Old, retired? Do you ever sleep eight hours straight without waking up? (move, psycho)
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For the last few month I have been waking around 6:30 a.m. whether I want to get up that early or night. So natural by 10 p.m. I can't keep my eyes open plus I usually get up at least once during the night to use the bathroom and sometimes I have a hard time going back to sleep. I never wake up feeling refreshed anymore. It happened once in the 90's. :-(
I supposedly have sleep apnea but I tried the annoying CPAP machine for 3 weeks (it takes 21 days to make or break a habit) and I just didn't feel any better. And the machine was annoying on my face so I quit using it.
The good thing about being retired or even semi retired is I can take a short nap on days when I can't stay awake. I actually fell asleep for a few minutes while at the movies with my granddaughter.
I know few people in their 60's or older who say they sleep well except for one friend who goes to bed at 9 p.m. and wakes up at 5 a.m. every single day.
Don't drink anything for a few hours before bedtime and see if that helps. Is it just having to go to the bathroom that is waking you? Maybe your partner is snoring? Loud neighbor? Dog or cat in bed with you? Stuffy nose?
Since you are retired you can go to bed when you want and let your body decide when to wake up.
Do you feel tired on waking?
Try and get some physical exertion enough to make you tired.
Alcohol definitely gives sleeps interruptus haha :-)
If you don't feel tired then why worry?
I get less sleep than when younger but it seems natural. There are some good over the counter sleep aids to try but my spouse thinks he feels woozy from them, they have no aftereffect for me and give 8 hours sleep.
Once you start taking sleep aids on a regular basis you will find it hard to stop. Unless you really are not able to sleep for some physical/emotional reason, they are for occasional use only. My poor MIL started taking them after the death of her husband, because she was worried and stressed and grieving. Now 10 years later she has had stronger and stronger prescriptions for sleep until now she is prescribed a strong sleeping pill and a strong pain medication to combine and knock her out. If she goes one night without sleep (forgetting to take them, she has dementia) she is loud, angry, upset, etc. She can't go off them now, and it's pretty crazy for an 89 year old to be addicted to that sort of medication. Her insurance won't cover it (they say this med is inappropriate for her age group) so she has to pay out of pocket.
I fall asleep usually within minutes of my head hitting the pillow. Sometimes I sleep straight through, but usually I have to get up to use the bathroom once. Sometimes the cat wakes me up (almost every morning at 4), sometimes hot flashes keep waking me up, sometimes my husband keeps nudging me for snoring, or he'll have a loud dream (talking in sleep, or sudden movements) that wakes me up. It's all good. I'm retired. If I don't get enough sleep I can take a nap. No big deal to me.
I feel best with just 6 hours of sleep. I may have slept more when I was a teenager, but for decades 6 hours was the norm.
I'm a very finicky sleeper and have to be totally exhausted to sleep. Unless we're in the movie room watching a movie. It usually puts me to sleep for a good hour.
Those night shifts I did for a year and a half totally screwed me up. There are still nights I'm up until 5 or 6am. It's been a year since I've done them, you would think it would be out of my system by now.
When working, I had nights where I could not sleep and always worried I couldn't do my job if no sleep. But now, being retired, it doesn't bother me at all. If I can't sleep, I get up and read. The anxiety of not sleeping is gone.
Usually I sleep very well, if the room temp is good and the mattress and pillow are right. Around 4am or so, I start dreaming of looking for a bathroom. This happens so often that I know what it means !
If I get up to use the bathroom, I can easily go back to sleep. Yes, eight hours is enough, but sometimes I take a nap in the afternoon.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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As I aged.... Waking up 'stiff' is an incentive for me to NOT be in one position for over 6 hr.
Since I worked 30 yrs of night shift. Sleep has never been a priority or necessity. I consider that a blessing.
I have to take a mild drug to keep my mind / dreams calm enough to sleep. Usually 1/2 caplet of PM tylenol knocks me out for 5-6 hrs.
I sleep best on airplanes. Last night, from the moment they shut the doors, until touchdown... zZZZzzz. Sleep is a Great use of airtravel time. I doubt I would wake up in a crash, at least not enough to care. Beats most ways to die.
Naps are nice.
I can do 10 min and be good for another 10 hrs of activity.
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