We've all heard that sleep is super duper important and most of us are not getting enough rest

Is anybody here really disciplined about getting the proper amount of sleep? What kind of schedule do you stick to? Do you avoid eating/watching tv before bed? Has anybody tried doing things like Polyphasic Sleep?

11/12/2010 3:28:29 PM

I stay up till 2 something, alarm goes off at 6 something, hit snooze till 8 something

11/12/2010 3:32:09 PM

I try to be in bed by 11:30-12...back during soph. year at state, GrumpyGOP and I fucked around with sleeping only 1 or 2 REM cycles per night.

...Supposedly, you feel much more rested if you sleep for one complete cycle (~90 minutes I think?), rather than sleeping for a little longer, but waking up in the middle of a cycle. We'd do 1 or 2 cycles, get up really early for Army ROTC PT, and then see how shitty we felt during it.

[Edited on November 12, 2010 at 3:37 PM. Reason : .]

11/12/2010 3:36:47 PM

I read the "Ladies, let's talk shop thread" and I'm out like a light.

11/12/2010 3:37:46 PM

i'm usually in bed by 10:30 and get up around 6:30...if i go too many days without 8 hours of sleepy, it catches up with me

i don't usually eat anything after 10 (so 30 minutes for bed)...mostly because it usually causes me to have crazy dreams (which i don't mind) OR toss and turn...not sure why, but i attribute it to food

11/12/2010 3:42:30 PM

I don't avoid watching TV before bed per se, but I definitely find that the more I watch TV or read a book in bed, the worse my sleep quality gets. I would prefer not to have a TV in there at all, except we have an extra one and I do like having it on while I put away laundry or something. I know a few people with sleep issues who either watch TV in bed or stay on the computer right until they try to go to bed, and I wish they'd try changing those things, because I think it could make a big difference.

Lately I have been having problems with being a sensitive sleeper. I wear ear plugs and have a white noise machine but apparently those are not enough. I seem to wake up every morning between 3 and 5 a.m., and if my boyfriend is making any kind of snoring/mouth breathing kind of noise I absolutely can't get back to sleep. If I forget to take ear plugs with me when I travel, things get rough.

I hate being so sensitive toward noise at night, but I haven't been able to figure out how to deal with it. I could sleep in a separate room with just white noise or whatever, but I would be so much happier if I could just get to where any noise didn't completely void any chance I had at falling asleep. My boyfriend jokingly suggested hypnosis the other day but I may actually look into it. I almost made a thread about how to deal with nighttime sound sensitivity today, actually.

Also from my personal experience the sleep cycle timing thing is pretty accurate.

[Edited on November 12, 2010 at 3:47 PM. Reason : .]

11/12/2010 3:46:05 PM

4-5 hours seems to be enough for me these days

Watching what you eat throughout the day might help too

11/12/2010 4:02:58 PM

I go to bed around 11:00 every night and get up at about 7:45. I am a light sleeper though, so out of the 8 3/4 hours I am in bed, I probably sleep 7.5 hrs.

11/12/2010 4:17:37 PM

I have definitely noticed a positive difference when I schedule my alarm at a 90-minute interval of when I fall asleep. Firm believer in waking between REM cycles.

11/12/2010 4:27:30 PM

I'm pretty awful about it most weekdays. I try to get to bed by 10:30, but it's usually more like 11:30 or 12:30. Then I get up around five. Add to that snoring/sleep apnea. I frequently wake up groggy/exhausted.

11/12/2010 4:28:55 PM

if I don't get enough sleep at night, I take a 2 hour or so nap. it's a bit of a vicious cycle because after napping, I don't feel tired until late that night so I don't get enough sleep again. But I like napping so whatever

also this is slightly off topic, but I heard a story on this sleep disorder on NPR. It's called "Fatal Familial Insomnia," a hereditary condition that onsets in middle age. The person slowly (over the course of a year or so) loses the ability to sleep, with side effects like panic attacks, hallucinations, paralysis, and eventually death. I found it horrible but fascinating that if you can't sleep, you will die.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia

11/12/2010 4:38:02 PM

I've been averaging 6.5hr of sleep for the last 10 years. Even if I'm very, very tired I can't sleep more than 8hr.

