Sleeping..... or maybe not.

[Haruki-kun]

It's taken me a long time to finally figure out that my sleeping patterns are pretty messed-up.

In vacation time, I usually go to bed around 3 AM, which is not so bad, given that I wake up around 11 AM, thus getting 8 hours of sleep. But now that I have to wake up at 6 AM to get ready for school, I notice that my sleeping patters move around in a very strange manner. To begin with, I barely, if ever, sleep all 8 hours at night when I'm in school. I also don't ever take naps in the afternoon. For some reason I've never been able to.

Sometimes, I feel sleepy at 11 PM, sometimes wide-awake 'till 3 AM.

This thread is for the discussion of your own sleeping patterns and sleeping problems. I've had a lot of those in the past and they're horrible. >.< How much do you sleep? What time of day? Do you feel constantly tired? I know I do......

[MisterSaturnine]

I've done something similar. I stay up 'til about 1 on weekends, then have to get up at 7 during the week, so I'm usually tired most of the time.

I regret nothing. :smalltongue:

[RTGoodman]

I'm the same way over break - sometimes I'll stay up until 3:00 or 4:00am, but I'll sleep late to make up for it.

At school, I have to get up at 7:45 or 8:00 every morning, meaning I should go to bed by midnight or so if I want to get enough sleep to prepare spells 8 hours of sleep. Of course, I usually end up staying awake until 2:00 or so anyway, so that usually doesn't happen.

Also, I'm here to tell you that, when you become a college student, you rediscover the wonders of napping. Just this week, I napped every afternoon for a couple of hours, whether intention or not. [My History of Islamic Societies book is just not as exciting as it should be... :smallbiggrin: ]

[MisterSaturnine]

Like the OP, I've never been able to nap. I just don't have it in me. When I'm up, I'm up, and when I'm sleeping, it is very difficult to wake me up.

[FoE]

I'm a night owl: I want to stay up all night and sleep all day. I find sleep loss is cumulative, so if I don't get enough sleep several days in a row, my tiredness builds. And if I go 24 hours without sleep, my concentration is severely disrupted.

[Mr_Saturn]

I just force myself to wake up earlier, I can usually sleep at anytime in the day.

@Mister: I just noticed that theres a guy with almost the same name as me. So weird.

[Raiser Blade]

I regret nothing. :smalltongue:

I have to agree with this. Despite falling asleep during algebra 2 (And getting away with it >.>) I shall never regret my night owl habits.

[Dave Rapp]

Friend, I know exactly how you feel. I know a few people apart from you and I who seem to suffer through the same chronically messed up sleeping patterns. It's a pain in the ass, isn't it?

I usually 'go to sleep' at around 1 in the morning, and then wake up at 6:30. That's not a full 8 hours of sleep that we're supposed to need, but after having a sleeping pattern like that for... oh... five years, you get used to it.

I wish I could help you, give you some kind of advice on sleeping when you want to/need to, but I can't solve the problem either, else I wouldn't be posting here at nearly 2am...

I can say this, though; the life of an insomniac can be lonely and depressing, but it sparks creativity like no other. Find an outlet and show the world what your sleep-deprived brain can do. That's what I did. :smallwink:

[Icewalker]

Yeah, my sleeping patterns are pretty crazy. And quite similar to yours.

On holidays, I stay awake until somewhere between midnight to 3am, then sleep until noon to 1 pm. Well, there is some waking and going back to sleep but still.

This crazed 11+ hour cycle is probably to make up for the sleep I lose during the week. :smalleek:

During the week, I sometimes go to sleep at 10, but usually lose an hour on the forums. Then I wake up at either 7:15 or 6:45. The different time every other day probably doesn't help either.

Stupid circadian clock.

[Tempest Fennac]

I tend to be in bed by 20:30 GMT unless there's something I really want to watch on TV (which is unlikely), or I'm chatting with someone online. My alarm clock is set for 5:45, but I'm often awake before then (I like to have plenty of time to do things when I first get up, and I want to stay in the habit of getting up early for when I'm at university).

[Vaynor]

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c83/Vaynor/christmas_back_home.png

[Arioch]

I get annoyed if I wake up after 9.00am or so. I see it as wasted day hours. This being so, I try not to get to sleep too late - usually about midnight.

