How is your sleep pattern?

Question

I thought as I got older I would be cutting the zzzzeds all the time but I find I need less sleep now but still have the same amount of energy.And food! I dont eat any less as I had been told I would ,which is good as I love my food and eat very healthily. I never take cat naps go to bed at about 2/3 am and get up about 8am exept if I have to work in the hospital and then it is 6 15am whats your experience

Wow! Sorry to hear such problems so far

Answer 1

Yes the older I get the less time I feel inclined to spend in bed, so many other things I like to do, eg texting my friends until the small hours, reading , music, Yahoo answers etc, etc.I sleep fitfully and get up in the night several times anyway, but that doesn't put me off my food. I enjoy things I have always enjoyed as I have an excellent resident cook.

Answer 2

If I had my way my natural bedtime would be around 10 pm with a little light reading before lights out, unfortunately the neighbours in the area have other ideas, from dogs to door slamming, from radios to horns. As soon as I drop off, some silly so and so wakes me up. This goes on until about 3 am, although the sleep times get a bit longer between wake-ups as the night wears on. I always wake up at 6 am. No wonder I'm a nervous bad tempered old wreck! I do have cat naps, given half a chance, during the day, out of sheer exhaustion.

If I could get a decent night's sleep I'd probably be OK with 6 to 7 hours instead of 7 to 8 hours when I was younger.

Answer 3

I usually go to sleep by midnight, unless it is a particularly good night here on YA, and then I might be on it till 2 or 3 a.m..

Then I am always up by 7 a.m. latest, because that is the time the kids have to get up for school (which hasn't started yet here in Canada, but I can't seem to break myself of the habit).

Then I DO take quite a few naps. If I am tired, I will lay down, and I will sleep for 90 minutes or two hours. It doesn't disrupt my sleep later. In fact it is very rare that I am not able to fall asleep within 5 minutes of laying my head down on the pillow, and ANYTIME.

The only work I do is looking after my three grandsons. While they are still on summer holiday, it is nice to have a couple of hours without them in the morning (they always sleep in, except on weekends).

When I was working outside the home I got even less sleep, and didn't seem to need it either. If I got 4 hours I was lucky. And it was usually enough.

As to appetite...I have two meals in a day. I can not eat when I first wake up. I have my morning coffee, and I spend time on the computer catching up on my email and doing my research. If I have a lot of work to do outside, or errands to run, I will not eat until after I have finished them. (I had an Ecoli infection in 2005, and I still end up getting painful diarrhea after first eating in the day.)

Then I have a normal dinner. I don't tend to eat anything between meals...I'm just not interested. For that little bit of food I consume every day (about 900 to 1200 calories depending) I CAN NOT lose weight, and remain well over the "norms" for my height. I think it has more to do with not being able to exercise much--my arthritis precludes it.

Answer 4

I work on about 6 hours a night...not much different now than has always been. Except...now with pain, if I think I am going to toss and turn trying to get to sleep, I drop 10mg Valium..muscle relaxer that works wonders. I do eat less and less...Coffee all day long, start to crash about 2-4 pm, and I eat dinner...even then, I cannot eat much...so I have no problems with wieght. My eating habits are so bad (I don't care what I eat as long as it is ok), I take protein suppliments because I work out. But, I think I probably live more on Ibuprofen than any other food source ( I think that falls into one of the 5 basic food groups, doesn't it?) . Getting older is fine, what I don't like is being old! Foolish me...I never considered wrinkled as a career choice when I was young. !

Answer 5

Unfortunately, my sleep patterns are terribly interrupted in the last year and a half since I became disabled. Most of my life I could just lay down at night, sleep eight hours and be ready to whip the world.

I've been exposed to pain from mild to sharp in this time and sometimes (whenever the body decides) the pain is so bad that I cannot sleep, I just toss and turn. I won't say I'm getting accustomed to it, I just tolerate it.

As for food, my eating habits have changed. I always eat healthy, except when there's something extremely yummy. I've learned not to overeat anything. I'm still losing weight and can't wait to get to my goal. I also exercise daily, it's not only good for me but it's a necessity to keep me physically as close to normal as I can be.

It's been said for eons that as we age we need less sleep. I don't believe that. It's also said that we eat less and I do believe that from the research I've done on the subject for my Gerontology classes.

Answer 6

It is weird I know, but as a person ages they need sleep less. Many over the age of 65 years old who lived in the Nursing home I worked in would have a sleep pattern of sleeping 4 to 6 hours at night and taking a one hour nap in the afternoon. People with Alzheimer's seem to never sleep or run out of energy! When I was in college I did clinicals in a Alzheimer's facility and they had Activities 24 hours a day there.

I am 41 and my Boyfriend is 55 years old. He sleeps 4 hours at a time. I can't keep up with him but I have tried. I still need 8 hours sleep strait or I get my days and nights all mixed up!

Answer 7

I go to bed at 11 p.m. and awake at 7 a.m. Actually, the alarm goes off at 7 but I am generally awake by about 6:15 or so and cat napping and peeking at the alarm. I never nap during the day.

I eat about the same amount or food, about 2000 calories per day, as I did when I was younger. This seems to be too much but I consider myself an environmentalist whose specialty is conserving food, especially around my middle.

Answer 8

I'm up a 4:45 a.m. Mon-Fri. Take a nap from just after 11:30 to 12:15, a doze from 2 to 2:15. I'm in bed by 11:15 p.m. and don't wake up until the alarm at 4:45. On weekends, my dog wakes me by 6 a.m. and sometimes I stay up or read the paper and doze on the couch. I seldom wake up in the middle of the night and if I do, it's because a 'possum is outside the sliding bedroom doors and my dog is having a hissy fit.

Answer 9

When I was working, I used to get about four hours a night, that seemed to do me fine and I worked at least a 70 hour week. However, I have severe ME and in the last six years have been unable to work, but all those years of going to bed at 2 - 3am have left their mark and I cannot sleep before then, whether I have to get up at 7 or can sleep in, in which case I will happily sleep until 11. One of the symptoms of ME is something called sleep reversal, which is sleeping from 3 or 4 am till 11 or 12 so it seems pretty normal, usually I have to get up at 7 to take my daughter to school so I try to get to bed around 1-1.30 but then I just lie there until about 3.

Answer 10

Pattern? I have no sleep pattern any more. Arthritis, scoliosis, degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia, and spondylosis have all robbed me of sleep. I go to sleep when lying in the bed doesn't hurt so much it keeps me awake. I wake up 3 or 4 hours later and hurt so badly I have to stay up. Sometimes I can go back to sleep in a couple hours and stay asleep for a couple more hours. If I nap during the day I can kiss a good night's sleep goodbye! Yes indeed I have chronic fatigue syndrome because I am chronically fatigued!!!!!