Do you get enough sleep?

There was a segment on 60 Minutes last night about the purpose and importance of sleep. They interviewed sleep researchers, discussed the effects of sleep deprivation, etc. One scientist said the adult human ideally needs 7 1/2 - 8 hours of sleep, but most of us get a lot less (big surprise there, LOL). They went on to say that sleep-deprived individuals tend to be at higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. I thought "great, another thing to lose sleep over!"

During the work week, I sleep about 7 hours a night- but I often feel I need more. How much do you sleep? Do you feel you sleep enough?

My sleep pattern seems to be quite sporadic - I'll sleep for maybe two to three hours, wake up for a half an hour and then go back to sleep for another two or three. I will go to bed early, but it doesn't make any difference. So I'll have maybe 5-6 hours overnight and about an hour in the afternoon when I get home. I've tried on many occasions to fix that sleeping pattern by staying awake all day and then trying to sleep all night - but it seems to be that if I am awake all day, I don't sleep at all at night! It's almost a kind of insomnia. Of course, I have nights where I don't sleep at all, regardless of my daytime pattern. I've been using baldrian (a herbal sleeping pill) for the last few years of my life, because it's the only way I can guarantee a decent sleep, if not a full night's worth.

Sleep is very important. I try to get at least 8 hours a night and rarely do I get less than that.

I typically get around eight hours but it's not quality sleep because I wake up a lot.

I get two to three hours at a time.
Not necessarily at night, just whenever.
probably a total of 6 hours in a 24 hour period, so no, I do not get enough.

That's a tough question. Sometimes it takes me an hour to fall asleep. I usually in a light sleep when DH gets up around 4am and I don't go into a deep sleep until 6am when he leaves. I know I sleep deeply from 6am-8am. Now that Mom's home she makes a ton of noise when she gets up around 8ish.

My body just won't shut down before 10pm. I have tried going to bed earlier and getting up at dawn but I wake up at 1am wide awake.

If I am completely undisturbed and allowed to sleep until I wake up naturally, I sleep more than 9 hours. I need at least 8 hours of sleep to function and not be tired or feel sick.
Unfortunately it also takes me usually an hour or more to fall asleep, so that makes it a little more difficult to get enough sleep... Once I'm asleep, though, almost nothing wakes me up!

I don't get anywhere near enough. Partly because I'm hopeless at getting myself off to bed at a reasonable hour, but also because His Mosiness wakes me up after about 5 hours every day. I usually get 5-6 hours, but that's broken sleep. Sometimes it's less than that.

I didn't see that report, but the facility where my lapband surgery was done has a website with support materials on it, and one of them is a video about sleep issues. I watched it last night and came away with some information that really inspired me to change my ways:

1. Some of us think we're "nightowls," but in fact, all humans are diurnal, not nocturnal -- we're supposed to sleep at night and be awake during the day. Otherwise, our health suffers.

2. While you're asleep, your body produces growth hormone, which repairs and replaces cells that have been damaged. For example, the lining of the small intestine has to be renewed every night in order to absorb nutrients the next day. If you don't get enough sleep (and at the right time) to produce that hormone and regenerate those cells, then the small intestine sends a signal to the brain that it is not prepared to process food, so don't eat yet. That's why some of us don't feel hungry until lunch, or even late afternoon -- our bodies are damaged and can't handle food!

(To those of us who are overweight, that might sound like a good thing, but of course it's not. It wreaks havoc with your metabolism and your immune system, so you're likely to actually gain weight and get sick as well.)

3. This one is weird, but they say it's been proven: no matter what time you go to bed, the vast majority of your growth hormone is produced between midnight and 3:00am. So if you aren't asleep during that time, you're missing the bulk of that hormone, and your body isn't able to repair damage at anything like the rate it should.

So not only do we need to sleep between 7.5 and 9 hours every night (no more and no less, or there are consequences), we need to be sure we're asleep by midnight, too! I've got a lot of work to do to change these bad habits.

P.S. -- Another thing that specialist said: that we would get much better sleep if we slept alone, but he's afraid to say that anymore because of the way people react. He said, "If I tell people to kick their spouse out of the bedroom, he's on the couch that very night. But if I tell them to kick out their pets... I'm the one that ends up on the couch!"

