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Sleep

Humans must sleep in order for their body to make the necessary repairs it needs to replace dead cells, remove waste and heal. Some people sleep at varying hours, but most recommend eight hours a day for an adult. Here are some points to ponder:

1. Can you make up for lack of sleep? Is it possible to sleep for only four hours for three days and then sleep twenty hours on the fourth day to replace the lost sleep from the previous days?

2. What levels of sleep are there? Is there really such a thing as 'light' and 'deep' sleep or is that the person's own interpretation of how they feel upon being awake?

You may also wish to discuss your own sleep patterns.

Image from MorgueFile public domain.

Sleep

I don't think I get enough good sleep. I sleep anywhere from 4 to 8 hours, depending on how late I worked and how early I need to get up for work the next day. I tend to sleep in on days I go to work late and also on days off. I know that to get the proper rest you are supposed to go to bed at the same time everyday and get up at the same time. Thing is I am basically a night person. I love staying up past 2AM and sleeping till 10AM. I run into trouble when I get home by 11PM and need to be back to work at 8AM the next morning. Since I need at least 2 hours in the morning that means getting up no later than 6AM. I have tried to go to bed earlier, but I will just toss and turn. I end up getting to sleep at my normal 2AM, which gives me only 4 hours. This means I will try to compensate by loading up on caffeine, which just makes me jittery. By 11AM I could really use a nap. I have wondered if this is not a healthy way to live, but I don't know how to change it. If someone gave me a pill and said "Take this and get all the rest you need in just 2 hours, and it has no side effects." I would take it in a heartbeat, but until then I guess I'll just yawn a lot. .

Sleep Health & Special Psychology

I do not believe sleep can be 'made up' for, but at the same time there are wonders in an hour's nap. Reene, like you I sleep such irregular hours that when I do sleep I feel so irritated. I actually find that if I can get a quick nap during the day then I feel better. I am so looking forward to my son going to school on Monday so I can get good rest.

Sleep

For the first three years of my son's life, I hardly slept . Now that he seems more tired and stopped napping, then I can have a better sleep. Since I started my new job, I go to sleep around 8:00/9:00pm and get up at 5:30 am. I need 8 hours or more to sleep in order to function properly.

Sleep

I have a 13-month old so I don't get as much sleep as I would like to. He is getting better with sleeping through the night, but he is also changing his eating habits (moving from formula to milk and solids) and sometimes he still wakes up at night to drink a bottle. I am not one who can nap during the day, and even if I could, I wouldn't have the time to do so.
I don't think one can make up for lack of sleep, it is just a matter of trying to keep your number of hours of sleep consistent if you can. I am not getting as much sleep as I did when I was 18, but I sleep about 5-6 hours per night on a consistent basis, and I think my body is acclimatized to that, to the point where any more or less sleep would make me tired.
As for depths of sleep, I used to believe that such a thing existed. I always thought I was a deep sleeper, until the baby came along and I heard him every time he cried out in his sleep, even from the other room. I do think that deep sleep vs light sleep may have something to do with if you dream or not. When I dream a lot at night, I feel like I slept lightly, when I don't dream, the opposite.

Sleep

Sleep!! I can't get enough of it... I'm always tired. I may have an hour or two in the morning when I feel chipper and refreshed, but for the most part I'm dragging. It doesn't seem to matter if I have 6 hours or 16, whether or not I have a nap... It's terrible. And the doc has no answers for me. I exercise almost daily, I drink lots of water, I eat fresh fruits & veggies, etc. So the next avenue is, of course, prayer

The way I understand the difference between "light" and "deep" sleep, is that if you don't get enough of the "deep" type, that's when you begin to feel irritable, etc. Perhaps that's my problem.

Speaking of sleep...
Roz

Sleep

Well, I didn't sleep last night at all. I think that tonight I will crash, hopefully. I can go for long periods of time without sleep and I'll think I am fine. Then, it always sneaks up and hits me like a ton of bricks. I'll be going about my day and I won't have had any sleep, and then suddenly I feel like I am just going to fall asleep standing up, I am so tired. I remember going to camp when I was young and hardly sleeping at all for a week. When I would get home I would sleep for about 16 to 20 hours. But I concur with the others that sleep can't really be made up. Just because I sleep for a long time doesn't mean that I can make up for the hours of sleep that I missed and was affected by. I can tell you that sleep deprivation can have a huge effect on my emotional state. I don't mean just getting irritated, but having all of my emotions exaggerated.

I do believe in a deep sleep and in a light sleep. When I have slept for only 3 hours, for example, it can still feel like I haven't slept at all that night, or even worse, that I haven't slept in days. I wasn't able to get the rest I needed in deep sleep. I think I need a certain amount of time, say at least 5 to 6 hours, to have gone through a period of deep sleep.

For those that might want to read, this website offers tips on how to sleep better when working the night shift. There is a large number of websites about sleep.

Edited: dawnofthenew on 13th Jan, 2005 - 7:59pm

Sleep Psychology Special & Health

Ahh, and I thought I didn't have enough hours of sleep. Well, I have 7-8 hours. I used to have more, but gone are the days. Sleep is really really important. In fact, if you've just remembere in 10 PM that you have a test tommorow, you'll do better not studying and sleeping decently than with studying all night long. Sleep helps your brain gather its thoughts properly and neatly, so even though you may not be prepared, your brain will.