The Sleep Thread

[Liquid]

My alarm for work is 05:30. Right now it's 03:10 local time and I've been awake since 23:55.

I know I'm not the only GTPer who experiences difficulty with sleep; falling asleep, staying asleep or sleeping at the correct time of day/night. This thread is for discussion on the topic and to give people a place to log their hours and tell others about their own situations.

One of the hardest things about sleeping problems is convincing others that they exist. No matter what changes to your diet and routine you make, they can still persist.

 

[Carbonox]

I feel like I probably shouldn't be spinning in bed fully awake for as long as I do (1-3 hours), even on nights where I haven't had a single drop of Pepsi.

Honestly I blame the fact that it's the best time of day to just let the thoughts flow freely, so I'll become immersed in those rather than the whole falling asleep thing.

 

[Daniel]

I actually ended up getting diagnosed with sleep apnea through a very round-about process (went to see a psychologist because I thought I might have ADHD and she said that a lot of the inattentive symptoms are similar to sleep apnea*). Bought a CPAP machine and it's completely improved how I sleep (I often woke up a lot throughout the night beforehand).

What sucks is that I forget to use it all the time, and it's really uncomfortable when I do use it.

*Joke's on her I also got diagnosed with ADHD anyway.

 

[W3H5]

I’m in the sound sleeper camp. Although during depressive periods I’ve experience hellish insomnia akin to what is portrayed in Fight Club; never quite asleep, not really awake.

So many factors can cause problems sleeping from room temperature to diet. I’m not an expert. I do feel lucky that I can close my eyes and sleep pretty much anytime I want to.

I think more people should see sleep as a hobby, the way they do eating and drinking. For me sleep is one of my favourite things to do, especially when I’ve had a skin-full, but that’s more like a coma than proper sleep.

In fact, having just got home and done my chores for the day, I’m going to lay on the sofa with a good album on in the background and take an hour’s snooze. Who knows, maybe even two hours? I will take me a bit longer to sleep this evening when I do hit the sack, but a few chapters of a good book should sort that out.

My tips, for what they’re worth:

Keep your bed as a place for sleep. Other than book reading, a bed should be just for sleeping (and making babies if your lucky enough to share a bed).

No screens at least an hour before bed. The light disrupts the brain.

Find a sleep position that suits you. I can’t sleep anywhere other than on my left hand side or I end up with nightmares.

Shower before bed to bring your core temp down. Nothing worse than going to bed overheated (and smelly).

If you nap during the day, expect to take those hours out of your nightly sleep budget.

Sounds obvious, but sleep should come a lot easier after a long day of work.

Don’t have kids lol.

Edit: additionally, if you’re anything like me, loading up on carbs like white rice or bread will get you nice and sleepy.

 

[twoskodas]

No problem falling asleep after 10 hour manual Labour work shifts,but will often only get 4 or 5 hours sleep, then just either lye there awake or get up, drinking only makes it worse ,often only get 3 hours after a heavy session, just cannot go back to sleep after waking up

 

[MIE1992]

I wonder what happened to Pokemon Sleep? I recall it being announced over a year ago, with it supposedly being designed with enhancing sleep hygiene. It's as if the project's development went to sleep in its own way. It also makes sense to me that they'd make something like that, with species involving sleep/dreams being there from the get-go, what with Snorlax and Drowzee/Hypno.

 

[Liquid]

So far this year I haven't had one single night where I have gone to bed and then woke up when I'm supposed to. However, from the original post where I ended up staying up for about 36 hours, I have managed to trim the nightly routine down to going to bed at about 22:30, dropping off around 23:15, waking up 2-3 times during the night but being able to drop off again for my 05:30 alarm.

Honestly, the start of this year has been one of the worst sleeping periods of my entire life. Weirdly though, where I am now I am finding "getting up" and out of bed to be easy no matter how interrupted my sleep was but dropping off is still taking a long time and is at a later time than I would like.

 

[W3H5]

I think it’s very common to wake up several times during a nightly sleep period. The only time it might not happen is after consuming a lot of booze or sleeping pills.

 

[Sharpie]

I sleep like a baby and snore like a piglet according to my girlfriend but I don't believe.

 

[Michael88]

One strange thing is I'm never tired when I go to bed, no matter how hard the day was, even when I have had a very hard day at work and then later do cardio training and then do weight lifting. 8 hours in the office and 3 hours of rigorous training does not make me tired enough for a sound sleep at night.

 

[W3H5]

One strange thing is I'm never tired when I go to bed, no matter how hard the day was, even when I have had a very hard day at work and then later do cardio training and then do weight lifting. 8 hours in the office and 3 hours of rigorous training does not make me tired enough for a sound sleep at night.

Is it your brain or body that isn’t tired? Or both?

Maybe you don’t need a full night of sleep. Not everyone does.