For work I only sleep for 3 to 5 hours, then I make up sleep on my days off...
On my days off I get around 9 to 12 hours of sleep Sleep is so good

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

P.S. -- Another thing that specialist said: that we would get much better sleep if we slept alone, but he's afraid to say that anymore because of the way people react. He said, "If I tell people to kick their spouse out of the bedroom, he's on the couch that very night. But if I tell them to kick out their pets... I'm the one that ends up on the couch!"

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Yeah, that would definitely not work for me! I can't fall asleep without my Golden Retriever snuggling with me... Well, I can but it takes me a LONG time which would mean less sleep...

I haven't gotten enough sleep at night in YEARS.

Originally Posted by whuckleberry

There was a segment on 60 Minutes last night about the purpose and importance of sleep. They interviewed sleep researchers, discussed the effects of sleep deprivation, etc. One scientist said the adult human ideally needs 7 1/2 - 8 hours of sleep, but most of us get a lot less (big surprise there, LOL). They went on to say that sleep-deprived individuals tend to be at higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. I thought "great, another thing to lose sleep over!"

During the work week, I sleep about 7 hours a night- but I often feel I need more. How much do you sleep? Do you feel you sleep enough?

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I don't think I sleep enough but sometimes less sleep is better than more sleep. Who dreams??

I usually go to sleep sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. every night. I wake up every couple of hours usually. During the week, the alarm goes off at 6:45 a.m. and John gets up and goes to work. I usually lay back down and go back to sleep until 9-10 a.m. but again I wake up every half hour or so. On the weekends I usually sleep until 8 or 9 a.m.

I think I get enough sleep. I usually don't stay up to late -- I am never able to sleep past 7:30 in the morning (unless I'm sick) . I can really feel the difference when I don't get as much sleep.

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

P.S. -- Another thing that specialist said: that we would get much better sleep if we slept alone, but he's afraid to say that anymore because of the way people react. He said, "If I tell people to kick their spouse out of the bedroom, he's on the couch that very night. But if I tell them to kick out their pets... I'm the one that ends up on the couch!"

Click to expand...

Thanks, those were some very interesting facts!

I can sleep for up to 7 hours, but it's not always the whole night through. Most nights I go to bed just after 10pm, but I find I wake up again either at 2am or 6am. It's a pain when I wake up during the night, as it takes a good hour before I nod off again.

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

1. Some of us think we're "nightowls," but in fact, all humans are diurnal, not nocturnal -- we're supposed to sleep at night and be awake during the day. Otherwise, our health suffers.

Click to expand...

There are exceptions. The human brain and body are not perfect (far from it actually, there's a lot of problems). I'm wanting to say it's called delayed sleep cycle? or something similar, where people's bodies really are set to a different time schedule. It results in some people getting up very very early or staying up late. Others have problems with their body knowing how many hours there are in a day - thinking there's 23 or 25, which throws everything off.

But yes, I do agree that this isn't that common. It's how we've scheduled ourselves around activities such as work hours that have created the vast majority of off sleep schedules.


I usually get 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 hours per night. Sometimes I just can't get to sleep - what I've read suggests this may very well be due to NCS and an a epinephrine and norepinephrine problem. In other words, too much adrenaline in my system when I should be relaxed and going to sleep. The other problem is that sometimes it hurts too much to lay in bed waiting for sleep, so I stay up until I'm tired enough to sleep through it.
I do suffer from mild to moderate fatigue almost daily. Sleeping more won't help that, I've certainly tried it as those days I don't even want to move. Again, that's strongly linked to the NCS. Also if I sleep too many hours straight I will get dehydrated, that's not a nice state to wake up in.

Another thing, for those that do sleep at least 8 hours or more a night and are left feeling very tired during the day. If you have the risk factors - overweight, asthma, snore, high blood pressure, have other health problem, etc, you could very well have sleep apnea.
I've noticed that DH has some breathing patterns at night that suggests he may have mild sleep apnea of course he won't have that checked - unfortunately, that also causes me lost sleep as it wakes me up every time I hear him make a loud gasp.

Edit - It's called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome... I was sort of close.

I get about 8-9 hours per night, I need that much or I cannot function!

I generally get around 7 hours a night which seems to suit me. If I get more then that I feel sluggish all day less then that I get tired around 3 and then get grouchy.