How is your sleep?

These stories are very helpful. Oddly, I have slept reasonably well for two nights since posting this. I have been trying to pray before I sleep (apologies if that annoys you), and need to start meditating as well. I have read about segmented sleep, and if I take a valerian I tend to fall back asleep if I wake up. My deal is, if I go to sleep by 9:30, then when I wake up in five hours, it's like 2-2:30 in the morning, and since there is no way I'm staying up by myself for four hours, I go back to sleep until 5:30, when I get the kids up so they can get to school by 7:00 in Doha traffic.

I tried time release melatonin on Friday, and I was just exhausted the following day. My body is producing enough melatonin, but my frantic, ADHD/Aspie-ish brain doesn't let me sleep as deeply as I would like. Combine that with an almost total lack of exercise for the last two years and my energy levels are pretty low. I do get a few 10,000 step days from time to time. I'm looking forward to moving back to the states and riding my dork bicycle daily.

Another factor is that I am approaching 50, and going through "andropause," which is increased irritability and sensitivity as my hormones and brain change. This leads to me accusing my wife of being critical and nagging, when she's actually fairly normal. But I also think it affects my sleep.

The chronic undersleeping leaves me feeling achey, dazed, and sort of floating through life, like I've been hitting the cough syrup or something. However, when I get sleep, it's like parts of me that have been dormant come to the surface, and I have enough energy to make stupid, impulsive mistakes, so the undersleep is a way of self-medicating, perhaps.

/cheaptherapy

I sometimes struggle to fall asleep, mostly if I'm excited or rarely if I'm stressed. I have trouble falling asleep after game nights usually, typically thinking about what I could have done differently or how awesome a particular game was. Also struggle with sleep during cons due to excitement.

Normally though, I get 6-8 hours pretty easy. Take about 10-60 minutes to fall asleep and my daughter almost always sleeps through the entire night (she's been this way since 3 months!). Wife falls asleep at a moment's notice usually like Chapel, we'll be watching TV at 7 and she'll be passed out on the couch.

I slept like shit last night, went to bed late, took long to fall asleep for some reason, just laying there thinking about the weekend, and then slept lightly and fitfully. I set the alarm forward an extra hour and that helped. Too many things on my mind I guess, that type of night is unusual. A couple of months ago I woke up in the middle of the night (like 2-3 a.m.) and couldn't fall back asleep, when the mind activates instead of going back under sleep's done.

I've been sleeping less since my second kid was born, kind of like JJ, instead of going to bed I'm staying up doing stuff, reading, watching a movie, playing games, etc. It's not too healthy, but I figure I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead. Which will likely be sooner rather than later if I keep it up.

I generally work from 10pm - 2am after everyone heads to bed. Then get somewhere between 5 1/2 to 6 hours of sleep.

I doubt I would get any sleep if I had a child. I would subsequently be put away from stabbing someone in the face due to lack of sleep and rage.

Let's just say I'm not having kids. Too selfish.

My sleep is decent, all things considered. It was fantastic up until January--our 3 year old seriously turned a corner over the last half of 2014 and her cooperation at bedtime and ability to stay zonked out the entire night improved dramatically. I remember thinking we'd never get there.

Now we're doing it all over again. My 4-month old son is still hanging on to his overnight feeding, so things usually get interrupted once or twice. The biggest thing for me has been to write off the idea of staying up just because the kids are asleep and all is quiet--I get daily chore stuff done and try and call it a night by 10:30 at the absolute latest. I seem to sleep pretty soundly, because many mornings I get the summary of how many times my wife was up during the night and find that I don't remember all of them. Sometimes I take a turn (it rarely takes longer than 20 minutes or so), but since we agreed that she'd take a leave of absence for the remainder of this school year she does most of the overnight duties.

JoelCFC25 wrote: My sleep is decent, all things considered. It was fantastic up until January--our 3 year old seriously turned a corner over the last half of 2014 and her cooperation at bedtime and ability to stay zonked out the entire night improved dramatically. I remember thinking we'd never get there.

Usually by 3 bedtime and sleep are ok. Some do it sooner. My youngest's a little over 2 and still takes a while (at least 30 minutes) to fall asleep and wakes up from time to time, bad dreams (she wakes up crying and asking for macaroni or yogurt - hilarious!) or cold from not keeping the blanket on.

I seem to sleep pretty soundly, because many mornings I get the summary of how many times my wife was up during the night and find that I don't remember all of them.

Hah, same here!

asking for macaroni or yogourt in the middle of the night is hilarious. I love it.

My daughter Scarlett (3) woke up bawling the other night about 4am. So I ran in there (I was still awake of course) and she was crying "I WANT A LOLLIPOP!"

Happens to me all the time.

Emily (4) just sleeps through the entire night. Every night, all the time. I don't get these fun requests

She slept 12 hours Saturday night, it was insane

Black Barney wrote: She slept 12 hours Saturday night, it was insane

My eldest (5) is reacting to pollen these days, she has puffy skin around the eyes. On Sunday it was bugging her a bit so we Benadryled her up and she fell asleep shortly past 5 pm. I tried to get her up a bit later for dinner but she'd have none of it. Her mom got her up and brushed her teeth while she kept her eyes closed and we put her in bed fully clothed. We then heard her go to the washroom at 5 am, then back to sleep. She was up and playing in her room by the time I got up at 7, but that might have been her longest night ever.

Could be why I slept poorly that night, worrying about those darn kids. Just as we're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel concerning her food allergies, now she'll have pollen allergies? fuuuuuck

If you're falling asleep during the day, waking up 10 times a night to pee, and have crazy loud snoring, you might be suffering from sleep apnea. If you are, you'll need to address that, lest you fall asleep and crash your car, or croak from all the stress it's putting on your body. You'll need to take a sleep study to be sure. Is the CPAP machine fun if you need it? Not really. But I suffer from sleep apnea, and use it now. I wish I had addressed this problem a long time before I did.

Both kids (6 and 2) sleep through the night - no problem. I hear they wake up around 6 or 7. I usually wake up at 9.

Since returning to the US and sleeping in a different room from my snoring wife, I have been getting about seven hours a night. I still wake up tired, however, and take a nap during the day. It may be acid reflux preventing me from getting REM sleep. I need to keep a sleep journal and track all of these variables in one place.