6 ms·

I really wish I had that trait, but instead I have the exact opposite. I often need about twelve hours to feel fully rested, and even then usually require a cof

I really wish I had that trait, but instead I have the exact opposite. I often need about twelve hours to feel fully rested, and even then usually require a coffee or two to feel productive. Some people suggested recently that maybe I have sleep apnea, so I'm planning to try a sleep study sometime soon.

grecy 12y ago
Do you get much exercise? For me, the more I sleep and the more coffee I drink the more tired I feel. As soon as I throw in a bunch of exercise, I find I'm asleep within 30 seconds of hitting the pillow, and I'm awake ~5 minutes before my alarm after 8 hours, and I feel good. The more exercise I get, the less coffee I drink too, until I drink none, which is when I feel the best and least tired.
- mamcx 12y ago
  I exercise from 3-5 times week (doing P90x), and my energy is low and the sleep is a failure (I also can sleep 12+ and still need to take naps). I have a healthy lifestyle, and try several supplements, but still not find a way to be better... Edit: 12+ hours not all the week. Most certainly a crash 1 time/w. The sleep/insommia vary each day. I have used sleep pills (make me sleep, but get grovvy all the day) and melatonin (sometimes work, but sometimes get me grovvy).
  - dreamdu5t 12y ago
    12+ hours and still tired with exercise? Something is wrong. Have you tested for Lyme?
    - mamcx 12y ago
      "Lyme borreliosis"? Not likely. This is for years now...
  - nsajko 12y ago
    Maybe you're lacking certain nutrients in your diet, eg. iron, protein.
  - technotony 12y ago
    Overtraining is well known to be linked to Insomnia. P90X is pretty hardcore, so maybe you are overtraining?
Afton 12y ago
Do it. Seriously. I can't believe the change in my life since discovering (in my 40s!) that I've suffered from sleep apnea my entire teen/adult life.
- Mahn 12y ago
  Out of curiosity, in which ways did your life change? How did you adjust or what do you do differently now that you know?
  - verisimilitude 12y ago
    For what it is worth, I had a neighbor who was so exhausted he retired. THEN he got a CPAP machine and felt so amazing he'd wished he'd kept working.
  - Afton 12y ago
    I never notice when my comments are replied to! Sorry for the delay: The biggest change is that I used to get migraines from lack of sleep (even while sleeping 8-10 hours plus occasional naps). Now I can get 6 a night continuously and be more alert. But most importantly my quality of life improved drammatically on account of having probably 30 hours a week of migraine-hours removed. I still occasionally get lack-of-sleep-migraines, but they are rare, and are usually well deserved (I have three children, a puppy, and an unwillingness to give up 'alone time' in order to sleep enough. It's a bad combination).
ashark 12y ago
I rarely sleep well if I know I have to get up at a certain time (say, if there's an alarm set). The slightest disturbance is magnified—a moment of wakefulness can turn in to half an hour, followed by another hour of half-sleep half-waking before I'm finally back under (maybe, if I'm lucky). Going to bed early just increases the chances that this will happen at 2AM and I'll be unable to go back to sleep at all, which is worse than waiting until I'm dead tired at 1AM and going to sleep then (and then still not getting enough, but at least it's usually solid). Then my weekend sleep-in day rolls along and I can stay under for 12 hours, falling right back into a deep sleep even if I've had to briefly get out of bed (bathroom), because I know I don't have to get up. Unfortunately, I have to have a day like this because my sleep is so bad during the week. I think it's related to anxiety about not getting enough sleep, which of course turns into an awful feedback loop. I've tried repeatedly to find info about this, as I am certain I'm not the only one by a long shot, but my Google-fu has failed me. Low levels of melatonin supplementation helps a bit, and at one point I was on Lunesta which got me through the night, but left me feeling only about as rested on ~8 hours as I did on ~6 hours of normal sleep, so I stopped. I can't even imagine how good my life would be without this problem, let alone if I had the kind of low sleep requirements that some do.
- nsajko 12y ago
  Maybe you should try an anxiolytic?
  - ashark 12y ago
    I'd always though of it a strictly a sleep disorder, but maybe treating it as a more general anxiety thing would work. Good idea.
    - YorkianTones 12y ago
      Note that anti-anxiety meds can make you sleepy and have long-term side effects (e.g. increased risk of developing Alzheimer's). That said, they're generally very effective and can probably be taken PRN with less risk.
- 12y ago
jedberg 12y ago
I have mild apnea (not enough to need help, yet) and my Dad had a much more sever form. In fact he was one of the first people in the world to have a sleep study done on him. Anyway, signs you might have apnea: Never feel fully rested, wake up to your own snoring, your sheets seem like someone pushed them all off. If you have a partner that sleeps with you, ask them if it seems like you're choking in the middle of the night and/or your legs twitch at night. Mine is mostly the leg one, so my sheets never stay on the bed and when I was a kid I would wake myself kicking the rail off my bed.
AznHisoka 12y ago
Do you eat too close to your bedtime. That can really destroy the effectiveness of your sleep. As can digestive issues which can lead to not absorbing nutrients.
electronvolt 12y ago
I have moderate-to-severe apnea, but nothing that might have caused it (not overweight, don't smoke, etc.) and didn't find out until I was 21. Using a CPAP is a night and day difference--whereas I used to require 10-12 hours to function without randomly falling asleep if I sat still for too long, and now I can get 6-8 without any issues and I'm more alert, have a better mood, etc. I wouldn't have known except that my ex-girlfriend noticed that I wasn't breathing when I was asleep and got me to see a doctor about it. Apparently it had been going on for years and years--I asked other people who had seen/heard me sleep from 15 onwards and a lot of them also had noticed it but hadn't said anything. If you think you have apnea, sleep studies suck to go through ("here, lets stick a bunch of monitors on you and then let you try to sleep"), but it was entirely worth it. If it's at all economical to do one, I'd suggest looking into it: even if they don't find apnea they might find something else.
- casperc 12y ago
  What's a CRAP?
  - pestaa 12y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_positive_airway_pressure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_positive_airway_pres...
- makeitsuckless 12y ago
  Same story, only found out much later in life (around 40). The thing is, now I can easily get by on 4 to 6 hours of sleep, and unless I'm truly physically and mentally exhausted I'm not even able to sleep for 8 hours because I'll be wide awake after 6 hours, tops. I have no idea whether that is my natural sleep pattern, or just because I've spent decades "training" myself to get by on less sleep because of the apnea.
  - hessenwolf 12y ago
    35, and I get my preliminary overnight monitor on Monday. I usually sleep 6 hours, waking up every 90 minutes to check on the world, but I find it really hard to get out of bed. I recorded myself using snorecycle. Yeah, so, my snoring gets progressively louder, until I stop breathing and wake myself up. :( It's only taken my wife three years to convince me.
ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
Schedule an appointment with your Doctor ASAP. Don't wait until you are told you snore or that you wake up a bunch. I don't stop breathing, but my breathing slows down to a point that my oxygenation levels get crazy low. I'm still in the first month with a CPAP, but the nights that I can tolerate it, I'm waking up in a much better mood, and feel far more refreshed. Your results may vary, but don't hesitate to get checked out!