[Ceska]

I know exactly what you mean. At weekdays, I usually stay awake until 1:00 or so. Sometimes later.
I realised that there's two phases in which I am tired, one is from 15:00 to 18:00, the other is from 19:00 to 21:00 when I do not sleep in the afternoon. If I miss both, I'm awake until 1:00.
I have to get up at 6:00, so it's better I sleep once. I'm not sure if the sleeping in the afternoon only destroys my sleeping pattern further or not, but it seems to be the only way for me to get enough sleep.
There's also this point when I'm too tired to really do anything, but as soon as I reach the bed I can't sleep. Insomnia is really not nice most of the time.

[Toastkart]

Not everyone needs exactly eight hours of sleep. Children need closer to ten, adolescents about nine, and it's not exact, either. Individual variation means some people need less or more than the average.

Yes, sleep debt is cumulative. However, quality is more important than quantity.

Further, there's a reason mondays are hell. If you stay up later on friday and saturday than you do during the rest of the week, your circadian rhythm will reset to that new time. Breaking the new rhythm sunday night makes you more tired. Your circadian rhythm runs on a twenty-five hour cycle, with the two low points coming around midafternoon (3-5) and evening.

[Gorbash]

Hm I usually stay up until 3 am (on holidays even later), and wake up at 9 (thank god all my classes start at 10+, hope it lasts in next semester) during weekdays and 10 during the weekend. Works perfectly for me. I'm almost never sleepy during the day and I take full advantage of the day by rising up early (although I need about half an hour to start up).

I adore staying up late... It's so peaceful...

[Felixaar]

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c83/Vaynor/christmas_back_home.png

Nice, but you forgot www.xkcd.com/320

[dish]

There really truly is a xkcd for all discussions.

I'm a complete night-owl and have struggled all my life to deal with a world that believes in getting up in the morning. Pah.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Hmmm, I have insomnia myself, so my sleep pattern is everything but regular. Luckily, it's a very slight form, and it doesn't really bother me that much, but there's been weeks I haven't slept at all...

[thubby]

for the record, most teens have a late night oriented sleeping pattern (which im going to take a wild guess and say most of us are), its biology, the chemicals in your brain don't want to sleep until at least 11pm, usually.

I have the same problem, I'll always be up at 3 AM.

[Xykon_Fan]

I've had some problems recently. I think what happened is that I got my brain used to several things my first semester of college:

1) Rationed sleep (6 hrs. is a good night, 4-5 hrs. is normal)
2) Waking up fully when I wake up at all so that I don't go back to sleep after my alarm goes off

These things, now that I'm on break, conspire against me. I now wake up ~6 hrs. after I go to sleep no matter what, and once I wake up, I stay awake for at least an hour or so, after which I can go back to very fitful sleep.

[North]

I have no schedule at all. Works erratic so I end up waking anywhere between 8-12 depending on the day. With personal life going out and staying up till 11-4 sometimes even later then that. I sleep when I can and as long as I can.

[Haruki-kun]

I have to agree with this. Despite falling asleep during algebra 2 (And getting away with it >.>) I shall never regret my night owl habits.

Heh. Sometimes I actually consider classtime as sleeping time. Some of those classes are just impossibly boring........

I have fallen asleep in class several times, but my teachers usually don't care.

[Yeril]

Well during the school holidays, I ended up going to bed, say an hour later, and sleeping in aslong as I wanted, because of this I generaly didnt get tired until abit later, so stayed up abit later, and likewise slept in abit longer.

This cycle continued until I was waking up at 11PM, and then going back to bed at around 10-11AM

It was fun, trying to fix it was tough.

[Dallas-Dakota]

I take pills to go to sleep at 8/9ish and am supposed to fall asleep 10/11 ish but I always fall asleep 1/2 hours later then that, then I wake up at 06:30...

[wxdruid]

my sleep pattern has to change daily. I work shift work and I'm usually tired all day. I think I'm a 10-12hr sleep person, but I rarely get that all in one block due to work and child.

[Rogue 7]

11 (now 12) as my earliest class time means that College has introduced me to the joys that are the hour of 3 AM. I never stayed up that late prior to that, barring insane study sessions or the like, but now I find myself unable to go to bed before midnight. And now I regularly sleep in until 2 or 3 PM. And I like it.

