So other thread was moving onto this topic and it probabaly merits its own thread.

For me, I usually get about 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 per week night and walk up about 6:30 am. Weekends I get a little more and wake up between 8 and 9. I feel best on 7+ hours.

But I also often feel drowsy around 2:00 pm on most days. Research has shown that humans are sort of programmed to have two sleep periods per 24 hours but modern society standards typically do not allow for a nap time. If I can get a 30 minute nap or light nap in, which I do sometimes on weekends or after work, I feel energized until bed time.

There are known sleep schedules where humans can do very well on 6 hours per 24 hours, but they require two sleep phases (example two 3 hour rest periods with a waking period in between). For a single block of waking period it seems 8-9 hours is needed by most people to feel completely energized for those waking hours.

I need 8 hours to feel fresh. I also take a daily 45 min to 1 hour nap in the mid afternoon.

I think most experts wound say a consistent sleep schedule is what helps. And to limit food and alcohol intake to no later than 2 hours before bedtime.

I sleep generally from about 9 or 9:30 to about 4:15 to 4:30. I am able to get up and work out fine, and function well until mid afternoon. I also struggle around 1-2pm, and have to call in reinforcements via caffeine. On the rare occasion that I am able to get about a 20 min power nap in, I sail through the rest of the day quite easily. Those are few and far between though.

Eat right and workout. If you get tired around 2pm everyday I would look at what you are eating for lunch, I operate much better in the afternoon if I keep my carbs low and eat something like a salad.

go to bed at 10. Toss and turn until midnight. Wake up at 1:30. Hold my head in my hands waiting for the pain to subside. Maybe I'm asleep for another hour. Wake up and pee. Toss and turn until 4:45 when it is time to get up.

That sounds awful.

Yup. It is my life about 75% of the time. For a good night sleep, I need a melatonin, NyQuil, an Ambien, two naproxens, and sometimes a stiff drink. If I can have that, I might get 8 hrs of sleep with minimal waking up.

Shoulder problems, a guilty conscious, and a 45 year old prostate does not make a good recipe for sleep.

No screens two hours before bed, especially smartphones.

I use the app "Good Morning" as an alarm clock. You put your phone on the bed next to you and it monitors your movement. You set a thirty minute window to wake you up. When it senses you are out of R.E.M. It wakes you up. That way you don't feel groggy when you wake up. Not sure if it's a placebo, but it works really well for me.

Also swimming in the morning seems to wake me up pretty good.

A morning swim makes you feel like a million bucks.

Normally try to maintain a 7 hour average, but have a newborn so it is all ****ed.

Matsui said:

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I think most experts wound say a consistent sleep schedule is what helps. And to limit food and alcohol intake to no later than 2 hours before bedtime.

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This. If I drink alcohol too close to bedtime, I get up at least 3 times a night to take a pee. And my sleep is not good restful sleep. I try and eat earlier too and not so close to bed time.

Hoosegow said:

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Yup. It is my life about 75% of the time. For a good night sleep, I need a melatonin, NyQuil, an Ambien, two naproxens, and sometimes a stiff drink. If I can have that, I might get 8 hrs of sleep with minimal waking up.

Shoulder problems, a guilty conscious, and a 45 year old prostate does not make a good recipe for sleep.

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I recommend you see a professional, but we all know those guys are just our for profit and never actually help anybody.

Did see an ortho. He said it was my rotator cuff. I told him it was inside the shoulder and wasn't the rotator cuff. He prescribed 6 weeks of therapy. Want to guess where? Maybe the therapy place he owns. So his bill, $650 out of my pocket for therapy and pure disgust.

So yah...

8 months of worsening conditions, I finally got time to see my previous ortho who moved away.

No. No rotator cuff injury.

Sent me for an imaging test. Got to the clinic. I'm 3/4 the way through when they stop the test. They screwed up and had me doing the wrong test. Now I'm fighting insurance for an MRI I never completed.

How again isn't it all about the money?

I lay down by 10 (during the week) and read awhile or watch a show. My goal is to be asleep no later than 11, then I generally sleep until my alarm goes off at 6:30, and I snooze a few times. I'll often wake up at 5:30/6:00 from a deep sleep and doze for the remaining hour.

I don't drink any caffeine past 3 and usually don't work on in the evening. If I do, I take a shower to relax if needed. I also try not to eat several hours before bed, but if I'm hungry I'll eat something light. I never go to sleep on an empty stomach.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/10/16/558058812/sleep-scientist-warns-against-walking-through-life-in-an-underslept-state

I feel like I operate best on 6-7 hours of sleep a night. Usually about midnight to 7. I feel okay with as little as 5.5. I actually feel groggier when I get more than 8 for some reason.

Hoosegow said:

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Did see an ortho. He said it was my rotator cuff. I told him it was inside the shoulder and wasn't the rotator cuff. He prescribed 6 weeks of therapy. Want to guess where? Maybe the therapy place he owns. So his bill, $650 out of my pocket for therapy and pure disgust.

