Sleep

[Grand Moff Muffin]

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

I've just heard on the radio that the head of a school in North Tyneside is considering starting lessons at 11am due to new research which shows teenagers' brains work better in the afternoon.

In 2007, it was reported that those who took a 30-minute siesta at least three times a week had a 37% lower risk of heart-related death.

However, today it is reported that taking regular lunchtime siestas could increase the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Last year it was reported that calcified arteries (whatever they are) were found in nearly a third of people who slept fewer than five hours a night, and that a refreshing night's sleep may be the best way to boost memory.

In January it was reported that sleeping for under seven hours a night greatly raises the risk of catching a cold.

At home I generally sleep from 10.30 or 11 until 6 and then doze with the radio on for an hour before getting up at 7 - even when I don't need to go to work. I don't consider myself an early or a late setter/riser.

About once a month I have to catch an early train, and despite setting an alarm clock on those days I tend to wake up a few times in the night, put the radio on maybe around 4 o'clock and am wide awake by the time I have to get up. But that's just once a month.

When I'm at my parents' house I can sleep through until 8 or even 9am.

On the whole, I like getting on for 8 hours a night.

What are people's sleep patterns, and how important are they to you? I know there are some here who have trouble sleeping, and others who work irregular shifts, so to avoid treating the subject lightly I've put it here rather than the General board.

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

My biggest trouble isn't sleeping so much as actually getting to sleep. I've learned over the years what I have done that contributes towards me waking up a lot during the night and generally manage to avoid them now. I do find that if I have a time I need to wake up for I will almost always wake up at least 1 hour before my alarm goes off. Bizarre.

I generally end up with about five or six hours a night, but if I go back to bed I can usually squeeze in another two or three. Something I never used to be able to do. I'm pretty much an early riser myself.

My sleeping patterns are not all that fixed, very often I will find myself working on something until the wee small hours of the morning but I will stop when I lose my focus but that can be as late as two/three in the morning. I'm also seeing someone who is a SOCO (scene of the crime officer) so she works shifts and doesn't always finish on time) so I tend to accomodate her working rotas so I need to be flexible.

I do find though that if I am sleeping as someone else's house I will always be up early, no matter what I've been doing I will always be awake quite early in the morning. I might not get up but I will be awake.

Andy

[blueshift]

I usually sleep at 12-1 and wake up at 8. I always aim for 7.30 but never ever make it

[Philip Ayres]

My sleep is driven by two things - the CMT and the toddler.

I need about 6-8 hours a night, plus on most days a lunch time sleep of about 2 hours to get me through the rest of the day.

Like Andy I find that getting off to sleep is a problem. I can't have any cafeine after about 6pm at night, the PC needs to be off an hour before I goto sleep so I can have a read, I need some painkillers about half an hour before I go to bed and then if all is OK I should get off about half an hour after getting into bed. I've found Camomile tea helps too. Quite frequently I'm in a lot of pain late at night and my circulation will playing me up so I can be uncomfortable and not get off to sleep that early at all - 2pm plus.

... but we have Jonathan. Who likes to stir around midnight probably because that's when I'm moving around getting ready for bed and when he cries that stresses me which doesn't help. He's also been in the habit of waking c5am which doesn't help but Liz is the one that gets up then. But it does wake me up though...

[Andy Turnbull]

Caffeine I discovered was a big impact on me, but also drinking fluids as I often drink pints of water and I found this meant I was getting up frequently to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Andy

[legios]

I am a relatively deep sleeper. Once I get to sleep it is rare that I wake before either my alarm goes off or eight am - whichever comes first. The trick for me is actually getting to sleep. I tend to be much more awake in the evenings than I am in the morning - regardless of how much sleep I have actually had. As a result I tend to go to bed at about 11pm, and then stare balefully at the alarm when it goes off at about six thirty. I then tend to get up just before seven after a half-hour or so of dozing. I surface slowly in stages rather than coming on like a lightbulb in the morning. I generally average around six and a half hours sleep on an average night - a little longer on a Sunday morning as I don't set an alarm on the Saturday night. It is rare that I am still in bed after half-eight in any event.

In fact the only place that I tend to sleep longer than that is when I am visiting my mother. Then I can sometimes sleep till as late as 9am.

Karl

[grahamthomson]

I have one of those sunrise simulating alarm clocks that comes on gradually between 6.30 and 7.00. Then birds start chirping at 7.15. I've found that to be the best way to start the day; any sudden interruption to my sleep results in a foggy head all day.

I turn in as soon as I start nodding off, never a set time, it's usually any time between 10 and 12.

[blueshift]

Sometimes I will turn my alarm off in my sleep, or in my sleepy state think it is a good idea to reprogramme it

[The Doctor]

Rarely in bed before midnight. I seem to be programmed to have an inability to sleep before the midnight hour.

Generally, I have problems with insomnia irregardless of other circumstances, eating habits etc. Though it can get worse during periods of stress, it can be just as bad when things are going great.

If I have somewhere to go, I have no problem getting up the morning. I'm not instantly alert by any means but I can mechanically get up and get out. If I have nowhere to go/anyone to see in the am, nothing can rouse me. It just feels pointless getting up.

-Ralph

[karla]

I don't know how long I sleep, didn't think it was important.
But I sleep better when I don't drink or have caffine....or when theres a full moon.

some days I sleep for a couple of hours on the floor in the afternoon for no reason, other days I can't sleep.

[Andy Turnbull]

I make sure my alarm is outwith the arms reach so I have to get up in order to remove the temptation to switch it off and sleep more.

Andy

[The Doctor]

ARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHH! Some less than splendid insomnia last night. Zombie Ralph this morning.