11/12/2010 5:37:09 PM

I get between 7 and 8 hours a night. If I get less than 7 I need to be in bed by 9:30 the next day or things get super ugly. I bike to nursing school and to work, and workout on top of that, so sleep is crucial.

11/12/2010 6:01:18 PM

Most important thing for me is sleeping in a pitch black room: no cell phones, no LED alarm clocks, thick curtains, and lights off in all adjacent rooms. Keeping the room cool helps. I take magnesium before bed also.

If you need some motivation here, I've heard excellent things about "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival." My wife and I bought it, but have a stack of books to read first: http://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-Sleep-Sugar-Survival/dp/0671038680

One thing I've been playing around with is F.lux: http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

It filters out the blue light from your monitor based on the time of day. Not sure if it's helping with sleep, but I find it easier on the eyes and it kind of looks bad ass.

11/12/2010 6:41:43 PM

Quote :

"if I don't get enough sleep at night, I take a 2 hour or so nap. it's a bit of a vicious cycle because after napping, I don't feel tired until late that night so I don't get enough sleep again. But I like napping so whatever "

This is what happened to me for awhile.

I tried hard to cut out my naps and I try to follow good sleeping habits. This has seemed to help me break the cycle of not being sleepy at bed time. Not going to bed until past midnight. Being sleepy all the next day. Taking a 30-60 minute nap when home.

My routine is go to bed between 11:30-12 and wake up at 7. I can usually get by with between 6.5 and 7.5 hours of sleep. Not sure how I do it because i'd be a zombie with only this much sleep in my college days. Back than waking up before 11 was EARLY!

11/12/2010 7:42:28 PM

^ I'm not sure how college students these days get by on less sleep than 6 or 7 hours. I hear traditional-age college students talk about how they got home from the club at 2, and they're in class the next day at 8 a.m, or how they pull all-nighters. It makes me think "damn, I'm old " but then again they probably don't have to go work all day, and can go back to bed after the fact.

11/12/2010 8:00:37 PM

I have no control over the amount of sleep I get because it depends on the baby, but on good nights I go from 11-7 or so and feel pretty good most of the day. If that doesn't cut it, I'll take naps, but naps longer than an hour tend to make me feel sluggish.

11/12/2010 8:23:39 PM

I can give you a couple tips on getting a more restful sleep and a more energetic day.

- don't nap during the day.

- don't eat before bed (food also doesn't digest properly while you sleep, and it makes you portly).

- don't drink alcohol 3-4 hours before bed.

- avoid caffeinated drinks past noon.

- avoid exercise 2-3 hours before sleep, exercise increases your core temperature, and it's going to take longer for your body to cool down and fall asleep.

- antidepressants reduce the amount of rem sleep.

11/12/2010 8:46:59 PM

I've only got two rules...no caffeine after 2, no TV in the bedroom. I've gotten an avg 8 hrs of sleep for 7 years since I've changed those habits.

11/12/2010 8:49:58 PM

I have one of the worst sleep schedules ever, sometimes I get 3-4 hours of sleep if any (interrupted at that usually), and occasionally I get get 8 (maybe 8+) uninterrupted. I have no idea what causes it, I have tried no TV/caffeine/naps/alcohol/exercise etc but none of it seems to work.

On a slightly unrelated note I have tried that Uberman sleep schedule and it will definitely fuck you up...

11/12/2010 9:11:09 PM

My sleeping habits are pretty terrible--I have to be up and out of bed at about 7:15 AM, but it's a rare, rare night that I get to bed before 1 AM and sometimes not until after 2. I'm just usually not very tired around the time I ought to be going to bed, i.e. midnight at the latest. Plus my girlfriend is waiting tables and works mostly nights, so we end up eating dinner when she gets home (9 to 11 PM depending on the night), which just fucks up the schedule worse. I don't have any problems falling asleep, I'm usually out just after hitting the pillow, but I'm a zombie in the morning and have a terrible case of snooze-reset alarm-crawl back into bed-be late for work. Then on the weekends I stay up until 3 or 4 and sleep until or past noon the next day, but does "catching up" really work? Plus I'm starting to think it's a little lame to be 30 and still sleeping in until noon every weekend.

