[asianthree]

Since you have moved to TV, has your sleep habits changed?

Since I was in my teens I sleep 4 hours or less per night. For me it’s a generational issue, my father slept less than 5 hours per night until he passed. His parents slept 4-5 hours per night. Their parents slept about the same.one of our 3 children has my sleep habit, as does one of my 3 grandchildren.

I have attended many sleep clinics for a week, at a time, for sleep studies, of insomnia. My habits were found to be normal for me. Most nights I sleep 3-4 hours, and about every 10 days I am up and active for 24 hours, with the following night 5 hours of catch up sleep.

I do enjoy running at 3am, while everyone else is in slumber mode. My habits are solid. I am guessing I will not deviate from this pattern

So do you sleep less now you have moved to TV, or due to being so active sleep more than average? Just wondering how many do well without much sleep like me.

[Topspinmo]

Average maybe 6 hours sleep, the pandemic or maybe the Covid shot seems to make my more tired or low energy from the last year or so? Or maybe I just older and my body shuts down quicker now? I’m am NOT on any (NONE) medication 💊, so that’s ruled out.

[Stu from NYC]

Before we moved here averaged 7 hours a night.

When covid shut us down less reason to get up early so started getting 8 hours and still getting that.

[jaj523]

I have the same problem as you. Sleep about four hours a night and have since I was a child. Have been to many doctors and sleep specialists, who haven't helped at all. Sleeping pills put me to sleep, but I wake up four hours later like clockwork. Have taken several sleep studies, but nothing helpful has resulted. Most everybody says you need at least eight hours of sleep to function properly. Wish I knew what eight hours of sleep a night feels like.

[Nucky]

A Bipap Machine changed the quality of my sleep. I feel best between 7 & 9 hours.

When the Bipap Machine was recalled by Phillips Resperonics the amount of sleep 💤 went up to about 10 hours and I woke up just wiped out, dead dog tired.

Under the best conditions I have never slept as good as I have since we were fortunate enough to land in The Villages. Maybe it’s the lack of Sirens, Gun Shots and the lingering aroma of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Feels great to wake up feeling like a shiny penny.

[jswirs]

Originally Posted by asianthree

Since you have moved to TV, has your sleep habits changed?

Since I was in my teens I sleep 4 hours or less per night. For me it’s a generational issue, my father slept less than 5 hours per night until he passed. His parents slept 4-5 hours per night. Their parents slept about the same.one of our 3 children has my sleep habit, as does one of my 3 grandchildren.

I have attended many sleep clinics for a week, at a time, for sleep studies, of insomnia. My habits were found to be normal for me. Most nights I sleep 3-4 hours, and about every 10 days I am up and active for 24 hours, with the following night 5 hours of catch up sleep.

I do enjoy running at 3am, while everyone else is in slumber mode. My habits are solid. I am guessing I will not deviate from this pattern

So do you sleep less now you have moved to TV, or due to being so active sleep more than average? Just wondering how many do well without much sleep like me.

In my younger years I could fall asleep like a light switch, and sleep for 7 - 8 hours at a time. When I hit my 60's I started sleeping less, now I sleep 3 - 4 hours a night. I tried fighting this , without success. It's what the body wants, so now I just go with it.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by Nucky

A Bipap Machine changed the quality of my sleep. I feel best between 7 & 9 hours.

When the Bipap Machine was recalled by Phillips Resperonics the amount of sleep ������ went up to about 10 hours and I woke up just wiped out, dead dog tired.

Under the best conditions I have never slept as good as I have since we were fortunate enough to land in The Villages. Maybe it’s the lack of Sirens, Gun Shots and the lingering aroma of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Feels great to wake up feeling like a shiny penny.

According to the multitude of sleep studies, at their request, I Rem all but 13% of my sleep. Usually you have different stages of sleep that can take hours, prior to rem.
I don’t need a Bi or Cpap, even with only 3-4 hours of sleep I wake fully alert. Its why I still work, 12 hour shift or a 24. I try to only work 24 hours or less a week now. It’s hard to fill 20 hours everyday, no matter where you live. I go to the gym for 4-5 hours, read at least half to a book a day, play golf 3-4 days a week, Disney every 2 weeks. Still many hours left to fill.
Since our family requires less sleep than others, and previous generations lived to their 90s, our family is requested by many sleep studies. Usually for a 5 night paid stay, with good food, great mattresses, and heavenly sheets.

[PatsyHedrick]

I get 4-5 hours of sleep a night, but never sleep straight through. My pattern is 3 hours of sleep, 1-2 hours awake, then another 1-2 hours sleep. I know a full 8 hours of sleep isn't necessary for me, but I wish I could have a good 4-5 hours without interruption.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by Nucky

A Bipap Machine changed the quality of my sleep. I feel best between 7 & 9 hours.

