I see I'm not the only one with frequent "urges." (61)

You could say I sleep like a baby; two hours at a time with bathroom breaks interspersed during the night. I used to be able to sleep through an artillery barrage, but now an earthworm can wake me just by yawning. Guess that’s why a nap during the day is needed to get me through the day.

Had sleeping problems my entire life. Brain doesn’t shut off. I used to take Ambien. Shits dangerous.

I’m always sure to workout hard for at least an hour every day. But the real gamer changer is I smoke some weed every night before bed. Got the medical shit. Life changing!!!

I wake up 100% fresh and rested every morning.

Another interesting question I’ve thought about myself.

I am evidently in the minority for an old man. At 73 I almost never have to get up for relief, and I’ve begun to wonder how much what people, especially men, do is a result of conditioning and habit rather than physiological (physical) need. I sometimes go through periods when I wake up for short or longer periods, usually due to worry or stress, but I have never developed the habit of thinking, “I’m awake; I better get up.” Much of the time I sleep straight through the night for at least six or seven hours as I did last night.

Someone I was talking to recently about having to pee multiple times throughout the night expressed frustration at the fact that it wasn’t necessary for similar numbers of times during the day, so that’s also part of the basis for my question.

I don’t “hydrate” as much as many people obsess over these days, but in the winter I tend to drink a lot of tea, and my relief habits during the day reflect that. When I’m not constantly drinking large amounts of liquids, however, I can usually go through something like an all-day training session, including a working lunch, without ever finding a toilet. If we’re not having to pee every two hours or less during the day when we’re drinking from time to time, why at night long after we’ve stopped?

In the past few years I’ve been taking Alfuzosin because a doctor was worried about the effects of urine retention, but it hasn’t changed my sleeping habits.

quote:

Originally posted by RAMIUS:
Had sleeping problems my entire life. Brain doesn’t shut off. I used to take Ambien. Shits dangerous.

I’m always sure to workout hard for at least an hour every day. But the real gamer changer is I smoke some weed every night before bed. Got the medical shit. Life changing!!!

I wake up 100% fresh and rested every morning.

I have a friend who swears by this, but he doesn't like to smoke it. He eats some medibles in the early evening hours, and goes to bed between 10pm and midnight, works well for him, and he claims to enjoy the buzz he gets in the hours before bedtime.

"Whatever gets you through the night".

The older I get, the more I recognize what interferes with good sleep, and try to avoid it. Routine and some good habits also help.

1. I go to bed when I'm sleepy, usually around 11:30 PM. If I push through this 10-15 minute getting sleepy period, I might not see another for hours.

2. I avoid video displays for at least 30 minutes before I anticipate going to bed.

3. Reading in bed really helps to quiet my mind.

4. Sadly alcohol. which can help me go to sleep, now seems to cause me to awaken in the middle of the night.

5. Exercise during the day always helps

6. Small muscle or joint aches or pain that I don't really notice during the day can prevent good sleep for me at night. I attribute this more to inflammation, than say exertion. An ibuprofen fixes that.

7. When I occasionally feel antsy in bed, I will use relaxation techniques like concentrating on relaxing/calming my toes, feet, ankles, calves, etc. and continue working my way up.

8. I don't drink a great deal of fluids after 8 PM

9. I have a light with a very dim bulb in the bathroom for middle of the night visits.

I snore pretty badly, which doesn't help, but these techniques keep me rested.

I sleep well. When I hit the hay I’m usually out in a minute or less. My sleep period is uncommon though. Currently I’m in bed by 8pm, or shortly thereafter, and my alarm clock is set for 2:50am. That changes with the season. In warm weather I like to do my exercises while it’s cool. I walk 4 to 5 miles most days, and climb stairs too. Helps much with weight management.

Up a couple of times a night to piss. In the evening, before bed, I have some beer or wine, followed by two or three large glasses of milk and/or tomato juice (sooo good with Cholula Green Pepper hot sauce). But back in bed I’m quickly asleep again.

quote:

Originally posted by jigray3:
7. When I occasionally feel antsy in bed, I will use relaxation techniques like concentrating on relaxing/calming my toes, feet, ankles, calves, etc. and continue working my way up.

This helps and I slowly count the items which seems to limit my mind from wandering.

I've woken up at 2-3am for years- basically the same time regardless of daylight savings time. I see no rhyme or reason to it.

There are definitely some things that are proved to help us get to sleep and stay asleep.

I don’t always have trouble falling asleep, but when I do a simple meditation technique of clearing my mind that I learned in the past year usually works.

Reading before bed helps, but only neutral topics like history or science, and I avoid the thrillers. I sometimes watch Netflix or Amazon videos, but cut them off at least an hour or so before going to sleep. I use the blue light blocker setting on my computer monitor after 8:00 P.M., and my reading lamp has a “warmer” color temperature bulb to do the same.

Somewhat paradoxically, it’s been found that a short nap during the day can also help with sleeping at night. I sometimes nap for as long as an hour and have never noticed that it interfered with my nighttime sleep.

But the most dramatic improvement to my sleep was getting a memory foam type topper for my mattress. I was concerned about the reviews that said such foam mattresses were hot, but I found one with inclusions of some sort that help avoid that, and it’s been great for the several years I’ve owned it. Even today I’ll sometimes get into bed and marvel at how comfortable it is as compared to a conventional mattress.

"Fell" out of bed almost every night as a child. (I was actually jumping out of bed. Remember the Chuckwagon dog food commercials where the dog would chase the chuckwagon through the house? well as a kid, I'd dream it came out from under my bed every night and I tried to jump on it and catch it. lmao
I don't recall when I realized/remembered this, probably years later.)