The rare weeknight that I do get something approaching 8 hours I can tell a big difference the next day--a little coffee and I'm good to go. But somehow I have this stupid idea that whatever silly thing I happen to be doing at 12:30 AM (usually watching TV, playing on the computer, or reading) is more important than sleep.

11/12/2010 10:54:04 PM

8-9 hours a night for me. I wake up for ~1hr when my girlfriend gets ready for work. I end up having the wildest dreams after waking up. I always remember them too. I look forward to it at this point.

11/12/2010 11:05:08 PM

i get about 7.5-8 hours of sleep. i usually go to bed between 11-12. i always read before i fall asleep & wait until the 3rd time i drop my kindle to put it down, or when i start reading & rereading the same sentence & it's absolute gibberish . i am a very light sleeper (easily woken up) and a VERY hot sleeper. i'll wake up sweating no matter what the room temp is, pjs i have on, or amount of bed covers. i have a nightguard to keep me from chewing my own teeth down. i absolutely cannot sleep in a silent room or with ear plugs (my ears ring loudly), and of course can't with lots of random racket going on either. i have a white noise machine.

Skwinkle, what type of white noise are you using? i used to use fans but they start to pulse after a while, and those little clock radio types that play recordings of white noise, birds, rain, etc never worked for me. i have this

marpac sleepmate, dual speed

it generates actual white noise. it's consistent & you can choose the speed & pitch (the sides & top have holes that rotate to make it sound different). i've had mine for 5-6 years and it's still going strong. definitely worth the money.

chris snores to beat the band, and as bad as it sounds, we actually ordered the Pure Sleep from those tv commercials. it pulls his jaw forward & it actually DOES work. chris's jaw was sore the first couple of nights, like the product info said it would, but he adjusted quickly & now can't sleep well w/o it. he makes no noise at all anymore, unless he's sick.
http://puresleep.com/
it's not part of the "as seen on tv" brand stuff, so you won't find it at that store in crabtree. just fyi.

[Edited on November 13, 2010 at 12:05 AM. Reason : ]

11/13/2010 12:02:03 AM

I have just discovered Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome/misophonia. For the last two hours I've been reading personal accounts of people with it and descriptions of how people react and what causes it, etc. Pretty much every word fits me like a glove. I am going to look into it more. I am seeing a lot of "there is no cure or one treatment that works for everyone, but try (various types of nose conditioning therapy)"

I am seeing pink noise suggested over white noise for people who have this issue, and I have been playing some online and it pretty much immediately helped me calm down. (Initiated by my lack of sleep and increasing frustration with this issue and feeling crazy for being annoyed at my SO for breathing, I've had a pretty rough day on this front, so I was kind of worked up.)

Right now I do have one of the little multi-sound machines you mentioned. I have tried a couple different kinds and even been around the one that you recommended. I kept the one I currently have in the bedroom because when I am paying attention to the sound I prefer it to the more advanced kind (at least on the settings I've heard it on so far), though I guess the whole point of it is not to actually pay attention to it, so perhaps I'd be better served by the nicer one in the long run. I am going to work with pink noise for a little bit though and see if that helps. Thanks for the advice.

11/13/2010 12:20:56 AM

what is the difference? i'm having a hard time finding a dumbed down layman's version.

does this 4S thing explain my desire to pull my teeth out when i hear sounds like nails on chalk board? it's a very specific feeling that for some reason that would be made better if i pulled on my teeth. makes no sense. i usually just bite down. okay so maybe i'm crazy

annndddd i'm up way past my bed time. just finished a game. night night

[Edited on November 13, 2010 at 12:56 AM. Reason : ]

11/13/2010 12:52:54 AM

i have to get 9 hrs. of sleep a night. I use to get get 10-11 found out that was bad. so tried the 8 hour for a month. was functional but tired and groggy. I guess for me i need 9.

I try to go to bed 10:30-11:00 every night. except the weekends.

11/13/2010 2:54:55 AM

I have a weird work schedule (work 4 hours, off 4 hours, work 4 hours) so my sleep schedule is pretty messed up. I've been doing this for ~4 years. The first 2 years I don't recall really having any trouble, but the last 2 years (new residence), I've had absolutely ridiculous dreams every single night (before I wouldn't remember any dreams most nights) and I always wake up feeling really tired and have a hard time getting out of the bed. Any ideas Dr. TWW?

