Are you getting enough sleep lately?

[NWICY]

I am getting 4-5 on average I would say. With a nap occasionally during the week. The only time I sleep more than 6 hours these days is when I am on a plane.

The last several months have been insane for me. Been traveling across 9 timezones working Pacific, Central, Eastern, Japanese and European hours at times. 10 hour flights here, 12 hour flights there, 4 hour layovers in the city I live in to get somewhere else, plus multiple bachelor parties and weddings and conferences. It's starting to become maddening.

I moved to Chicago almost exactly a year ago. I've slept in my bed maybe 50 times. Which is somehow worse than it was when I was traveling Pre-2020. I thought I was gonna go down in travel not up! At the end of the day I love my job and what I do but stretches like these are how people get burnt out and leave.

Suffice to say. My sleep ain't great Bob. My sleep ain't great.

Sorry about the lack of sleep but if you would have said corporate jet instead of layovers it would be close to a humble brag.
Did you have the wedding in India? Was it really neat?

 

[RLD4ISU]

I wear an Apple Watch at night and, along with total hours, have been monitoring the stages of sleep. The amount of deep sleep seems to make a difference for me. 35 minutes or less and I feel a little tired, even with 7.75+ hours of sleep. 35-55 minutes seems to be a good number for me, even if I get 6-6.5 hours of sleep. Anything over 55 minutes and I wake up with almost a disoriented feeling.

 

[BryceC]

My caffeine tolerance exploded a long time ago I think. I could drink coffee til 10 if I wanted to, and still fall asleep at 10:30. The low sleep is just a product of the daily schedule in this season of life. I get up at 5a, but my wife and i don't settle in for the night (kids in bed + chores done) until 8:30ish, and like to get 1-2 hours of quality time in after that. So basically, I choose getting some quality time in with the wife over an extra 1-2 hours of sleep.

Side note on the caffeine tolerance - for as much as I consume, I also don't experience withdrawals. A few times I've gone 3-5 days with no coffee/caffeine and never experienced bad headaches or other symptoms, just overall more general sleepiness during the day.

I’m the same. I could pound a Mt. Dew and be asleep in 10 minutes.

This is a bad time of year for me - I’m coaching a lot and when games get over it’s hard for me to unwind. Then I get up around 5:00 am each day. I probably get between 5-6 a night and honestly I’m pretty good. I’ll probably get early onset dementia or something but for now it works for me.

 

[cowgirl836]

The sleep industry is worth billions. They get everyone paranoid that if they don't get 7-9 hours there is going to be all these disastrous effects and our health. So many studies, back up their claims, but more often than not they are funded by the industry. If you go to a sleep clinic, they are going to set a goal for you to help get you to that 7 hours, they get a lot of business from people who are freaking out because they are not there. I only sleep 4-5 hours a night, and in the past I had a lot of anxiety about my health and or future health. I did the sleep clinic thing, no matter how hard I tried, even the CBT, I couldn't get up to that 7 hours. I tried sleeping pills, helps some, THC helped put me to sleep, but the quality wasn't very good and THC doesn't work for my life anymore. Finally, I met with a specialist who had a private practice, my goodness the degrees on his wall was impressive. Anyway, He told me the whole 7 hour thing is BS. He said everyone is different and some people only actually need very few hours and that is in their genetic code. Our species would not have survived if it were not for people that didn't need much sleep.

Back before humans had fire or light, clans could be not be out walking around at night, it was dangerous to do so. You step into a hole and break a leg, you are literally fked and probably going to die. So the group had a stay huddled up and still while it was dark. Some of the clan had to stay up and be alert for predators. Those people in the modern world that do not sleep much probably have that gene ADRB1 for low amount of sleep needed to feel fully rested. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had that gene. She only slept 4 hours a night. My mom was a low hour sleeper, as was my grandfather. So, I no longer freak out about only sleeping 4 to five hours a night, I feel great anyway. It is the anxiety associated with not sleeping the recommended hours that is worse for you than the low amount of sleep. Finally there is a book called Set it and Forget it, I highly recommend it.

I will just point out most studies use males as the default. So 7 hours is very likely a commonly acceptable amount for men. I've been reading a decent bit about women needing more like 9-10 due to hormonal and other metabolic differences. So I sort of agree with the specialist you saw that everyone is different. Knew a guy in college who only need 4 and seemed very healthy. I've seen some things say see how much you sleep when you are on vacation or otherwise have no responsibilities to see how much you naturally sleep. That's probably how much you actually need - if you aren't so overtired that your body is playing catch up on those days!

 

[CRCy17]

We have 3.5 year old twins and I promise it gets better. Except we decided to have a third so right after we got the twins sleeping well, our daughter was born and back to crappy sleep.

Ah that is our biggest fear, we are content with just the 2 for us

 

[4theCYcle]

Man, are you guys in for it in a few years, lol. I'm more the pushover where I'd be like "whatever", but the wife would not have it. And I'm glad she did now.

Oh I know, unfortunately, it'll be a fun transition. Can't wait for when that day comes. I'm over the hill excited about that.

 

[StormnClone58]

Ah that is our biggest fear, we are content with just the 2 for us

Man-to-man defense is a lot easier than zone

 

[Malty Flannel]

Holy crap, that's a lot of "quality time"! My "quality time" decreased substantially after marriage

TBF most nights our quality time is she drinks tea, I drink two cocktails, and we watch office reruns on peacock

 

[Tailg8er]

TBF most nights our quality time is she drinks tea, I drink two cocktails, and we watch office reruns on peacock

Haha sounds similar to our routine.

 

[clonebb]

For sleep, I use Green Roads as they're as good as Medterra (my preferred) but better priced. The Sleepy Zs has CBD, CBN, and Melatonin. Take 2 about 20 mins before bed works pretty well. I have a lot of other issues so also take an Rx for sleep.

Just ordered Sleepy Z. Always have trouble falling asleep. Last night went to bed at 11:00 and was still awake at 4am. Luckily I am retired and able to sleep until 11am.

 

[Clonehomer]

I'm to the point of taking Melatonin most every night. Al typically fall asleep fine without it, but I'll wake up an hour after falling asleep and not be able to get back to sleep.

I've completely eliminated caffeine after 10AM and makes no difference. Just a stress thing that I will lay in bed and think of all the things that happened that day or what is coming the next. So it's either melatonin or alcohol for now.