Sleep Week - post to win prizes! ?

Well, his is timely, I had my worst nice sleep last in a long tine!

As I get older, and closer to menopause, I do think I will need different sleep strategies.

I used to fall asleep easily, stay asleep, and wake refreshed. That changed with motherhood and is changing again as I age.

I sleep well every night, on the rare occasions I wake up during the night I just concentrate on my breathing and then fall back to sleep.

On the whole I am a reasonable sleeper. On occasions when I do wake up and cant get back to sleep I have a cuppa and read for 20 minutes and then I can usually go back to sleep again.

I’m a lightish sleeper, DH’s snoring sometimes keeps me awake.

I go outside and walk every day, which definitely helps. It doesn't happen often, but if I am really tossing and turning at night, I get up and read for a while, and then am able to sleep. I avoid screens in the evening and only watch TV for a shortish time - but am OK with my computer because I have an app which changes the colour of the screen in the evening. And I've trained myself to go for longer without needing a bathroom visit in the night - it turns out I could re-train myself! And above all I go to bed and get up at the same time, so I've trained my brain to expect to sleep then. I do not have a longer sleep at weekends - I've read that this gives you 'weekend jet lag' as you confuse your body clock.

I sleep badly most nights and wake very early. I try not to let it worry me, just read!!

I vary quite a bit sometimes I have a solid 6 hours of sleep or else I have 8 hours broken once or twice and takes a while to get back to sleep on a really bad night I wake every hour

We haven't had a TV in our bedroom for 20+ years - no mobiles in bedroom either. I do take Ipad with me as it has my relaxation app on it as find I wake up at 4am and can have problems getting back to sleep. As we live under the flight path of our local airport use earplugs to drown out the night time flights, especially in summer when we have the windows open. Have to admit the past 12 months have been great - very few flights!!

I go to sleep each night listening.to a talking book; it can be the same book every night for a week or so and then I'll listen to another one. It usually works and I can feel asleep within about 30 minutes. Sometimes it doesn't and I may have to resort.to Valium. I have struggled with getting to sleep for the past 50 years and talking books are the only thing that works for me - most of the time.

I tend to sleep well but sometimes there's a pattern of waking up, often coinciding with when my husband nips to the loo. What has altered things greatly for me is my volunteering for a charity offering online support. I do a couple of shifts during the night each week and, boy, do I sleep well the rest of the time. I love to go to bed on the non 'working' nights and feel utterly delighted that the alarm won't be going off in a couple of hours. It's turned things around for me although I know it's drastic!

My fitbit tells ne that I have 6 to 7 hours sleep. Mostly light sleep. If I do wake up to go to the loo around 3am and can't get back to sleep I read for 30 minutes and usually fall straight back to sleep.

I go to bed around midnight most nights and get up 8 o'clock onwards. Will usually pay a couple of visits to the loo (really shouldn't have coffee last thing but I like it) maybe 4. Go back off quickly once back in bed. On a very rare night I may get up around 2.30 and go in the kitchen for a cup of chocolate and a read for an hour or so. Then back to bed and sleep OK.
No tv or tech. in the bedroom. The only light is red from the clockface. Door and window open so not too hot (tog4.5 duvet all year) no heating on at night. All other doors shut so no noise/lights creeping in.
Really ought to go off earlier and forgo the caffeine but, what the heck, I'm still here so why worry too much?

This is very apt for me as since I hit my seventies my sleeping pattern has become very erratic and disturbed, not helped by having chronically blocked nasal passages (worse at night) since getting Bell's Palsy five years ago. I used to be a pretty deep sleeper but now tend to wake up almost hourly and sometimes even more frequently, which usually results in a 'comfort' trip to the loo..oh the joys of ageing!

I always wear a Fitbit which tracks my sleep. It can monitor my periods awake even though I may not be aware of the fact that I am awake. The device also monitors my REM sleep and deep sleep. I find it fascinating. I am also able to see how my daytime activities affect my sleep. Days with no exercise usually mean a poor night’s sleep as does an excess of alcohol in the evening.
A good long walk and a cup of cocoa in the evening and no devices in bed before dropping off is the answer for me.

I wear my Fitbit at night. It tells me my stages of sleep and gives a sleep score, mine is consistently in the eighties. I average about 7 hours sleep a night although I am in bed for about 9 hours. I sleep better now than I did when I was working as I now no longer need to get up at 6am ?.

I have always had difficulty with sleep. Getting to sleep, waking up through the night umpteen times, and I wake because I need the loo. I now use a pillow mist and it works very well. I have tried quite a few different ones, some didn't work for me, but this one is great. I live with the railway just over the fence at the bottom of my garden, 4 tracks, and trains constantly every few minutes, and the noise kept me awake, but now I usually go to sleep within a few minutes.

Since I had chemotherapy 7 years ago, I have very poor sleep. I need to get up to go to the loo sometimes 4 times a night and, if my osteoarthritis is making its presence felt, it can take a couple of painkillers and an hour or so for them to work, before I get back to sleep.
Most nights 5 - 6 hours is all I get. Before the chemo I would sleep for a good 8 hours, no problem!

I had always slept really badly and final plucked up the courage to speak to my doctor. She wasn’t really interested but referred me to local hospital for tests.
After initial tests they said I had sleep apnea and was referred to another hospital 2.5 hours away (5 hours round trip plus any waiting time) for more tests. They gave me a cpap machine to wear at night and said lose weight. This was awful.
In the mean time my local hospital ENT asked me to come for an appointment.
Interestingly at this appointment the consultant asked when I had been in a car crash. Well I hadn’t. But had quite a few accidents as a child. Cutting a long story short. Now after two lots of major surgery to reconstruct my broken twice nose and all my airways and turbinates. I can breath and sleep at night. Losing nearly 7 stone has also made a great deal of difference.
I had suffered since I was at junior school. Now being retired I can even enjoy actually going to bed and sleeping.

I have ME/CFS and my sleep varies from night to night. One thing I do find is that I don’t have a lot of deep sleep ( according to my Fitbit app) - I’d love to know how to improve this!

Most mornings I wake up feeling as tired as when I went to bed but think this is part of the illness.....

This is very timely for me. Once I’d retired six years ago I slept like a log every night. That’s changed over the years, so I’m doing a bit of research on sleep (and how to get it!) at the moment.

I sleep very badly. Last night was a bad one. I woke at 2am,got up at 3am and watched TV. Went back to bed and still couldn't sleep so got up at 5am and had tea and toast. Watched more TV. Back to bed at 6am and slept until 9am. I was exhausted going to bed and still can't sleep. This has been happening for about 5 years. I'm 68.

I used to sleep like a log
Then I became a full time carer for my mother. She is 100 and worries all the time.
She wakes me up all the time and requests something. I am exhausted all the time. I requested some respite but still waiting. I am also waiting a new hip operation which has been postponed so many times. The surgeon says I will be able to care within days. !!!

I find the causes of a restless/sleepless night can be eating too late (digestive system working overtime when it should be resting). Stress/worry (active mind). Outside noises that are not usual can disturb sleep. Other than that I find giving yourself enough wind down time before bed helps to a restful night.

I drop off the minute my head hits the pillow but often wake up during the night. I listen to my audible books on my iPod until I drop back off again. I always sleep better when I don’t drink alcohol but can’t resist a couple of glasses of wine with dinner most nights!
Trying this week to have dinner earlier and drink less. If I don’t sleep better I will be very cross!