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Yumunum

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 24, 2011
1,452
0
U.S.
How much do you usually get? Is it enough? Do you have good or bad sleeping patterns? How does your lifestyle (school, laziness, act) effect this?

And just for fun, what's the longest amount of time you've gone without sleep?


I get terrible sleep... For example, it's 4AM where I am right now. I really don't know if I plan on sleeping till, well, "tonight" I'll be gone all day, then if I'm lucky I'll get 12 hours of sleep! (which may or may not be enough to equal 2 good nights of sleep) I've been on cycles like this for... I don't know how long. A lot of stress, sometimes I'm afraid to sleep, other times I seem to get extremely sidetracked. It's not good for my health, and I can't really function normally in the day.

Alright, well what about you guys?
 
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VulchR

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,358
14,217
Scotland
The longest I've gone without sleep is three days. Not good....

Generally my sleep is pretty bad - lot of little medical niggles that wake me up. The latest was a combination of frozen shoulder (pain) and an inner ear infection (vertigo, nystagmus). So basically I wake up feeling like I've dislocated my shoulder while being on a rocket-powered merry-go-round. Ouch. :(
 

BreakGuy

macrumors 6502a
Nov 23, 2009
817
0
NZ, South Pacific
My sleeping habits are appalling to say the least. Usually I fall asleep around 3am. Occasionally its 4 or 5am. I don't generally get out of bed until about mid afternoon.

Having finished school and quitting my last job due to the unnecessary amount of stress it was causing me, I haven't had much luck finding another job. I would love to get back into a routine.
 

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
Having the bad habit to often not stop thinking about work. That cause some trouble to sleep in. 5:30 my iPhone wake me up. Every morning. And on weekend not much longer as the bio rhythm got used to it (latest 7:00).
Mostly go to bed 10:30; read a bit MR and get around 7 hours sleep.
 

MorphingDragon

macrumors 603
Mar 27, 2009
5,160
6
The World Inbetween
Having the bad habit to often not stop thinking about work. That cause some trouble to sleep in. 5:30 my iPhone wake me up. Every morning. And on weekend not much longer as the bio rhythm got used to it (latest 7:00).
Mostly go to bed 10:30; read a bit MR and get around 7 hours sleep.

Bang your head on the wall very hard for a couple of minutes. You'll either

A) Knock yourself out
B) Give yourself an Adrenaline high and a crash which makes you sleep.
C) Seriously impair your thinking so you never have to work again.

Its an only win situation. :cool:
 

iBlue

macrumors Core
Mar 17, 2005
19,180
15
London, England
I battled insomnia for a couple years. Some nights I would see no sleep but most nights I'd fall asleep and wake up a few hours later as if that was enough. It was a weird time but for the most part I was/am pretty functional on very little sleep.

I sleep much better now but I wake easily and have a very difficult time going back to sleep. My brain takes a running start at the slightest stir. It's beyond annoying. Still, I know things could be worse.
 

Mord

macrumors G4
Aug 24, 2003
10,091
23
UK
Age 18-20 I slept about 4 hours a night, 20-21 I barely slept at all and had really severe sleep issues and now age 23 I can quite happily sleep 10-12 hours a night and feel awful if I get less than 8.

Needing to sleep as much as I do now is really inconvenient, I wish I could get by on 6, but it just zombifies me.
 

wwooden

macrumors 68020
Jul 26, 2004
2,028
187
Burlington, VT
I battled insomnia for a couple years. Some nights I would see no sleep but most nights I'd fall asleep and wake up a few hours later as if that was enough. It was a weird time but for the most part I was/am pretty functional on very little sleep.

I sleep much better now but I wake easily and have a very difficult time going back to sleep. My brain takes a running start at the slightest stir. It's beyond annoying. Still, I know things could be worse.

This has been my problem the last few weeks. I only fall asleep when I am absolutely exhausted, but even then, it's only for 2 hours at the most. Then I am wide awake and can't fall back asleep. Like you said, as soon as I'm awake, my brain goes into full gear. It's mostly stress about things in my life: Relationships, regrets, where I'm heading, what I want to do. I know it shouldn't stress me out, but it does beyond belief. During the day I'm okay because I can talk to people and keep myself occupied and distracted. Night is the worse when there isn't anything and I just get lost in my own head and thoughts.
 

VulchR

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,358
14,217
Scotland
Just a quick question while we're on the subject of sleep, does anyone here suffer from what's known as, Sleep Paralysis?

Everybody does - that is why we don't enact our dreams. SInce your post talks about 'suffering' as though it is a medical condition, do you mean the cataplexy in narcolepsy?
 

BreakGuy

macrumors 6502a
Nov 23, 2009
817
0
NZ, South Pacific
Everybody does - that is why we don't enact our dreams. SInce your post talks about 'suffering' as though it is a medical condition, do you mean the cataplexy in narcolepsy?
No. I mean the state of being awake while the motor cortex region of the brain has been switched off, rendering oneself unable to move, aka paralyzed (and additionally often unable to speak) while being conscious. Often one may hear noises, hallucinate or feel the presence of someone or something on or near theirself during sleep paralysis.
 

VulchR

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,358
14,217
Scotland
No. I mean the state of being awake while the motor cortex region of the brain has been switched off, rendering oneself unable to move, aka paralyzed (and additionally often unable to speak) while being conscious. Often one may hear noises, hallucinate or feel the presence of someone or something on or near theirself during sleep paralysis.