[Mauve Shirt]

mmmmmmmmm *stretches*...... I just awoke from a most glorious 2 hour nap. We'll see if I manage to sleep tonight. I have class at 9:00 tomorrow, so I should go to sleep before 1 AM, but we'll see what happens.

[Felixaar]

Well during the school holidays, I ended up going to bed, say an hour later, and sleeping in aslong as I wanted, because of this I generaly didnt get tired until abit later, so stayed up abit later, and likewise slept in abit longer.

This cycle continued until I was waking up at 11PM, and then going back to bed at around 10-11AM

It was fun, trying to fix it was tough.

*shrug* just keep it up till you get back round to normal.

[Shraik]

Two Summers ago I messed it up by sleeping from 3 in the morning to three in the afternoon. I had a tendency to just fall asleep after school randomly, once sleeping for 18 hours. usually get about 6 or 7 nightly.

[Tormsskull]

I'm usually in bed by 10 or 11 PM on weekdays to wake up at 5 AM the following morning. I'd love to be able to actually get to be by 9 PM to get a full 8 hours, but it never works that way.

Also, Thursday nights (after working 4 10-hour shifts) I tend to go to bed early. Also, some workdays I "nap" from 5-8, and then go to be by 10 or a 11 like usual.

Naps are my best friend, especially right after a good dinner. Its one of the main reasons I love my computer room, 1 window facing the side of another house, 1 thick shade = virtually no light.

[ZeroNumerous]

As an insomniac, I tend not to sleep for awhile. You get used to it after awhile, but I'd give anything to be able to lay down and go to sleep for several hours without interruption.

[Aramil Liadon]

I have perfectly normal sleep, except for the days around the full moon. I always stay up all night, or wake up really early and can't get back to bed. This made sense once, when I had a room with appropriate windows, but now it's just spooky.
I think I'm a were-wolf.

[hap_hazard]

I sleep at midnight and wake at 5.45 am.

Then I sleep through lectures...:smalleek:

[DaMidget]

I wake up at 3PM, physical training at 4PM work by 5PM and get home at 6AM, rinse repeat.

[Jimblee]

I always have trouble sleeping. Sometimes I just don't sleep at all. It usually takes me at least an hour and a half to get to sleep.

I usually go to bed during the week at 11 PM and wake up at 5 AM. I used to go to bed at 10:30 and wake up at 4:30, but I lost the discipline to go to bed that early.


As an insomniac, I tend not to sleep for awhile. You get used to it after awhile, but I'd give anything to be able to lay down and go to sleep for several hours without interruption.

Wow, tough break. The longest I've gone without sleep was 3 days; it must be horrible.

[KuReshtin]

Sleeping patterns, as someone already mentioned, is highly individual.
Some people have to have 8, 9 or even more hours of continuous sleep to feel normal (ie. not tired all the time and such), whereas some people can manage with only 4, 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

For the longest time, I've been convinced that I was born in the wrong time zone as I have a natural daily rythm from about 11am until 3am. That means that if I don't have any set times to follow (like go to work and stuff) I tend to stay up until about 3am, ad then sleep until about 10:30-11am where I wake up without any alarms or anything.

Of course, this poses a problem for my work rythm, which forces me to get up at 6am each morning, to be at work at 7am, since I hardly ever can get to sleep before midnight, and often not until about 1:30-2am.
However, as others have said as well, you tend to get used to it after a while.
I do tend to doze off quite easily in the afternoons when I get back home from work if I don't keep doing stuff that requires concentration.

[Zeb The Troll]

While I don't doubt that there are people who actually require 10-12 hours of sleep, I'd wager that many of them actually require a bit less than they're getting and are getting into that 'oversleep' mode where you're actually more tired because of sleeping too long.

As for me, I work late nights and get home from work about 8:30 am and I usually have a really hard time getting to sleep. On top of that, I suffer from bouts of insomnia which force to sometimes go for far longer than I'd like without getting enough sleep. However, when I can get to sleep I usually only need about 6 hours, unless I'm in a pretty bad sleep deficit.

[Destro_Yersul]

Life is too short as it is. Why waste it on sleep?

I get, on average, maybe five or six hours of sleep in a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less. After around a week of this my mind decides it has had enough and I end up waking up at 5PM wondering why the hell it's so dark.

