some success but they do tend to make me feel a bit headachy first thing in the morning - you need a much smaller dose than you think and need to take them earlier in the day than you think.
I suspect I'm around the 8 hours mark for ideal sleep. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
But, my previous working life (M&A lawyer) meant sleep was often erratic at best - busy times in deals and not sleeping at all was not unusual.
I think it's helped me build a resilience to being able to function at near 100% off little, no, or broken sleep. Oh, and I'm now also a parent....
you can't put your head down and say "I'm going to sleep now"
Yes I can. If I needed to prove a point, I could chose to go to sleep pretty much anywhere, any time. Jsut need to put my head down, empty my brain and off I go.
Sleeping is one for the few talents I have.
I need 7 to feel good. When I lived in India I slept for 5 from midnight to 5am, hit the pillow and straight to sleep. 1 hr sleep after lunch everyday. Climate and this system was the best Ive felt.
IME you can't put your head down and say "I'm going to sleep now" if you don't need it
IME, you can! It doesn't end up like normal sleep though, just a fug of dozing and bizarre hallucinations 🙂
What if your wife wants to have sex with you while you sleep?
Seems he's got this covered:
At some point this year I expect to be splashing out on an expensive mattress.
[b]coffee[/b]king - MemberHow can you deliberately sleep? IME you can't put your head down and say "I'm going to sleep now"
I think I might see where the issue lies here... (-:
I never seem to get enough sleep. I can usually just go straight off anywhere - I use my commute as a good opportunity, but on the days when some blasted gasbag sits next to me I do really feel tired for the rest of the day. 7.5-8 hours max is all I can usually squeeze in, but if left to my own devices will happily go on for up to 12 hours. If less than 7 hours, I am a confused stumbling bad-tempered automaton.
I also inherited from my grandfather a remarkable ability to wake up pretty much to the minute when I want without an alarm - and tell the time without looking at a watch pretty much to the minute as well. A great trick! Don't know how all that fits in with the 90 minute cycle thing, though.
I have no other talents whatsoever.
I feel better on lots of sleep. Madame has got used to this and leaves me to my siesta (when not tempted to join in) knowing I'll be far more productive after than if I try to struggle on.
I'm with frank and ooo.I can 'Martini' sleep...any time,any place,anywhere.I can do the wake up without alarm clock trick aswell.
We must be sleep gifted.
I struggle to sleep more than 8 hours in a night, after that I automatically wake up and staying in bed makes me feel horrible for the rest of the day. On days off I prefer a shorter main sleep then an afternoon nap of 35 minutes.
My afternoon nap always feels like very productive sleep. I fall asleep within a minute or so and after waking experience about 45 minutes of sleep enertia but then feel extremely refreshed for the remainder of the day.
Often my night sleeps are plagued with horrific nightmares (usually involving me being stabbed, sometimes I wake because of muscle spasms that feel like I am really being stabbed) that prevent me from feeling refreshed in the morning. I always make sure I wind down before bed as well, tv is off at least an hour before I go to sleep.
I also tend to nap on the train to and from work, usually about 10 or 15 minutes each time.
Doesn't your brain start to slow down when you sleep for long hours every night and don't do much during the day??... I think it's caused by a lack of stimuli.
I slept the best part of eleven hours a night for the best part of a month when I was driving round New Zealand. Sleep is ace.
[i]It doesn't end up like normal sleep though, just a fug of dozing and bizarre hallucinations[/i]
it's called dreaming! 😉
Kev
Doesn't your brain start to slow down when you post on STW for long hours every day and don't do much at work during the day??... I think it's caused by a lack of stimuli.
That would explain a lot about the quality of posts on here.....
I slept the best part of eleven hours a night for the best part of a month when I was driving round New Zealand
You weren't taking part in the sheep census were you?
haha, nope. When I wasn't out hiking and mountain biking I was driving from town to town and looking for places to camp. I was in bed asleep by 21:30 most nights and up around 08:00 in the morning. I probably felt the healthiest I've ever been.
Kev
I think I might see where the issue lies here... (-:
🙂 I've tried removing that stimulus. I can honestly say that makes absolutely zero difference to my sleeping, even if I have a fresh one when I go to bed.
I tried that sleep app last night, didn't realise I moved about so much in my sleep - seem to have some sort of activity every hour.
I also have a lot of sleep now. I have to adapt my new lifestyle because of my work. After taking Vitamins for a month, I observed that I now spend most of my time sleeping for 12 hrs. And I like it. I can rest very well.
I'd like more sleep please. Jnr's getting up at 4-5am to either go to the loo / tell us he's wet the bed (we are nightime potty training, sigh, plus my own er "No 2" cycle has changed so that I need to get up at 3am for a poo. :-/
I went to bed a 6.30 yesrterday (headache) and woke up 20 minutes ago.....and I feel GREAT!
Been trying that app some more. I move about a LOT at night, but you can't wake me up for toffee!