At what point in your life did you start sleeping badly? ?

Before the death of DH I slept well ,being able to go straight back to sleep if if disturbed. Nowadays it takes me ages to drop off to sleep and I wake several times a night then needing the loo, a drink of water , or too being hot/ cold . If I haven’t been for a walk or done some activity it’s even worse so my poor sleep is probably also connected to Covid isolation as well as being widowed .

Since menopause.
Before that, I used to be able to fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

After having children. I have been on 'red alert' ever since!

It got worse when my husband put on weight and his horrendous snoring (which he denies emphatically) kept me awake. We sleep in separate rooms now, oh the peace!

Then the menopause arrived and my mum died
in the same week and I was even worse

I can often be awake ALL night, dropping off for an hour or two at 7am. Needless to say I am groggy and grouchy all the next day. About once a week I sleep for 6 hours and that is a good night

Lack of sleep is miserable but lying awake in the dark for hours and hours is torture! And VERY boring

I think it was when I switched from doing 12 years of night duty to day shifts. I am still a night owl ?

In the last year I’ve struggled with sleep. Up until then I’ve always slept well. I find I’m taking Nytol more and more often now. I can be exhausted but struggle to get to sleep or I drift off ok only to wake up an hour or two later. I then can’t get back to sleep even though I’m really tired. I am definitely a much lighter sleeper than I used to be and any noise wakes me up. It’s becoming an issue now.

Any stressful times will almost always trigger sleepless patterns for me.

Sleep walking and talking as a child, troubled teenage years, hectic busy working life, then multiple health problems mean my sleep patterns have never been perfect, normal. I'd say the real problems, that do impact my daily life, started around about the time I had my hysterectomy (about 25 years ago, age 29) - I experienced symptoms of early menopause after years of 'period problems' and life fell apart, more health problems diagnosed and things have continued to get worse and illness progresses. I doubt I'll ever be able to turn in before midnight and regularly get 8+ hours of sleep at night

After I had a bout of chemotherapy. I had Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and this caused hot flushes at night. During chemo they were worse and later, after treatment, I was left with a disrupted sleep pattern. That was 16 years ago, still don't sleep well.

When we moved to a new house which I didn't think we could afford; I had just returned to teaching full time with a class of yr 5s, a husband who snored, and two teenage children! Used to lie awake and tossed and turned night after night worrying about everything.

Must have got into the habit as it went on past retirement and the children leaving home. Still don't sleep really well now, but am better than before.

When my lovely Mum took ill and subsequently died. Never ever got my excellent sleep pattern back. Well used to it now. Not a problem.

My sleep only started getting worse in my 40s and this is due to needing toilet. I would sleep great every night if I didn't have to get up for a wee!

I usually get off to sleep quite well but then I always need the loo a couple of times during the night and this keeps me awake between times. Having osteoarthritis in my lower back doesn't help as it can be quite painful and then I have to take medication.

Definitely never slept as well as I did before menopause. Hot flushes definitely to blame!

It all went wrong when I had children! My first was a terrible sleeper - never went through until he was about 3/4. The nights I spent up and down...

Harmonypuss..
That was so awful. I feel for you. ?

Late 20s I had major bladder problems and started waking multiple times every night urgently needing the toilet. It took a few years to sort it out and my sleep was forever destroyed!

Breastfeeding was the first time for me, I nearly gave up bought all the bottles and formula but then as Mother Nature would have it baby gave me the will to continue and when it got bad again I found the stamina to continue. After that it was closely followed by bereavement.

When our youngest child was still pre school and money was in short supply ( my husband's salary as a teacher wasn't great in those days) I went back to nursing doing two nights a week on Tuesday and Friday nights. We had no family nearby or childcare available so I was normally awake from Tuesday morning until Wednesday evening when I'd go to bed same time as the children. Youngest child didn't suffer as I didn't have the energy to do anything but play with her on my post night duty day but it really mucked up my sleep pattern and 40 years on I still don't sleep well.

I started sleeping badly when my daughter reached a teenager they start going out more meeting new people you worry more I remember when she reached 18 lying in bed worrying

According to my mother I didn't sleep much as a baby and so far I've had this problem for 72 years.

Until very recently I could’ve been one of those described as being able to sleep on a washing line! Never been an issue. But the past few months, a combination of hot night flushes, water tablets and stress have meant that I’m struggling to both drop off and then stay asleep when I frequently wake up.

Someone earlier mentioned waking up in the night and being awake for a few hours. Well only this week I read that our ancestors only a few hundred years ago did this routinely. In fact they slept, got up and did some work for a few hours and then went back to bed! So maybe our concept of the straight 8 hours asleep is just a modern fantasy!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/sleepless-in-america/201609/in-the-middle-the-night-it-may-be-natural%3famp

Funny this post has come up I've got some sleeping tablets off the Dr today,I've suffered with broken sleep or not being able to get to sleep for about 10 years .

I actually started sleeping badly in my 30's through a back injury and could only at the time sleep on the floor (hard surface), this resulted in a relationship breakdown. Next came night sweats when I was peri-menopausal and this went on for quite some time until I started on HRT. I must admit now I sleep like a log, that is until my neighbours wake me up. I found that once I retired and didn't have the same responsibilities I slept soundly. I think a lot of sleep problems are connected to a tense mind.

My teenage years. It never really got any better.

Struggled to sleep well ever since my mum died. Constant low level anxiety is not a friend!