So yah...

8 months of worsening conditions, I finally got time to see my previous ortho who moved away.

No. No rotator cuff injury.

Sent me for an imaging test. Got to the clinic. I'm 3/4 the way through when they stop the test. They screwed up and had me doing the wrong test. Now I'm fighting insurance for an MRI I never completed.

How again isn't it all about the money?

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i went to the ortho with shoulder pain. Turns out it was inflamed and I needed to rest. Sucks but I had to stop lifting. Then when it got better I dropped weight and did more reps. Now I am back to the original weight without the pain.

Mine is completely random. More on what I eat, not how long I sleep. I've noticed my sleep cycles are just a bit longer than most. 3 hours and 15 minutes to 3 hours and 30 min. So 6-7 hours is usually when I feel the best throughout the day. If I sleep any longer, I'd need almost a full 10 hours or I feel more tired than when I went to sleep.

I've struggled with sleep for a long time. I have trouble not only getting asleep, but staying asleep. Melatonin helps me fall asleep, but does nothing for staying asleep. Ambien is only good if I have 9+ hours to sleep, which I never do.

I need 8 hours. Try to get in bed by 10:30-10:45 p.m. and get up about 6:30 a.m.

We keep it dark, quiet and 73 degrees with an overhead fan going at a decent speed.

We bought a Tempur-pedic and I fall asleep within 10 minutes on average.

I can't remember the last time I had a good nights sleep, with the exception of when I'm sick and medicated. Depending on how tired I am I generally fall asleep between 10:00-11:00. My alarm is set for 5:00 so I can work out, though sometimes I wake up between 4:00-5:00, just happens. I take a 3mg of melatonin nightly. I don't drink, only stimulant I have is caffeine in the morning and I don't eat late, and I eat reasonably healthy and almost no sugar at all. I used to take OTC sleep aids, but they make me groggy, the prescription stuff never helped me much, but made me feel really groggy.

I would rather just read at night but the wife gets pissed if the lamp is on so no reading in bed. When I'm on my ipad I make it a point to not watch anything that will keep me from going to sleep on time like sports. On the weekends I wake up without an alarm before 6:00. I don't wake up real tired, but I definitely don't wake up feeling great. I'm on Bupropion and I don't know if that impacts sleep or not, if it does I'm scared to change medication because this one seems to get the job done for me. I just feel as if good sleep will always elude me for the rest of my life.

Coincidentally, here's a story from USA Today:

Phone keeping you up?

Max Power said:

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I can't remember the last time I had a good nights sleep, with the exception of when I'm sick and medicated. Depending on how tired I am I generally fall asleep between 10:00-11:00. My alarm is set for 5:00 so I can work out, though sometimes I wake up between 4:00-5:00, just happens. I take a 3mg of melatonin nightly. I don't drink, only stimulant I have is caffeine in the morning and I don't eat late, and I eat reasonably healthy and almost no sugar at all. I used to take OTC sleep aids, but they make me groggy, the prescription stuff never helped me much, but made me feel really groggy.

I would rather just read at night but the wife gets pissed if the lamp is on so no reading in bed. When I'm on my ipad I make it a point to not watch anything that will keep me from going to sleep on time like sports. On the weekends I wake up without an alarm before 6:00. I don't wake up real tired, but I definitely don't wake up feeling great. I'm on Bupropion and I don't know if that impacts sleep or not, if it does I'm scared to change medication because this one seems to get the job done for me. I just feel as if good sleep will always elude me for the rest of my life.

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Why don't you find one of those personal book clip lights you can use in bed? That is what we use and it doesn't bother anyone too much. It is dark if you wife closes her eyes

My rem always times out to about 7:30-8 hours. I sleep better if I am physically exhausted.

Hoosegow said:

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Yup. It is my life about 75% of the time. For a good night sleep, I need a melatonin, NyQuil, an Ambien, two naproxens, and sometimes a stiff drink. If I can have that, I might get 8 hrs of sleep with minimal waking up.

Shoulder problems, a guilty conscious, and a 45 year old prostate does not make a good recipe for sleep.

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WHO'S MORE GRIZZLED?

This isn't meant to be insulting or complimentary in any way, but for someone that doesn't post much (1800 posts in 11 years), Hoosegow has such a recognizable persona. Most posters (including me) are just kind of interchangeable names without any definable personality.

It is because he's an old fat powerlifting azzhole that opens his mouth on stuff he knows he should keep quiet about. One of these days someone should tell him to STFU and leave the forum to the new generation of lifters and to the endurance athletes. No one really cares what that dinosaur has to say anyway.

P.U.T.U said:

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Eat right and workout. If you get tired around 2pm everyday I would look at what you are eating for lunch, I operate much better in the afternoon if I keep my carbs low and eat something like a salad.

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I have experimented with my lunch and caffeine intake. It certainly makes a difference.