Sleep

[Andrew]

Lately I have been closing nights at my job so I tend to fall asleep about 1 or 2 am and I still wake up at sun rise leaving me with about 5 or 6 hours a sleep and then I work evenings again etc...
My body does not fall asleep during the day so I don't take naps. I do take ambien at night to fight insomnia when I do wake up at 3 am or something (it puts me right back out) so maybe it's causing adverse side effects but I have always had this struggle.
So during the day I am a bit out of sorts, tired and foggy headed. If I try to lay around to get more hours of sleep when it's already day light I just get sore in bones because I'm not actually sleeping -just spending more hours in my bed, sometimes 4 hours (10 all together) just waiting until my back starts bothering me.
My question, is 5 to 6 hours of sleep just normal for some people?
My mom has the same issue and we believe maybe we are just wired that way...

 

[NewCreation435]

I think it is a myth that most people need 8 hours. I do okay with just 6.

 

[Lamb]

Yes! Some people thrive on 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I don't know how many years they manage on it though. My husband used to be one of those people. Now he goes to be extra early and probably gets 8 or 9 hours. He naps all weekend and always has to catch up. During the work week he didn't need as much sleep.

Do you feel refreshed or exhausted without the ambien?

 

[Andrew]

Yes! Some people thrive on 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I don't know how many years they manage on it though. My husband used to be one of those people. Now he goes to be extra early and probably gets 8 or 9 hours. He naps all weekend and always has to catch up. During the work week he didn't need as much sleep.

Do you feel refreshed or exhausted without the ambien?

Without ambien I get about 4 hours of sleep because I wake up in the middle of the night for at least 3 hours and my anxiety rises, very miserable the next day.
This also depends on my activity during the day, if I work 12 hours doing hard labor I will fall asleep and stay asleep but as I develop stamina I will struggle again in a weeks time.
When I first started ambien I slept like a baby and not groggy the next morning, a wee sleepy but in a great wide eyed bushy tailed mood.
When I was a kid I suffered exploding head syndrome (real thing look it up lol) so I actually feared sleep, it could also be my bed or even that stupid train that lays down on the horn every 2 hours.
the church prayed over me for my insomnia once and that night I suppose I got better rest but the next day I had trouble again.

 

[Lamb]

Have you tried Melatonin?

 

[psalms 91]

I use Gabpentin which is used to treat neropothy, works well for me I take 300 milligrams at night

 

[MoreCoffee]

What keep you awake at night? Is it your mind rushing or worries or fears, what is it?

 

[Fullmoon]

I think it is a myth that most people need 8 hours. I do okay with just 6.

I agree to a point. 6 hours is enough for most people to get through a day on, but in the long run it's not enough to be healthy. 8 hours is a healthy amount. Sleep is really important to fight of diseases , viruses etc.


I have insomnia that runs in the family. If I don't take tablets I sleep 1-2 hours a night, broken sleep.. With tablets I get 6-8 hours but again it's broken sleep . I usually wake 5 times a night.

 

[NewCreation435]

I agree to a point. 6 hours is enough for most people to get through a day on, but in the long run it's not enough to be healthy. 8 hours is a healthy amount. Sleep is really important to fight of diseases , viruses etc.


I have insomnia that runs in the family. If I don't take tablets I sleep 1-2 hours a night, broken sleep.. With tablets I get 6-8 hours but again it's broken sleep . I usually wake 5 times a night.

Yes, I wake up a lot at night as well. Sometimes my sleep apnea would wake me up particularly before it was being treated because I would stop breathing and have this choking sensation and wake up like that.

 

[vince284]

I slept 1 to 2 hours a night when I first started some new medications. It took doctors to find the right combination to normalize me but only after 8 months. I was exhausted needless to say. I had a job that I could nap and I worked from home a lot. Now, I get up at 3:45 am and get ready for work. When I get home if I sit, I will fall asleep and take a short nap. So I keep going, lots to do. I go to bed at 11 pm and usually fall right asleep, so I get about 4 1/2 of solid sleep during the week. On the weekend, I can't sleep in, I'm just used to getting up so early... so my eyes open around 5 at the latest but I lay there trying to just rest and eventually may fall back asleep but after about an hour. Then like Andrew I get up with sore bones and a hurting back. But I need it totally dark to fall asleep and stay asleep.

 

[Fullmoon]

I have back problems, if I lay for more than 7 hours I wake up in agony.

I'd love to be able to sleep straight away. Weather I have tablets or not I'm still awake for upto 3 hours before I sleep.

Speaking to my mother yesterday, insomnia affected more of our family than I thought. Very sad 2 family members killed themselves because of it.

 

[tango]

I agree to a point. 6 hours is enough for most people to get through a day on, but in the long run it's not enough to be healthy. 8 hours is a healthy amount. Sleep is really important to fight of diseases , viruses etc.


I have insomnia that runs in the family. If I don't take tablets I sleep 1-2 hours a night, broken sleep.. With tablets I get 6-8 hours but again it's broken sleep . I usually wake 5 times a night.

Sometimes I struggle to get to sleep. I keep melatonin on hand to help. I started out with 5mg tablets but found they not only put me to sleep but left me sluggish in the morning, so cut the dose to 3mg. The tablets I have now are rapid-dissolving so you can literally take them as you get into bed. The previous ones needed to be taken 20 minutes before bed.

If I can find the rapid-dissolving versions in 1mg I plan to get some of those, as I'm finding most of the time these days I don't need to take it but if I do even a 3mg dose sometimes leaves me a bit sluggish in the morning.

 

[Juneberry]

There's a lot of wiggle room when it comes to how much sleep a person needs to function- and it also changes as we grow. When I was young, I only needed 3 hours of sleep a night. As a teen, it was more like ten. Nowadays, I still function better with more sleep than less, but I've been feeling more able to handle the nights that I don't get much. So, to be honest, I'm not sure there truly is a 'perfect amount', because I find it often varies for everyone.

 

[MeowsePad]

I feel like I could get twelve hours of sleep and feel as though I got six hours. I just always want more sleep no matter how much I've gotten. Lol! I guess I'm just lazy.