-Ralph

[legios]

My current alarm clock is quite difficult to switch off - you have to throw a small switch located on the side of the clock, which requires being fairly awake so that you can locate it and hook it with a nail. Always ensures that by the time I have got it actually turned off I am properly awake. (And forget reprogramming it, that takes several fingers and multiple buttons and dozing Karl doesn't have that much mental acuity and co-ordination).

Karl

[Deleted]

I tend to go to bed at around about midnight unless I have no need to get up early in the morning. On those occasions I don't go to bed until at least 1am. I have to get up for either a six o' clock or seven o' clock start five days a week so that only leaves me with just a few short hours to get to sleep and subsequently wake up again. That doesn't bother me too much as I get a couple of hours sleep in the afternoon when I come home from work.

[jameso]

I tend to find that if I go too long on just the 6 or 7 hours a night and get up as soon as I wake up, I just end up crashing at a later point, which then always feels like a waste of a day. So I don't really agree with the 'you only need between 4-7 hours a night' debate. I mean, technically yes, but then you're only active 6 days a week because by the sunday you're a zombie.

[dyrl]

Back when I drank heavily, sleep was not a problem. I'd stay out all night and pass out where ever around noon. I'd wake up usually around five or six and be ready to go out drinking again my the evening. Sometimes, if it wasn't an all nighter, I'd get in by 2 or 3 am, pass out, and wake up at five or six am (never could sleep very long when drunk).

Once I stopped drinking heavily, got a girlfriend and a dog, my sleep pattern changed radically.

Nowadays, I usually get up around 7 am and try to be in bed by 10 pm.

Often depends on mood, weather and emotions...

Pete

[Cullen]

Mar 9, 2009 17:01:29 GMT The Doctor said:

Rarely in bed before midnight. I seem to be programmed to have an inability to sleep before the midnight hour.

Yup me too. When I used to support shifts (8-4 one week, 11-7 the next) 8-4 shift used to kill me as I only ever got 6 hours sleep max. I used to love the 11-7 shift - I definitely like to get up late and stay up late.

On a weekend I can sleep for England. I usually sleep 11-12 hours on saturday and sunday and can easily get back to sleep if I wake up.

[The Doctor]

I genuinely admire people who can work shifts with no ill-effects. I did it for 3 years (7am-3:30pm, 1:30pm-10pm and 3:30pm until 2:30pm next day inc sleepover shift from 10pm-7am) and it had an extremely severe effect on my physical and mental health. I'm just not built for it, and have vowed never to work shifts again. I've passed on applying for pretty good very well paid jobs precisely because they are shift work. I'm ok with some flexibility in working hours where I have some control over my work but fixed shifts: never again.

-Ralph

[Deleted]

I'm not into shift work either. I've never done it but then I don't want to. I enjoy going out some nights in the week at approx 8pm and also staying up until past midnight before going to bed. They are two things you could never do if you worked shifts.

[legios]

I have never worked shifts, but my mother did for many years. It isn't a pretty sight - shift work, especially with a rapid turn-around between shifts is a very draining thing. It isn't something I can ever envisage myself doing.

Karl

[grahamthomson]

I have worked shifts, when I spent a brief stint for a newspaper. (Tight deadlines, and all that.) I continually felt like I had the cold, but without the blocked nose. If you see what I mean.

And they reckon extended shift work can lead to cancer!

[legios]

Mar 17, 2009 21:08:06 GMT @grahamthomson said:

And they reckon extended shift work can lead to cancer!

I wouldn't be entirely surprised. I would think it would tend to depress the immune system generally.

I remember reading some research many years ago that suggested that the life-expectancy in retirement of shift-workers tended to be significantly lower than those that didn't work shifts. Wish I could remember where it was that I read it though.

Karl

[Shockprowl]

Yeah, I've read something like that somewhere as well. I think it's sumat like distruption of the bodies natural systems. Plus I've read the effects of 'emergency' work, adrenaline rushes, driving fast etc, has a tiring effect on the body. Bum holes! As you're aware I work shifts, and have done for 'bout 5 years now. Luckily for me I do ok, I've actually found I'm coping with them better and better. I'm naturally a laid back sorta chap, and I take the same view with sleep. I'm very chilled about it. 12 hour shifts help. 'Cos although your sleep pattern for the four shifts you're on is erratic, you get four days off to recover (shift patterns vary, but generally that's the idea). Obv with Mrs Shockprowl working part time, and looking after the Piglet, I can't sleep in. But curriously I rarely sleep past 7.30am at the very latest anyway. Coupla tricks I've got is that, when I'm on nights, I treat it as night. Now that doesn't mean I fall asleep when treating patients! But, inbetween details (if there's time inbetween that is!) I don't converse much, don't watch TV, don't read. I slow my brain down! (Isn't hard). When I'm on my rest days, I dont' stay up late, bed by midnight at latest usually. I do very little at night other than watch TV or read or chat with the Mrs. And when I'm on an early-whirly, which often means getting up at 0445, I DEFO do not drink alcohol the night before (stops you getting into a deep sleep, I've read), I do go to bed a tad earlier, but not much, 'cos I know I wont get to sleep untill 11ish anyway. But ultimately, I suppose I'm just one of those people that can handle it. I stay healthy, eat well, excerise reasonabily ok, and just stay chilled about it. Piglet, 95% of the time, is a great sleeper, inc a little nap during the afternoon often, so that's helpfull. All in all, it's exceptance. I want to work for the ambulance service, so I gotta work shifts. And I have to say, Mrs Shockprowl is very supportive of it. I know other partners out there aren't. I don't necissarily blame them for that, 'cos it is very VERY hard living with a shift worker. But luckily for me Mrs Shockers does me proud.