When the Bipap Machine was recalled by Phillips Resperonics the amount of sleep ������ went up to about 10 hours and I woke up just wiped out, dead dog tired.

Under the best conditions I have never slept as good as I have since we were fortunate enough to land in The Villages. Maybe it’s the lack of Sirens, Gun Shots and the lingering aroma of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Feels great to wake up feeling like a shiny penny.

I think the lack of distractions you mention is a big dead.

I lived for a while, before I retired, beside the Sun City senior community by Phoenix. Even not being in the community I was constantly woken by the sound of ambulances and EMTs. Sometimes a couple of times a day.

That was one of my fears in moving here. We recent (last 10 years) lived about 15 miles out in the country on 11 acres and had no neighbors. It was PEACEFUL and quiet. We were very concerned that living around a bunch of seniors we would be in for constant Ambulances and emergency vehicles again. We almost decided against moving here because of that.

But, with the combination of landscaping, house construction, location of urgent care, and other measures, I think I have heard an ambulance maybe once or twice since moving here a year and a half ago. It is amazing, with so many old folks, and so few sirens. I expect they also don't use the sirens except where they have to - it can't be that NO one here has heart attacks or other emergencies, it has to be part of the overall design.

I am impressed and sleeping well here.

[Velvet]

The lawn mowers are our regular alarm clocks. We go to sleep timing it from when they are going to wake us up next morning. Otherwise it is beautifully quiet. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could muffle the gas motors, or use something more quiet? I tried ear plugs but my ears react if I use them too often. Other than this noise I live in a very quiet neighborhood. It was a very important decision in buying here. (I have never seen or heard an EMT go by so far.)

The number of hours spent asleep go up with the comfort of the bed. Soft silk comforters, plush pillows, supportive mattress. The smallest wisp of lavender in the air. Very comfy eyeshades. No TV in the bedroom.

Hubby has to coax me out of bed in the morning with the aroma of freshly made coffee - except on the days when the jarring lawn mowers arrive.

[GrumpyOldMan]

I have sleep apnea and can speak to that also.

If you get less than 8 hours of sleep a night, and you wake rested and ready to go, then it is probably just the way you should sleep - no problem.

On the other hand, if you wake to feel tired and "fuzzy" regardless of how much sleep you get or don't get, until your first cup or two of coffee, that morning run, or maybe a quick shower. Then it would help if you got a sleep study done.

Sleep studies are simple today, not like the one I had done a decade ago. Today you typically get a device you wear on a finger one night while you sleep at home or in a hotel room. The device records your sleep pattern, which the sleep doctor then evaluates.

Sleep apnea is very prevalent; many people have it and don't know it; they think being tired in the morning is just normal. It isn't.

Sleep apnea can kill you or contribute to the worsening of numerous "old age ailments."

Sleep apnea is a condition where you wake up (almost) numerous times per night. "Almost" means you don't remember it because you are not entirely awake. Your sleep gets interrupted because you STOP BREATHING.

If you STOP BREATHING five or more times per hour, you have Sleep apnea. In my case, I was stopping about; 20 times per hour - every 3 minutes, I stopped breathing until I partially woke and then started breathing again, over and over.

The IMPORTANT thing is you do NOT know this is happening. It happens in your sleep.

If diagnosed, you are given a CPAP or BiPAP machine depending on how severe and what kind of stoppages you are having.

CPAP machines cost a couple hundred to a thousand dollars or so. However, Medicare, the VA, and most other forms of insurance cover it.

The CPAP machines are virtually silent. Next, you wear a face mask, which is the hardest part of the treatment, finding a comfortable mask that fits and you can sleep wearing. Some people take a few days to get satisfied with the mask. Some take a few months to find a suitable mask and be able to sleep comfortably.

Once you have a machine and use it every night, it is not long before you start feeling much better in the mornings.

Typical results of using a CPAP machine are, like in my case, going from being woken 15 to 20 times (some people are as high as 100 times) per hour. To being woken/stopping breathing 1 to 2 times per hour. The machine has a display that tells you how you slept last night and your average over the past weeks or months.

My PCP with the VA is a geriatrics specialist. She says that waking up tired is NOT normal for growing older. So get that idea out of your head. You should be waking up, as we use to say, rip-roaring and ready to go. If you are not, then talk to your PCP. Get their advice, and they will likely want you to take a sleep study.

Sleep apnea is a silent killer. I am not trying to panic anyone, just passing on the information and recommending talking to your PCP.