grecy 12y ago

Do you get much exercise? For me, the more I sleep and the more coffee I drink the more tired I feel. As soon as I throw in a bunch of exercise, I find I'm asleep within 30 seconds of hitting the pillow, and I'm awake ~5 minutes before my alarm after 8 hours, and I feel good. The more exercise I get, the less coffee I drink too, until I drink none, which is when I feel the best and least tired.

mamcx 12y ago
I exercise from 3-5 times week (doing P90x), and my energy is low and the sleep is a failure (I also can sleep 12+ and still need to take naps). I have a healthy lifestyle, and try several supplements, but still not find a way to be better... Edit: 12+ hours not all the week. Most certainly a crash 1 time/w. The sleep/insommia vary each day. I have used sleep pills (make me sleep, but get grovvy all the day) and melatonin (sometimes work, but sometimes get me grovvy).
- dreamdu5t 12y ago
  12+ hours and still tired with exercise? Something is wrong. Have you tested for Lyme?
  - mamcx 12y ago
    "Lyme borreliosis"? Not likely. This is for years now...
- nsajko 12y ago
  Maybe you're lacking certain nutrients in your diet, eg. iron, protein.
- technotony 12y ago
  Overtraining is well known to be linked to Insomnia. P90X is pretty hardcore, so maybe you are overtraining?

Afton 12y ago

Do it. Seriously. I can't believe the change in my life since discovering (in my 40s!) that I've suffered from sleep apnea my entire teen/adult life.

