OK, here is an interactive blog post, something I hardly ever do. But I'm curious.
How many of you out there have trouble sleeping? I don't mean trouble falling asleep, I mean trouble sleeping as long as you used to?
Over the past several months I have been waking up a couple hours earlier than I have to get up. This is very new for me, and has never happened before in all of my 44 years. For a while I was convinced that it had something to do with the stress level in my life, and I could always point at something that was causing the stress. But lately, I've not felt very stressed and still, like this morning, I'm wide awake at 4:45 unable to go back to sleep. I finally get up and get started working because I figure that I might as well be productive.
So, here is where I would like your comments. First of all, do you share my problem? And secondly, if so, do you think it is because we need less sleep -- that we are getting enough sleep -- and that is why we wake up? Or is it stress?
It would be fun to hear from some of you lurkers out there. This is a pretty non-threatening question, isn't it? What do you think?
14 comments:
Since I am up early, I'll leave a comment! I am not sleeping as well as I used to, I don't have that much trouble falling asleep (unless there is a specific high stressor), but I am not sleeping as deeply. I find I rouse several times a night, sometimes fully awake and unable to go back to sleep, othertimes just enough to notice the time and be frustrated that I am not sleeping. I was never a morning person and now I am up and moving every day of the week, earlier and earlier. So maybe it is age, maybe it is hormones. We do not have abnormal levels of stress right now, but I am not actually sure I would be able to differeentiate at this point between "normal" stress levels and abnormal.
Don't have a definitive answer. Beth
i do have this also. a friend of mine read in some scientific study that the month of march causes disruptive sleep patterns in people. i did not really understand all of it, something to do with the winter into spring change. good for you for being productive with the time. i tend to drink coffee and enjoy the quiet!!!!!!
Good question.
My sleep patters changed when my husband went to school last year, requiring him to wake at 5. As soon he as woke, our son would wake, so I'd have no choice but to wake up. Now, 3 months after husband stopped the school thing,I tend to wake up about 4am, then go sit in the recliner and sleep for another hour, without the threat of some skinny little legs jabbing me in my head (The 5-yr old syndrome). It's about the only time I have "by myself." I use that time to read/respond to emails, read some blogs, and maybe even update my own blog. There aren't any distractions then.
I go to sleep later than before too, for that same reason.
It's funny though...now I sleep less, and the 5 sleeps better.
When I hit 40 I started getting extremely tired much earlier in the evening than I used to. To the point of being dizzy if I did not get to bed. I also found that I did not sleep as deeply, and woke up very early in the morning (3-4-ish). I hit premenopause at 42beginning to miss periods until it finally quit at 47. From what I read, that fatigue, and insomnia are definitely parts of "middle age" and pre/mid/post menopause issues. Even women who have experienced menopause earlier due to surgery, etc, their body reacts at the appropriate time, and they also experience this insomnia/fatigue once they hit middle age. I am an afternoon napper, always have been, stemming from a severe case of mono when I was a teen, and then working for nearly 10 years as an international flight attendant, flying at night and missing a night's sleep with every flight, 5 times a month. I think that permanently messed up my internal bio clock! The naps help, don't need one every day, but I find once a month (which runs true to form from when I was having periods) I get utterly exhausted for 3-4 days, and then I find I am slogging through my days, just looking to snooze for 1/2 an hour! It's tough getting old. OLD???!!!! WHO'S getting old???!!!!!
Stress! Sometimes not exactly stress for me, but too many things on my to-do list, or too many unresolved issues. Even if they're not stressful issues. I wake up needing to use the restroom and then can't get back to sleep because I'm thinking things through. Like you did, I often get up and do something productive.
I'm sleeping more than I ever have. Maybe it's because I'm so exhausted being pregnant at 43, but I've been getting at least 7 hours lately. That won't last for long though because soon it'll be midnight feedings!
I don't have this problem without external influences.
Introduce external influences (MY KIDS!) and yeah, I can't sleep as long as I would like or used to.
One word: menopause
Sounds like a symptom my mom had when she started her mental-pause. She still can't sleep through more than 5 hours at a time (but I think that's just her) and it's been almost 20 years since then.
Love the blog, Claudia!
Lurker Lisa
I don't have any problem falling asleep, but I do have problems staying asleep. I wake up several times a night, and then have trouble going back to sleep.
I've always had this problem during times of high-stress in my life, but I think now it's become a chronic problem. Maybe this is just what life is after 40.
I do not sleep well at all. I know it from stress. Trouble falling asleep, don't stay asleep and wake up way too early. Older people have told me that as you get older you wake up earlier for some reason and you just don't need the sleep. I wonder what that feels like to not need the sleep?!
I've got it all -- trouble falling asleep (Am.bien helps), staying asleep (nothing helps), and not sleeping enough. What I've found is little 15-minute naps or just lying down for a few minutes has helped me tremendously. My body just gets that extra little snooze time that it needs.
And, it's probably menopause. Wait until the hot flashes start.
I've always had a problem staying asleep all night but by the time I do get back to sleep I have a problem getting up early. I used to work on early morning radio shows and could get up pretty well at 4am but had to have a 20 minute nap in the afternoon to be able to keep going all day. Some of the comments on menopause are interesting since I went through that in my early thirties and didn't experience a lot of the physical effects of it at the time. I'll be 40 later this year and maybe it's catching up with me. Having to stay up until all the troublesome kids are asleep has been more exhausting than ever in the past year.
It takes me a while to fall asleep sometimes at night (but not when I nap mid-day), but I generally have no trouble sleeping all night. I HATE getting up early, and am lousy at doing it. It takes my DH far longer to wake me up in the morning than to wake up both kids combined.
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