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

I was a bad sleeper as a child, and was taken to the doctor about it when I was 11. I can’t remember what, if anything, was done. It did improve in my teens, but then became a great problem when I got my first job, after university. I have never slept well since then.

I haven’t slept well consistently since I had children 30 years ago. I became a light sleeper listening for them waking when young then listening for them coming home safe as teenagers and in twenties. Menopause then hit - so has been a struggle for a while.

Since I gave up work. I'm obviously not tiring myself out like I used to even if I exercise.

This one is easy, in the third trimester of my first pregnancy. I gave not woken up refreshed from sleep since then.

Since I was 20. I have had problems with insomnia off and on ever since then. Mostly it is stress related but other things affect it too. Noise, temperature, someone else in the bed, health.

I don't worry about it the way I used to. The real killer was a bout of insomnia while teaching full-time in a challenging state school. Dealing with difficult / very badly behaved teenagers while trying to actually teach the better behaved ones, for 8 lessons a day, doing a break duty and after school duty, with the interminable after school meetings, all with only 2 or 3 hours of sleep, for days on end, was horrific.

Menopause. Slept like a baby before then. There should be more help out there!

For me it was when I moved into NHS management leaving the wards behind. Looking back I wish I hadn't done it.

As soon as I had my dc I went from sleeping like a log to waking if someone dropped a feather and it hasn’t gone away even though my dc is an adult now !

Stressful times always have a detrimental effect on my sleep but the menopause has been the persistent offender and sleep has never been the same.

When my husband started working continental shifts 4 days on 4 days off days and nights I never could keep track when he was in bed and slept dreadfully,now its bladder related and last night it was 2.15am and 5.30am then difficulty going back to sleep for a couple of hours,this is a regular night for me.

When I first started going through Menopause I would wake up needing the toilet about 4 times a night I am much better now that I am on HRT .

Sleep is one of the things I have always been good at. I hope that never changes.

I believe my sleep patterns were first affected when I was about 5yrs old when my parents split up, I was a lot like my dad and my mum told me daily that she hated me.
Things got worse when I was abused by her partner at 14 and wasn't believed.
I have chronic health issues which haven't helped my sleep issues but having lived with it for over 46yrs, I've kind of got used to not sleeping properly.

Ngaiol, how hard it must have been for you. I hope that your life is more settled now. It is unfair that some have to endure such hardships.

I can make light of it now, but all three of my children often woke in the night up to being toddlers, then our old dog would need to be let out in the middle of the night. Then the teenage years of 'when will they be home' and finally perimeno, then menopause hot moments and restless legs.

When I was in my early 20's I could sleep for 12 hours straight!

When I was a child. I was convinced somebody would enter the window of the bedroom that I shared with my siblings. They all slept well so I tried to stay awake to watch the window. If it was windy, the trees outside and the blinds inside would make strange noises that I found frightening. By the time I had outgrown my irrational childhood fears, the poor sleep pattern was well established.

I can pinpoint it exactly. It started with my hyperthyroidism which meant it was really difficult for me to get to sleep. Even though this has been controlled now, I still have problems with 3 or 4 nights in a row with 4 or 5 hours sleep ( not able to sleep before 3 or 4 a.m.)followed by a couple of good nights,

When I was a child apparently according to my dad .
My first son never slept for more than an hour at a time as a baby and didn’t sleep through the night until he started school at 5 .
My dad once said that he didn’t understand why I expected him to sleep ? when I never did .

When i was nursing my husband through terminal oesophageal cancer. He had a feeding tube attached to his stomach and it would beep in the night when it needed to be changed. I used to wake before the beep - rather as one does when one's babe needs a night feed - and I could not go back to sleep after that. I was also trying to help my elderly parents at that time - both in hospital at certain points and endeavouring to give me 7 year old disabled daughter as normal a life as possible. I still use sleepers on the odd occasion!

When I retired, I was too exhausted when working not to sleep.

Around my late 50's to early 60's. It started with me feeling unrested in the morning and after investigation I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea. Now my sleep is hit and miss as I have to wear a sleep mask connected to a CPAP machine which can be uncomfortable. Luckily I'm retired so if I have a sleepless night I lie in.

After the death of my husband.

I started sleeping "differently" when I became pregnant (many many years ago!). Used to wake at 2ish, be perfectly awake for an hour or two then back to bed and to sleep. This went on for about 20 years until the kids left home. Once they left my sleep improved - apart from the cats and hot flushes - but that's another story!
Now I occasionally sleep in two stages but am more likely to sleep lightly and wake with the dawn.

My sleep is dreadful. I am not sure when I can pinpoint it, but I am sure when I was younger I did sleep far better than I do now. I went through the menopause at 46, but not sure if that was the start of my poor sleeping or not.

I wake often through the night [ very dark room, no tech in there ], and always up very early, sometimes around 4.30 am. I annoy myself in that once awake I can't go back to sleep.

Broken marriage back from China with the responsibility bringing up my children. No job in a country I had never come to terms with. Ménopause just starting. But they have come through happy and successful.

I don’t think I sleep badly, but as I’ve got older, I certainly need to get up to go to the loo at least once a night, and sometimes cannot get back to sleep easily.
When younger, never needed the loo in the night. Perhaps I drank less water back then, as keeping hydrated wasn’t talked about much.