Mahn 12y ago
Out of curiosity, in which ways did your life change? How did you adjust or what do you do differently now that you know?
- verisimilitude 12y ago
  For what it is worth, I had a neighbor who was so exhausted he retired. THEN he got a CPAP machine and felt so amazing he'd wished he'd kept working.
- Afton 12y ago
  I never notice when my comments are replied to! Sorry for the delay: The biggest change is that I used to get migraines from lack of sleep (even while sleeping 8-10 hours plus occasional naps). Now I can get 6 a night continuously and be more alert. But most importantly my quality of life improved drammatically on account of having probably 30 hours a week of migraine-hours removed. I still occasionally get lack-of-sleep-migraines, but they are rare, and are usually well deserved (I have three children, a puppy, and an unwillingness to give up 'alone time' in order to sleep enough. It's a bad combination).

ashark 12y ago

I rarely sleep well if I know I have to get up at a certain time (say, if there's an alarm set). The slightest disturbance is magnified—a moment of wakefulness can turn in to half an hour, followed by another hour of half-sleep half-waking before I'm finally back under (maybe, if I'm lucky). Going to bed early just increases the chances that this will happen at 2AM and I'll be unable to go back to sleep at all, which is worse than waiting until I'm dead tired at 1AM and going to sleep then (and then still not getting enough, but at least it's usually solid). Then my weekend sleep-in day rolls along and I can stay under for 12 hours, falling right back into a deep sleep even if I've had to briefly get out of bed (bathroom), because I know I don't have to get up. Unfortunately, I have to have a day like this because my sleep is so bad during the week. I think it's related to anxiety about not getting enough sleep, which of course turns into an awful feedback loop. I've tried repeatedly to find info about this, as I am certain I'm not the only one by a long shot, but my Google-fu has failed me. Low levels of melatonin supplementation helps a bit, and at one point I was on Lunesta which got me through the night, but left me feeling only about as rested on ~8 hours as I did on ~6 hours of normal sleep, so I stopped. I can't even imagine how good my life would be without this problem, let alone if I had the kind of low sleep requirements that some do.

nsajko 12y ago
Maybe you should try an anxiolytic?
- ashark 12y ago
  I'd always though of it a strictly a sleep disorder, but maybe treating it as a more general anxiety thing would work. Good idea.
  - YorkianTones 12y ago
    Note that anti-anxiety meds can make you sleepy and have long-term side effects (e.g. increased risk of developing Alzheimer's). That said, they're generally very effective and can probably be taken PRN with less risk.
12y ago

jedberg 12y ago

I have mild apnea (not enough to need help, yet) and my Dad had a much more sever form. In fact he was one of the first people in the world to have a sleep study done on him. Anyway, signs you might have apnea: Never feel fully rested, wake up to your own snoring, your sheets seem like someone pushed them all off. If you have a partner that sleeps with you, ask them if it seems like you're choking in the middle of the night and/or your legs twitch at night. Mine is mostly the leg one, so my sheets never stay on the bed and when I was a kid I would wake myself kicking the rail off my bed.

AznHisoka 12y ago

Do you eat too close to your bedtime. That can really destroy the effectiveness of your sleep. As can digestive issues which can lead to not absorbing nutrients.

electronvolt 12y ago

I have moderate-to-severe apnea, but nothing that might have caused it (not overweight, don't smoke, etc.) and didn't find out until I was 21. Using a CPAP is a night and day difference--whereas I used to require 10-12 hours to function without randomly falling asleep if I sat still for too long, and now I can get 6-8 without any issues and I'm more alert, have a better mood, etc. I wouldn't have known except that my ex-girlfriend noticed that I wasn't breathing when I was asleep and got me to see a doctor about it. Apparently it had been going on for years and years--I asked other people who had seen/heard me sleep from 15 onwards and a lot of them also had noticed it but hadn't said anything. If you think you have apnea, sleep studies suck to go through ("here, lets stick a bunch of monitors on you and then let you try to sleep"), but it was entirely worth it. If it's at all economical to do one, I'd suggest looking into it: even if they don't find apnea they might find something else.

casperc 12y ago
What's a CRAP?
- pestaa 12y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_positive_airway_pressure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_positive_airway_pres...
makeitsuckless 12y ago
Same story, only found out much later in life (around 40). The thing is, now I can easily get by on 4 to 6 hours of sleep, and unless I'm truly physically and mentally exhausted I'm not even able to sleep for 8 hours because I'll be wide awake after 6 hours, tops. I have no idea whether that is my natural sleep pattern, or just because I've spent decades "training" myself to get by on less sleep because of the apnea.
- hessenwolf 12y ago
  35, and I get my preliminary overnight monitor on Monday. I usually sleep 6 hours, waking up every 90 minutes to check on the world, but I find it really hard to get out of bed. I recorded myself using snorecycle. Yeah, so, my snoring gets progressively louder, until I stop breathing and wake myself up. :( It's only taken my wife three years to convince me.

ChikkaChiChi 12y ago

Schedule an appointment with your Doctor ASAP. Don't wait until you are told you snore or that you wake up a bunch. I don't stop breathing, but my breathing slows down to a point that my oxygenation levels get crazy low. I'm still in the first month with a CPAP, but the nights that I can tolerate it, I'm waking up in a much better mood, and feel far more refreshed. Your results may vary, but don't hesitate to get checked out!