Are bad sleeping habits driving us mad?

QuoteTAKE anyone with a psychiatric disorder and the chances are they don't sleep well. The result of their illness, you might think. Now this long-standing assumption is being turned on its head, with the radical suggestion that poor sleep might actually cause some psychiatric illnesses or lead people to behave in ways that doctors mistake for mental problems. The good news is that sleep treatments could help or even cure some of these patients. Shockingly, it also means that many people, including children, could be taking psychoactive drugs that cannot help them and might even be harmful.

So I'm now curious after reading this article in new scientist ... how many hours a night do you sleep ... and are you considered entirely sane ... apart of course from the obvious that you've been possessed by an evil spirit and tricked into thinking you're a member of the opposite sex.

I get 7 hours a night ... if my brain isn't running away with me and hounding me to write something or just check this one thing online or whatever ... more typically I get about 5 ot 6.

I have noticed that, when I sleep well for a while, I'm less prone to depression and stuff, but apart from that I've not noticed any differences within myself.

Mina.

Ahaha... unravelling my sleep patterns are like unravelling the mysteries of the universe.

I sleep for a seemingly random number hours, until my mind decides to wake me up.

my natural sleep pattern is eight hours sleep from 2AM to 11AM, but the expectations of others frequently interject and I get less.

Quote from: Pica Pica on February 19, 2009, 05:04:51 AM
my natural sleep pattern is eight hours sleep from 2AM to 11AM, but the expectations of others frequently interject and I get less.

Tell them they're driving you nuts ... you now have the science to back it up! 

Mina.

I am 6-30pm to 8-30pm then 2am to 6am

I chose 5 or 6.. never enough.. althought I usually sleep on the bus to work and back

Jay

8+
I feel tired so often.

Left to my own devices I'll sleep from 10:30 PM to 6:00 AM and catch an hour nap in the afternoon.

I'm one of those people that an hour nap does a world of good.
I've known those for whom an afternoon nap turns into multi-hour and they wake like something out of "Dawn of the Dead".

Lately, it's been more 11:00 AM to 6:00 AM and no nap. The sleep deficit shows.

I don't have a job, so I can crawl into bed whenever. I'm probably getting at least 8+ noncontinuous hours of sleep right now. At the very least, I know I'm sleeping a ton more than I did before HRT.

This is quite a strange question, I say that because form month to month this can change dependant on what stage of depression I am on. There was a time when I would  get between 4-5 hours a night and prior to that I was almost a compleate zonbie for sleep was impossible. insonia is a fowl thing. I Voted for 7-8 hours because that seens to be my average nowdays.

9:30 to 7:00  That is 9 1/2 hours and I feel great. Sleep recharges your batteries.  This world asks too much of our time. People would get more sleep without phones and TV.

When I can I sleep till I wake up.  8 hours at least.  Days that I have to work in the morning, I am lucky to get 6.

Janet

I rarely sleep

people around me will claim otherwise because I seem to always be in bed

but most of the time I'm just laying there staring at the wall thinking about stuff and dozing a bit

that is if I even bother trying to sleep, I can stay up for days and days, and do quite frequently

Quote from: Pica Pica on February 19, 2009, 05:04:51 AM
my natural sleep pattern is eight hours sleep from 2AM to 11AM, but the expectations of others frequently interject and I get less.

Okay, I think I understand. You work as a conductor during the day on a westbound long-distance train. During the night, you take the return trip, crossing between time zones. I bet you thought nobody would be clever enough to figure it out.

--

I used to sleep terribly, racked by worry and stress. High school was the worst for this. It was my girlfriend in college that taught me to get over it. She'd always tell me, "It'll be better in the morning." And, to my amazement, she was right. I guess that's something most people learn before age 20.

Today I sleep well even if I'm really stressed out. Sometimes I'll stay awake very late, though, working or thinking about something. But it's not an inability to sleep, but rather a lack of desire, even though I'm tired. Being back in school has led to a number of all-nighters. In fact, I pulled a double-all-nighter a week ago, not sleeping Sunday or Monday nights.

Mountains also interfere with sleep -- sometimes I can't get to sleep before midnight and have to wake up at 2:00 a.m. for an alpine start. Some of those couloirs get mighty sloppy by nine o'clock on a spring morning. Sloppy and avalanchey.

But without something forcing me awake, I'll sleep 10 hours easily.

My erratic sleep patterns started with jobs I had in the early '80s. I was lucky to get 4hr.s. Often went 2-3 days without sleep only to crash for 12 or more hours later if able. Now I try to get 6-10 hours. Age is catching up to me. Sometimes I still have fits of insomnia and end up doing the 12 hour crash. I keep trying to "normalize" my sleep patterns to a regular 8 hr.s a night. It is still a bit of a roller coaster. 

I get about 5 hours on average during the week, and 12-16 on the weekends.  I work till 1:30 AM, and don't get home until 2.  I have to be up for school (maths) at 7 AM... it's so bad I want to stay up just to avoid waking up short of sleep.

I get 6-8 hours of sleep if I'm left to my own devices; going to bed 2-3 AM and waking up 8-10 AM. But school and other things interfere, and sometimes I can get as little as 3-4 hours of sleep. The common belief held by my parents and teachers is that this is why I sleep through at least one class every day during the winter, but that's actually because of my seasonal affective disorder (winter depression)...I have no trouble staying up through the school day the rest of the year.

I sleep from 8 to 12 hours a night. However, I got Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which ruins my sleep. 10 hours for me is like 2 hours for a person with a proper sleep pattern.
I am in constant physical pain, but no, I've not gotten any mental-instability diagnosis aside from a "you're probably a little depressed" talk from a doctor in Sweden.

Several years ago, I read the book, "The Promise of Sleep."   I'm a big believer in getting as much as possible.

=K

There was a time in a galaxy far, far away where the days were pitch black and this Fairy couldn't sleep.  Times have changed dramatically for the better since then, and now I'm able to sleep my regular eight hours (sometimes even more depending on the day).  Considering that my work requires extreme concentration and my day starts very early in the morning, I HAVE to be in bed, sound sleep, by 9:00 p.m. every day.


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