 

[Michael88]

Is it your brain or body that isn’t tired? Or both?

Maybe you don’t need a full night of sleep. Not everyone does.

I think its mostly physical, once in my holidays I did a little experiment and tried staying up and doing normal stuff until I got tired - turned out if I stay awake for about 20-22 hours and then go to sleep I fall asleep easily and have a very good quality sleep, no matter what time of day I go to sleep, daylight or nighttime, does not matter.
Needless to say such schedule is totally incompatible with my job and daily life, days have 24 hours, not 30.

However, if I don't get my 8 hours of sleep I feel absolutely TRASHED next day. I definitely need 8 hours, especially since I do a lot of sport and need the regeneration. Its just the days are too short.

 

[MedigoFlame]

I'm a rather light sleeper on a "normal" schedule, the slightest shake or noise can wake me up rather easily. Which is why I absolutely hated my old first floor apartment that was below some of the loudest neighbors by my rather minimal experience. (Lived at home until moving out in 2017, then moved to my new duplex in late 2020) When I first moved into my first ever apartment, it was great having very considerate neighbors at first, but then they split up and moved out. Then came the people in their late 20s-early 30s.... (Parties, loud TV/music, heavy walking, smoking)

On the other hand, like anyone else I suppose, I can be a fairly heavy sleeper when exhausted. For some reason I remember riding in my friend's stripped out Nissan 240SX (S13) with no carpet or much sound deadener and a roll cage. It was on the drive back from a long day at the event, so it's understandable that I would fall asleep rather easily. (Leaving early in the morning to get to the track that's about 2 hours away)

Out of curiosity in this thread, how well do you guys sleep on a plane? I'm a very on-off sleeper where I try to sleep but what felt like hours worth of sleep turns out to be just half an hour.... Of course the worst part is the lack of air flow and not being able to lean back in economy seating.

 

[Liquid]

Out of curiosity in this thread, how well do you guys sleep on a plane?

As a darkness and silence sleeper, not well. It's impossible to sleep sitting up; best I manage is slumped forward with my forehead not comfortably pressed against the chair in front. I usually manage 10 minute micronaps every half an hour or so.

 

[Def-Infinity]

I want to go to bed earlier - say 1am latest. Lots of days where I'm up until 3am barely able to go to sleep.

At one point my sleep schedule was just nonexistent: went to sleep at around 5 AM or never, slogged through the rest of the day (hopefully) long enough to pass out at a decent hour. A bit of hyperbole, but still.

The only things that really helped so far has been keeping my room temp low and a sleep mask. Other than that, sleeping in a comfortable position, facing away from the window - street lamp shines pretty brightly through it.

 

[W3H5]

Oh the joys of trying to sleep with a recently acquired shoulder tendon injury. Gonna need a few brews to know me out tonight.

 

[Michael88]

Oh the joys of trying to sleep with a recently acquired shoulder tendon injury. Gonna need a few brews to know me out tonight.

Oh man, 2 years ago I had a slightly torn shoulder tendon, it took 6 months until I could move my arm without pain and another 6 months until I could lift heavy weights again. In the beginning I could only lay flat on my back.
Also driving was a lot of fun when I had to turn the steering wheel and I had to internally rotate my shoulder and lift my arm.

 

[W3H5]

Oh man, 2 years ago I had a slightly torn shoulder tendon, it took 6 months until I could move my arm without pain and another 6 months until I could lift heavy weights again. In the beginning I could only lay flat on my back.
Also driving was a lot of fun when I had to turn the steering wheel and I had to internally rotate my shoulder and lift my arm.

I got really lucky with the shoulder and it turned out to be a trapped nerve that sorted itself out within a week. I couldn’t imagine living with that pain and discomfort for a long period.

I suffered a partially torn trapezius when I was in my late teens and that out me out for months. Wouldn’t want to go through anything like that again. Sleep was almost impossible at times.

 

[Liquid]

It's 02:12 where I am right now. Tomorrow is the final day of my summer holiday before I go back to working in a school. Over the past two months I have carefully paid attention to the number of 'normal' night's sleep I have had - that is to say, going to bed at the preconceived normal time and waking up in the morning.

Four

Just four times. I've spent the whole summer up until 5am at the earliest, more often until 7am, and waking up around 1-2 in the afternoon. The first few weeks or so for me to adjust to completely reversing this against my body's will is going to be brutal.

 

[wheelhp]

Myth of 8 hours sleep... apparently you only need about 4 (3 x 30min REM) but I'll not bother trying that

 

[shadow0460]

They certainly do exist. I'm creeping past middle age myself. It takes 50 milligrams each of Benadryl and Atarax to get me to fall asleep. Some meds keep me awake.
I highly recommend a dark room, totally blacked out, and no white, green, or blue light within. Those colors destroy melatonin which is the body's natural sleep aid.