11/13/2010 4:29:05 AM

I'm go to bed every night between 10:30 and 11:30 and wake up during the week at 6:30. On the weekend I may sleep until 7:00 or 7:30.

I put on [adult swim] just loud enough to be audible for a little background noise and I'm asleep before the first commercial break. It is absolutely impossible for me to stay alert/sociable past midnight, weekend or not.


How much do one of those white noise machines cost and where can you buy them? I may get one for my mom for christmas, she has been dealing with mild insomnia recently.

11/13/2010 7:46:22 AM

Quote :

"I have definitely noticed a positive difference when I schedule my alarm at a 90-minute interval of when I fall asleep. Firm believer in waking between REM cycles."

11/13/2010 7:51:35 AM

^^they make 2 different models: single & dual speed. the dual speed is $50. the single is $40. my dad & i both have them, & neither of us liked the sound from the single speed. ymmv. you can get them from amazon or a plethora of other sites online. they used to sell the dual speed at brookstone several years ago, but they wanted $75 for it

11/13/2010 8:16:17 AM

we don't stick to a schedule or anything (though ruts do occur sometimes). We are pretty consistent about keeping an air purifier or tower fan running on low. Both of us prefer a little bit of noise, and we've noticed that without a fan or purifier, we wake up with splitting headaches. The kind where you just want to rip your eyeball out. No idea what the cause is, but we'll stick with what we know helps.

That said, I have immense trouble falling asleep. If I'm stressed out, I will stay up for days on end in a zombie-like trance. Anybody have good tips for knocking yourself out, aside from nighttime cold meds?

11/13/2010 11:19:36 AM

Quote :

"what is the difference? i'm having a hard time finding a dumbed down layman's version. does this 4S thing explain my desire to pull my teeth out when i hear sounds like nails on chalk board? "

I don't really know the dumbed-down version. Pink sounds more like a distant waterfall and white sounds more like static, sort of. I'm sure you came across the frequency explanations.

And no, you're just weird That could be some other condition though. You seem to have a bizarre reaction to a sound that nobody likes. 4S basically makes you have a completely overkill reaction to normal sounds, like breathing or eating noises (and sometimes later on you'll develop ticks toward things that aren't auditory, like nail biting). The worst part IMO is that people who have it know they are being ridiculous for being annoyed at the things, but it overwhelms them with rage or panic or depressed feelings.

If I didn't have it (and I am, of course, Internet diagnosing myself here, but I have never read something that made me go OMG THIS IS ME as much before as I have the descriptions of 4S) I don't think I'd understand it either so it's sort of hard to get people to understand, I think. But it leads people to sometimes avoid busy social situations like loud parties or going to the movies. Now I don't feel like a weirdo quite as much for disliking both of those.

^What is your daily schedule like? Try getting a good workout in early in the day to tire yourself out. I find that a warm bath an hour before bed helps, but some say that's actually the opposite of what you should do, because you want to lower your core temperature. So experiment with that. Also a warm non-caffeinated beverage helps me on the rare night I have trouble falling asleep early on (my issues always arise in the early a.m.)

[Edited on November 13, 2010 at 1:39 PM. Reason : .]

11/13/2010 1:38:34 PM

I got 8 1/2 hours of sleep last night. I took my Adderall twice today. I feel like I'm about to pass out and it's only 5:10 pm.


I can't wait til my sleep study so I can figure out wtf is going on.

11/13/2010 6:10:54 PM

i would stay up ti'll 1 AM-2 AM and get up at 7 AM on the dot. Monday through friday working 8 hours a day.

needless to say i wasn't focused most of the day and had to rely on coffee, but got through it.

I've started doing crossfit and working out and could not keep that sleep cycle anymore. I had to start crashing at 10 or sometimes even 9 i was so tired from working 8 hours and intense workouts.