What you are describing sounds very much like cataplexy in narcolepsy (with hypnagogic 'hallucinations'). If this occurs suddenly while you are conscious and active, then you are not asleep and you might have narcolepsy (I am not a physician but I do have a PhD in Neuroscience). On the other hand, normal people experience this occasionally as they wake from sleep - is that what you mean? Just trying to understand your meaning...
 
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Happybunny

macrumors 68000
Sep 9, 2010
1,792
1,389
I have always slept well, on average 8 hours per night.:)
Since I retired in 2008, my sleep pattern has not changed all that much. The main difference, is on the very rare times that I have trouble sleeping, it's no big deal. I just watch movies, read a book or comics, visit sites on the internet. :D
 

BreakGuy

macrumors 6502a
Nov 23, 2009
817
0
NZ, South Pacific
What you are describing sounds very much like cataplexy in narcolepsy (with hypnagogic 'hallucinations'). If this occurs suddenly while you are conscious and active, then you are not asleep and you might have narcolepsy (I am not a physician but I do have a PhD in Neuroscience). On the other hand, normal people experience this occasionally as they wake from sleep - is that what you mean? Just trying to understand your meaning...
It's nothing to do with narcolepsy, at least for me anyway. Mine occurs when I wake from suddenly wake from REM sleep. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen from time to time.

When I wake suffering from sleep paraylsis, I wake on my back, although I fall asleep on my side. I'm 99.9% certain that sleeping on my back induces my sleep paralysis. One time I woke paralyzed and heard footsteps coming from the kitchen and felt the presence of and saw a shadow of a man standing beside my bed. Very scary moment that was.

Now this is what I don't understand. I've tried researching this but nothing comes up on it. Once the sleep paralysis part is over my eyes will begin FORCE themselves closed. I have to actively fight this closing with all my energy. If I don't and let my eyes close, I'll drift off into a nightmare that I can't stop.

Another thing that I remember happening once or twice when I was seven or eight years old was being pinned down in the hallway of my house by some powerful and unknown force. I tried screaming for help, but couldn't scream. I do not know whether this was real, or if this was a dream.
 

VulchR

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,358
14,217
Scotland
It's nothing to do with narcolepsy, at least for me anyway. Mine occurs when I wake from suddenly wake from REM sleep. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen from time to time.
....

OK. I sometimes experience something like what you describe - a long, anxiety-provoking nightmare that occurs just prior to waking. These nightmares tend to have several scenes and take ages to unfold. During the nightmare I often feel like my movement is suppressed. I'm often semi-aware of my surroundings and the nightmares usually end with me trying to figure if I am having a nightmare and waking myself. Typically when I wake up from these things I am sweating profusely. Distressing but not damaging... these nightmares used to bother me but not so much anymore. I was tentatively diagnosed with narcolepsy when I was younger due to the classic symptoms, but that seemed to go away fairly quickly.
 

jsolares

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2011
844
2
Land of eternal Spring
I live in Central America and used to give support to a company in australia, so i worked 8hrs here and then in the middle of sleep get called because of a problem in australia... my sleep pattern has been weird since and it was like 4yrs ago. i usually sleep 11pm-1am to 8-9am sometimes i wake up at like 4am and get back to sleep.

The longest i've gone without sleep was around 3 days getting a college project done due to procastinating, it was finals week as well, in one test i was writing down what i was dreaming instead of answering the test, then i woke up thankfully i was asleep only 10mins or so... haven't gone that long since and hopefully won't need to do it again.
 

UlsterApple

macrumors regular
Aug 22, 2011
106
0
Northern Ireland
Often one may hear noises, hallucinate or feel the presence of someone or something on or near theirself during sleep paralysis.

Especially when sleeping at one's desk during working hours.

As for sleep, I work shifts, so sleep well while on days but on nights often hit bed around 8.30am and then lie awake two hours later unable to get back to sleep. This of course kills me for the next night's work. This effectively means that over a week of nights I get two hours a day and feel wrecked. As for the longest without sleep... probably my army days, three days or so when on Ops.
 

ender land

macrumors 6502a
Oct 26, 2010
876
0
Normally get up at 5:00 every weekday. Woke up a bit before my alarm today...

Try to get to bed by 10:00 at the latest. Messing around online late at night causes me to lose sleep, since I stay up later and don't really get quality sleep anyways..

Getting up at the same time is what affects me the most.
 

zachlegomaniac

macrumors 6502a
Sep 20, 2008
806
370
I've suffered from pretty severe insomnia in the past; primarily in my teens. I've been to hospitals for overnight stays in labs, and they claim they can't identify any trends, but that my REM sleep does appear slightly abnormal.

Anyways, I've really started to devote myself to yoga. It's not a quick fix and it takes time and perseverance, but small benefits can be felt immediately. However, the benefits seem to grow (for me personally) the longer I dedicate myself to it.

Most recently my chronic anxiety, which certainly impairs my sleep, has gone way down. I've tried prescription drugs that haven't even come close to the ease I can find myself in at times now.

I would recommend giving it a try. It seems to benefit every facet of one's life and almost ANYONE can do it regardless of their limitations.

I empathize with you and your difficulty. I hope you can get some rest soon.
 
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h1r0ll3r

macrumors 68040
Dec 28, 2009
3,920
19
Maryland
I sleep pretty poorly overall. I toss and turn a lot. I probably never get more than 5-6 hours of sleep a night. But, once the alcohol kicks in, I sleep like a baby. Longest I ever slept was about 18 hours? Longest time without sleep was around 30 some hours. Sleeping habits in college and vastly different than when you're older.
 
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