Sleeping 8+ hours and still can't enough sleep (1 Viewer)

[StephenA]

I have the opposite problem as the first post. If I sleep too long, my body lets me know and I get up.the only time I sleep more than 8 hours is if I'm sick or worn out from doing way too much. I get an average of 4 to 7 hours of sleep a night, denpending on the weather, what I did that day, how I feel, etc. Like others have said, the more you do and the more you exercise, the better you sleep and the less you require.

 

[Brandon_S]

I second all the stuff that has been said about exercise. Since I started working out a little over a month ago, I have noticed that I can sleep about 6 hours and get through the day just fine. It is amazing how much energy I have now as compared to this time last year when I wasn't exercising that much. Of course I still eat like the typical college student :frowning:. If you can work it into your schedule, then exercise will make a big impact in your life. Give it a shot! .

 

[Ron C]

For the most part, I don't drink any caffiene. I don't drink any coffee at all (don't eat any breakfast either though), and I'll have a can of soda every few days. I don't drink alcohol either.

I don't get any exercise though...which could be the problem. I work as a computer helpdesk technician, so I'm basically on the phones all day. When I get home, I just relax and watch TV or play some video games/surf the net. What would be the best way to start exercising? I've been thinking about going to some martial arts classes or something.

 

[Greg Rowe]

My roomate at college during freshman year liked to sleep a lot. I remember one daty, for no special reason, he slept for 15 hours. He got up, ate dinner (pizza hut), and tried to go back to bed but he couldn't sleep. He ended up failing out because he slept through most of his classes (It's too bad because he is incredibly smart).

Later he hurt his leg playing soccer. They x-rayed his leg and found a golf ball sized tumor. He got another shot at college because the doctors said the tumor could have been making him so tired.

Greg

 

[Brandon_S]

Ron,
All I am currently doing for my exercise regime is weight lifting. I went to Sears about a month ago and got a weight bench and borrowed my dad's old weights. I started off at a low, managable weight and kept working my way up. At first your body will probably be sore from working out, but you will likely have a lot more energy. I also do pushups and situps everynight. This helps get the heart rate going. Running would also likely help a lot, even though I hate doing it . Give it a shot and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Marty Christion]

Definitely check out "The Promise of Sleep" by William Dement
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...464655-4183812
The book has a lot of stories from his experience as a sleep researcher, as well as the hard science, and the end of the book has a small program to figure out how much sleep you need. Reading this book totally changed how I view sleep (no more late nights playing video games).

 

[BrianB]

I'd go see a doctor and get referred to a sleep specialist -- you might have Sleep Apnea.

I strongly reccomend it. Just because you THINK you're sleeping 8+ hours, it doesn't mean you're actually getting quality sleep.

My wife used to sleep way way more than me, was dozy from 8pm on each night etc. Turns out she had sleep apnea & that was the reason her body was so tired all the time.

Do a search on sleep apnea in AfteR hours - there was a really good thread on it recently.

 

[Mark C Sherman]

RON A couple things you can do to start off with. Instead of coming home from work and sitting down(you do that all day) Go out for a WALK, a fast walk but slower than a RUN. This way you can get your heart rate up anf work on your Cardio. Then Come home and do a few Push ups. Not to many at first but just a few. This way you are not over doing it and you might feel better.



Later

 

[JakeR]

There are SO many variables to having disrupted sleeping patterns. If you don't get some medical advice, you could go crazy trying to sort through it all.

Are you tired during the day? Do you have difficulty with mental tasks like writing and processing information? Do you get "groggy"?

Do you feel refreshed when you wake up? You snore?

Apnea is stereotypically associated with overweight, older men, but it can hit anyone. I'm 5'7" at your weight, only 24, and I have a "mild" case of it. Mild in the sense that the aforementioned group can suffer from it more severely, but the accumulated sleep debt oftentimes makes me feel like the walking (waking?) dead anyway. Lately I also seem to be having an intrusion during deeper sleep...I dream constantly, all night long. I'm chalking it up to the stress of a move/house purchase, but the apnea is still a constant.

Exercise can help if you can tolerate it...I'm so sleep-deprived that it just makes me feel worse. Before joining a martial arts class and getting discouraged when you can't keep up with them, start out by taking longer walks or short jogs around the neighborhood. Acclimate your body to exercise slooooooowly. Too much too soon, and you'll feel as if you're too out of it, when it reality you're just doing too much at once. Trying to keep pace with a group of people is for when you're in better shape. (Learned that the hard and embarrassing way.)

You probably have health insurance, so I would recommend seeing a sleep specialist. Opening up a dialogue with him could reveal unsuspected problems. You may even opt for an overnight study that will take a close look at what's going on.

Good luck to you. Most troubles of this nature are easily treatable with behavioral changes or medical intervention.

 

[Ron C]

Are you tired during the day? Do you have difficulty with mental tasks like writing and processing information? Do you get "groggy"?

I don't really get tired mentally, more physically. Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but I'm also extremely lazy and have pretty bad memory (concepts are easy for me, just have problems remembering names, telephone numbers, stuff to do, etc), although I thought that was normal for men :p I sometimes get groggy during the day, although it depends on my mood.
I think I'll research the sleep thing. I have PPO / Blue cross Blue shield through work, so I think they cover it. I'll see about the exercise thing, but as I said before I'm pretty lazy, takes a lot of mental strength just to get away from the computer :frowning:

 

[ThomasC]

ron,

how long have you been sleeping on your current mattress?

 

[Ron C]

I just bought a new Mattress two weeks ago, but it hasn't modified any of my sleeping hbits

 

[Lance Nichols]

I'm surprised no one has offered the sugestion of Clinical Depression. When you see the doctor, have a discusion about that as well. For most of my life I belived that CD, like any form of depression was just "the blues", and giving yourself a kick in the A$$ was enough to change. I still don't quite go for it, but based on problems a family member is having, I am beginning to wonder.

Thing is, I am pretty strongly against the "medicate until normal" western method of dealing with brain and personality problems. I think we over proscribe drugs such as Prozac, etc. Still, there seems to be mounting evidence that some chemical imbalances do effect our feelings. Tricky to say, we are just at the very beginning of knowing how our brains work, yet alone how our "mind" works.

 

[Talal]

sleep sleep.. where art thou, my dear sleep...
this semester is killin me at college...
i'm luck to get 4.5 hours of sleep a day...
frickin ay...

 

[Ron C]

I'm surprised no one has offered the sugestion of Clinical Depression. When you see the doctor, have a discusion about that as well. For most of my life I belived that CD, like any form of depression was just "the blues", and giving yourself a kick in the A$$ was enough to change. I still don't quite go for it, but based on problems a family member is having, I am beginning to wonder.

I wonder if that could be why. There has been a lot of death in the family, although I avoid thinking about it. Perhaps I'm repressing it, and its causing me not to sleep well, although I've never had bad dreams about it.