I should take a graveyard shift somewhere. No one wants those, so it should be easy to get.

[Tempest Fennac]

Technically, isn't sleep essential unless you want health problems which would sop you from enjoying life as much? I don't have the source (I read it in a book years ago), but there was 1 man who supposedly managed to go through his entire life without sleeping once. He supposedly just read the newspaper whenever he felt tired (he lived in a really small shack without a bedroom, and he apparently never thought/was able to get a descent house). Considering how infomrmative newspapers are, I suppose reading one enough would cause your brain to shut down in a fashion which may have simila effects to sleep. Sadly I don't have anymore details on the man.

[Jimblee]

Whenever I have trouble sleeping (Just last night, it took me 'till 3 AM, and I went at 11), I just break out a textbook.

So there must be some merit to the newspaper thing

[Sir_Norbert]

I usually sleep from around 5am (go to bed at 4am, takes me a while to get to sleep) till anywhere from 11am to 3pm. Messed up, I know, but having a fiancée in California will do that to you :P

[Castaras]

I normally wake up at 7:30 on weekdays for School. I'm normally going to bed between 9:30 - 10:30, but not getting to sleep 'til much later.

I'm nearly always waking up late on weekends. 10/11am.

*shrugs* 9-10 hours is survivable. 10-12 is best for me though, I think.

[Serpentine]

Technically, isn't sleep essential unless you want health problems which would sop you from enjoying life as much? I don't have the source (I read it in a book years ago), but there was 1 man who supposedly managed to go through his entire life without sleeping once.I think it's not so much "health problems" as "death". There's a reason sleep deprivation is classed as torture. As for that man, well, I'd definitely take that with a grain of salt, like those people who claim that they never eat or drink.

I've always had odd sleep issues. Historically, it's taken me 45 minutes-2 or 3 hours to get to sleep. In the last few years I think I've gotten a bit better at it, lowering the time to usually between 30 minutes and an hour. The last... 6 months, maybe... well. I can relate to this:


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c83/Vaynor/christmas_back_home.png

Sometimes I feel tired around 11pm, but generally I'll stay up far later than this. Even to the point where 2am is "an early night" and in bed by 3am is "not bad". Getting up in the morning, well, it's an achievement if I'm up before midday :smallsigh: I just never seem to feel like "okay, it's morning, and I'm awake, time to get up". It's always a struggle to wake myself up enough to get up, I never feel like it's enough, that I'm ready to. There's an added problem of my dreams... I sometimes wake up relatively early (say, ten), but the dream I was just having was so much fun that I try to recapture it... and, alas, am generally successful, at least at getting back to sleep :smallsigh: That's another thing, I'm very good at falling back asleep (I'm also very good at falling asleep in vehicles, but that's another matter).

The last few days I've felt like I might be getting back into a proper rhythm a bit. I've gone to bed relatively early (before 2am), and have at least been awake, if not up, before 11. Strange, cuz it hasn't really been any concious decision... *sigh* it's probably nothing, though.

[Tempest Fennac]

I know that not sleeping will be fatal after a while (I was using understatement). I found the story to be highly improbable, but it was in a book which supposedly delt with true stories (I think it was mentioned after a chapter about a girl who slept for (I think) 16 years due to an accident. I know her hair and nails stopped growing while she was asleep, but I can't remember her name).

[thubby]

I know that not sleeping will be fatal after a while (I was using understatement). I found the story to be highly improbable, but it was in a book which supposedly delt with true stories (I think it was mentioned after a chapter about a girl who slept for (I think) 16 years due to an accident. I know her hair and nails stopped growing while she was asleep, but I can't remember her name).

sleep isn't much in itself. its what your brain does while you sleep thats important. a restless sleep for example means your body didn't do what it was supposed to, or didn't do it well. so I imagine it would be possible to do the opposite.

[Vonriel]

I sort of have a set sleep schedule. I go to bed anywhere between 2 and 5 am and wake up anywhere between 10 am and 1:30 pm. There's no particular rhyme or reason for this that I can tell; even though I usually drink a soda late in the evening, it has no particular bearing on when I go to sleep. I tested this one week, where I didn't take in any caffeine after about 7pm, and limited sugar intake after that time, and I still was stuck to this schedule. Basically, I have no reason to go to bed or wake up earlier, I guess.