Sleep walker, sleep talker from childhood through at least my early 30's. Though it's been years now, every once in a while I would still "gather", where I will wake up with items in the bed with me. Usually having something to do with a dream that someone was coming over and I was cleaning up.

Night terrors for several years in my early twenties. The worst period in my life. Being afraid to fall asleep is no way to live. I could often only fall asleep if I was totally exhausted, or if I "felt it was safe" in some strange way, which meant the sun had been up for a few hours at that point.

Also sleeping with my eyes partially open, which was part of the above.

Off and on insomnia for years, though that hasn't been an issue in about 20 years or more.

While I could never fall asleep, (sleep walking and night terrors period aside) I never had trouble staying asleep. Just the opposite, I was a zombie in the morning. I'd swear a burglar could have woken me up and told me just to go back to sleep and I probably would have. lol I learned much too late in life that with was sugar related somehow. If I ate or drank sugar after a certain hour (like normal) I could't wake up. I discovered this quite accidentally in my mid 40's.

There has only been one brief period in my adult life where I slept straight through the night, sometimes not even rolling over in the night. It was glorious but brief.

Now I sleep a couple hours at most and the pain wakes me up, pain in my shoulders, pain in my back. Plus now having to pee once or twice or four times a night , depending on the temperature and how fully I wake up. lol
I can't sleep in, sleep late, no matter what now. It just hurts too much. I slept till 9:30 AM today, that's shocking and 3 1/2 hours later than normal. But was only possible because I went to sleep at 2:30 AM.

Other than FALLING asleep, changing my diet (low/no sugar, low carbs) has changed my life in many ways for the better, but sleeping isn't one of them. It's been the total opposite in that regard. No more deep sleep. I can fall asleep now, but can't stay asleep.

I go to sleep around 11/11:30pm and wake up around 7/7:30 usually, naturally.

Usually take a leak at some point, like around 3-4am.

Other than that, I’m lights out when I hit the pillow and sleep like a baby.

past oh 6 months have been just fitful. I used to sleep like the dead. only real change is I've lost a bunch of weight.

i'm hoping a job/career change will help.

I try to go to bed at about 10:30 and then read my Kindle until I begin to doze off. That usually 10-15 minutes. About half the time I wake up a 5:00 (+/- 5 minutes) to pee and then can't fall asleep again. I pull out my Kindle from under my pillow and read until I get up at 6:00. That usually nets me 6 hours of sleep.
Mike

I have to have the TV on to fall asleep. It has to be interesting enough to catch my attention, to “shut off the brain”, but has to be something boring enough, that I don’t care how it ends. Usually it’s some sort of cooking/food show. Anthony Bourdain or the like.
Set the sleep timer for 90 minutes and we are good.

I usually fall asleep within 10 minutes if laying down, but keep the timer at 90 minutes. Any less, and I’ll wake up from the TV shutting off.

Bedroom is very dark. AC is set to 72, which according to my wife is arctic cold. Nightlight in master bath gives just enough light so that you don’t break a hip on the way to pee. Digital clock has two layers of dark window tint across them, as to mute the light rather well.

Stress has the greatest effect on my sleep. I have been getting a lot more sleep since I moved to AZ, and have a less stressful job.

I’m 44, I wake up to pee at least once a night. Sometimes twice if I had a few beers. If I don’t drink a few beers, I tend to be less hydrated, so I might not even wake up to pee.

If I don’t drink any alcohol, I sleep much better.

My wife is a very vivid dreamer. She is also very vocal, talking, or yelling (in Korean) in her dreams. This usually results in me waking up in a slight panic, and then waking her up. She goes right back to sleep. Me, not so much.
Bedtime is usually around 9-10. Up between 5-6. Some nights I wake up around 2-3 am, knowing I won’t fall back to sleep, I peruse the internet and have a cup of coffee. Within an hour I’m back asleep, and those few hours of sleep are usually pretty amazing.

Bed by midnight-ish. I’m out in 2min. I sleep until 6ish.

Waking in the middle of the night is rare, typically only if I have to piss because my blood sugar is super high or I’m sick.

more here: https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...850071654#8850071654

quote:

Originally posted by Ironmike57:
Up at least 6 times a night to pee.

As some have said this can be due to difficulty emptying your bladder completely due to outlet obstruction aka prostatism. However it may also be due to heart failure. When upright during the day, your blood pressure is lower than when recumbent at night. The body adapts by retaining sodium and water and this tends to accumulate in the legs due to increased venous pressure when upright. When you sleep at night, the sodium and water redistributes and that volume is no longer necessary to maintain your normal blood pressure and is excreted in the urine. Hence the need to pee at night.

Alcohol, besides the volume of water in beer, wine etc. inhibits the ability to concentrate your urine in the kidneys and leads to larger volumes of dilute urine.

quote:

Originally posted by haul_n_horses2:
When you sleep at night, the sodium and water redistributes and that volume is no longer necessary to maintain your normal blood pressure and is excreted in the urine.

Interesting and something I had never heard before. Thank you.

Normally have a good sleep pattern except for the Summer time. I do not like hot weather and my feet have to be cool to cold.
I have AC in the house but it doesn't always help.
The past 2-3 weeks have not been good as I either did something to my left shoulder or have tendonitis/arthritis. Normally sleep on right side but when I roll over on my left side, the pain in my shoulder wakes me up.
Winter time is when I sleep the best but I have to get my shoulder checked before then or it won't be my favorite time of the year.

CPAP user here. I get really great sleep with it. Very vivid dreams.