11/13/2010 8:44:42 PM

Quote :

"4-5 hours seems to be enough for me these days Watching what you eat throughout the day might help too "

I've never understood people like you, I would turn in to total shit if i did that for an extended period, I guess it's just genetic

11/13/2010 8:47:00 PM

Quote :

"I don't really know the dumbed-down version. Pink sounds more like a distant waterfall and white sounds more like static, sort of. I'm sure you came across the frequency explanations."

that works. i read somewhere that most "white noise" machines are actually pink noise. i listened to the white, pink, & brown noises on wikipedia and they only sound different in pitch to me. maybe that's all it is. if that is the case, then i prefer brown noise (i crank the sleepmate all the way as low as it'll go, pitch-wise).

muy interesante

Quote :

"And no, you're just weird That could be some other condition though. You seem to have a bizarre reaction to a sound that nobody likes. "

i have synesthesia, so maybe that is somehow connected.

[Edited on November 13, 2010 at 9:28 PM. Reason : ]

11/13/2010 9:27:36 PM

bttt!

7/7/2011 1:37:25 PM

bed around 10-10:30 every night (was in bed at 9:30 and read until 10 last night) and get up around 6-6:30

works well so far

[Edited on July 7, 2011 at 1:39 PM. Reason : hah, i posted back when the thread was new]

7/7/2011 1:39:34 PM

around 7 or so during the week. 9ish on weekends.

I usually can't sleep much more than 9 hours at a stretch anymore. Also I have trouble sleeping more than 3-4 hours if I've been up/out drinking.

7/7/2011 1:46:21 PM

I suck at sleep

I can't fall asleep and/or can't stay asleep. It's gotten to the point that I sleep whenever I can, sometimes at the expense of other things.

7/7/2011 1:47:50 PM

thanks synapse.

so here is my question... I have NO problem going to bed and getting plenty of good sleep. Sleeping is not my problem.

I have trouble waking up. Anything that could be from? It takes everything I have to get out of bed. I have these pills I took for the first time about a week ago that are called wake up on time pills...they worked then but still tough without those and I dont want to depend on them.

anyone have this same problem? any help?

7/7/2011 1:56:05 PM

Everyone has trouble waking up. There is no magic answer. Drink some coffee, pop some pills and shut the fuck up.

7/7/2011 2:11:09 PM

not everyone. not as bad as it is for me im sure. I know plenty of people who hop right up and get going no problem.

but thanks for your valuable input.

7/7/2011 2:14:17 PM

Wow....I do pretty much everything wrong to not f up your sleep- I read in bed, watch movies in bed,
and surf the web in bed, especially when it's cold. I've found that crappy sci-fi movies that my boyfriend watches on Netflix puts me out in less than 20 minutes

I have found that running a fan over us while we sleep, blacking the room out with navy blue curtains, and outfitting the boyfriend with a mouthguard to prevent snoring has improved the quality of sleep tremendously. That, and it keeps the dogs from getting up at 6 a.m. every morning like they used to want to do.

7/7/2011 4:11:55 PM

I avoid having any caffeine after about 6pm, otherwise I'll be up all night.

I also try to do something meditative just before bed, whether it's read for 30 minutes, taking a bath, go on a jog, etc. Helps clear the mind so I'm not staying up thinking about dumb crap.

7/7/2011 4:29:15 PM

I'm only groggy when I wake up if I've had a crappy night's sleep. That's most nights, so most mornings. Basically if I'm not traveling I have crappy sleep and have a hard time getting up. I make myself get up immediately (if I have to) and take a shower. I used to drink coffee, which helped. It sounds like you're having trouble even getting up?

7/7/2011 4:32:32 PM

Yeah, ive been known to turn off the alarm (multiple) without even remembering that I turned them off or setting them for a later time.

Its easier when I was dating someone because they would toss and turn and it helped...

but now that im living alone it sucks. I even keep my windows completely open at night so the sun shines in nice and bright in the mornings.

7/7/2011 4:43:20 PM

To me the most important thing for sleep is going to bed at a consistent time and not drinking alcohol beforehand. I tend to wake up prematurely when I drink more than about 1 beer.

7/7/2011 4:45:28 PM

It doesn't matter if I get enough sleep or little sleep.. I still feel tired. So I usually only get 5 to 6 hours a night.

Anything past 8 hours and I am a total zombie.

7/7/2011 5:01:23 PM

^ Sleep disorder? you should get a sleep study done

7/7/2011 9:49:53 PM