How much sleep do you need or have

Very bad sleeper. Never stopped having night sweats post menopause.

Went to bed at 8 last night, totally wacked and slept until 8 this morning. Usually go to bed 10 and wake up about 7.30 or 8 but every now and again i just need more sleep and last night was one of them

I also take a magnesium supplement but my sleep is terrible, this morning I was awake at 3:30 went to the loo, couldn’t get back to sleep so read for about 45 minutes still found it difficult to drop off. I used to be a sound sleeper but not anymore...... and I’m usually up at least twice during the night to go to the bathroom..?

I usually go to bed between 10 and 11, and read. Depending on the story and my level of tiredness I can read between 10 minutes and 30 minutes until I am fast asleep, usually until 8 a.m. I used to read normal books and would be awake enough to put the book down, but now I find them too heavy, so read my Kindle, and have on occasion found myself waking with a short, sharp smack in the face when the device drops!

Go to bed between 10 & 10.30. Read for an hour or so then trip to bathroom. Sleep almost straight away. Wake when my cat comes in cold from checking the street out at 3ish. When she curls up I wriggle by her to the bathroom. Back to sleep if she is still in bed but takes couple of hours sometimes if she is not there. Thats when it is hard to get up in the morning until I need the bathroom again. So lot of broken sleep & tired all day. Lockdowns have made it worse as I sometimes cannot see the point in not going back to bed as it is cold wet miserable & I will see no one or go anywhere. Roll on Spring when I feel much better & not need so much sleep!

Chewy I'm exactly the same as you. A good night is when I get up to use the bathroom only 2 or 3 times, but it's normally around 4-5 times. A bad night (probably once a week) has me trotting to the loo 7-8 times ?

Yes, surviving on a series of cat naps sums it up so well.

I was having very broken sleep and was constantly fatigued until I started taking a magnesium supplement. Now I sleep a good 8 hours.

Go to bed about 1 am and get up at 8 am after having to get up for wee couple of times. Then liable to fall asleep during the day watching TV or reading. Being in constant pain is tiring.

Ohhhhhhhh How lovely to hear how some of you manage to sleep well. Since early menopause I've rarely slept for more than five hours. On the very odd occasion I've managed seven hours and have felt absolutely remarkable next day - doc prescribed sleeping pills and when absolutely essential, I take half or quarter, but prefer not to. Love hearing about other people's experiences!

I always read in bed and play one game of scrabble on my phone, turn out the light about midnight, then sleep until about 7,45 ish. So that's pretty good really.
I used to sleep badly until I started taking amitriptyline 10mg.
I sometimes have to get up once in the night, but that's not bad for my age.

Have never been able to drop off straight away I go to bed at 12ish still awake at 1, lucky I only need 6 hours but it can be broken sleep.

Five hours solid tends to be the norm but I then dip in and out of something which I can only describe as 'more shallow'. Quite happy lying there horizontal and cosy with no urgency to physically surface.

Those taking melatonin.....I thought you couldn’t buy it in the U.K. Are you elsewhere?

About 7 hours generally, though I often get up to the loo anywhere between 1 and 3 times. I listen to an audio book with a 30 minute timer and I'm often asleep before the 30 mins is up (and have to run my book back a bit next time.) It's soothing having someone actually read to you, like being a child again . . . I'm sleeping quite well at the moment, but I do have spells of insomnia here and there which sometimes last for weeks. Usually if there's something on my mind.

My OH says I sleep 8 hours a day.......and as much as I can get at night.
Of course that is gross exaggeration. I sleep from 11 until 7 usually. My big problem is that if I have an afternoon nap it lasts for 2 hours every single time so I try not to fall asleep during the day.? ? ?

About 7-8. I sleep very well luckily.

Not as much as I would like.

I have rarely had a decent nights sleep since menopause.....I sometimes take melatonin, but the downside is that it keeps working for about 8 hours and if you don’t have the time to stay sleeping in bed until it wears off, it makes you feel groggy all the next day!

In the summer, 7 hours is fine for me. In the winter I can sleep up to 9 hours and still feel okay - definitely need more in the colder months. If I go to bed with worries and can't sleep, I do a mental exercise and imagine myself gathering up all my worries in a big sack and then sling them into a cupboard and lock the door "until morning". Then I start thinking about a lovely holiday - warm weather, beach, etc and am soon off to sleep. I usually sleep right through. If I start having problems, I take some melatonin and that always works.

During menopause I suffered from terrible insomnia for two years. It was my only symptom so I suppose I was lucky.
Now I am asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow at around 10pm and I’m comatose until around 6am. ?

I have sleep envy. For years now my sleep pattern has been to fall asleep quite quickly, only to suddenly wake 90 minutes later; get up and go to the bathroom, back to bed, sleep for 90 minutes, rinse and repeat for the rest of the night......

It's like surviving on a series of cat naps.

I'm envious as well. I go to bed around 11pm read for an hour or so ( book not screen) at least two loo visits during the night. Awake at 4am read for a while sometimes I can go back to sleep not always. It's a long time since I fell asleep immediately I got into bed.

I'm envious of all of you who go straight off to sleep, which I have never done. I'm definitely not an early bird but my sleep pattern varies.

In winter 7-8 hours, 6-7 in the summer probably because of the light early mornings.
I go to bed around 10.30 p.m. and read for an hour.
Often 1 visit to the loo around 4 a.m. but usually get back to sleep easily afterwards. Occasionally I stay awake from 4 am and only drop off about 6 but tell myself well at least I’m physically resting.

10-10.30 and read for half an hour or so. I almost always have to go to the bathroom around three and then often can’t get back to sleep until about five and wake up again between seven and eight. I find those sleepless hours in the night a real trial, but I can’t sleep during the day no matter how tired I am.