Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day ! It’s 7 am and I’ve been up for almost an hour already. How do people sleep in? What’s the trick? If I can ever sleep to close to 7 , its a miracle! I wish I could sleep longer (without taking any sleep agents) but can’t seem to do it, and if I fall back asleep I have stress dreams and then remember them (I tried this morning when I first woke up dreamt I’d forgotten we were having guests for dinner, and they arrived and I had no food prepared!). Any helpful sleep tips?
Second question/comment: We are supposed to go with friends to a local Arts festival today, and had made plans several days ago- just needed to finalize the time we’d go. So yesterday, when I reached to to finalize our plans, the wife first texted that they’d pick us up at 11:15, but her H then said she “would be tired and can’t get out the door before noon at the earliest”. She then texted that she would be sleeping until 10:30 (she does this most of the time - if we go for a walk with them it usually is at 11 at the earliest) but today her H was making her a latte which she “plans to drink leisurely” so wouldn’t like to go until 12:30 or 1!! We responded that we will plan to go earlier and will meet them there. It’s going to be very hot and humid today and by 12:30-1 it will be 85 degrees (rising to 88 degrees over the next few hours!) We will probably plan to leave shortly after they arrive! So much for going to the festival with them……
She does not have any sleep issues that I am aware of (she goes to sleep at a normal time) and no health issues. And she is younger than I. Just hard to fathom how someone can sleep half the day away??? I’d like to be able to sleep until maybe 8 on the weekends. Any tips??
I’m up as well even after a physical couple of days and a later bedtime. Got up at 7am which is better than 5:40am Alarm time during the week!
I don’t have sleeping issues but I think as long as you’re not having trouble functioning by getting up early, embrace it! I love morning time. I like getting outside early. Or being awake but not getting out of bed yet - read a book for a half hour. Or a fav magazine.
I just think your body (or mind) is hard to conquer in terms of sleeping longer. I’d much rather go to bed earlier than sleep later. Does going to bed at a different time (earlier or later) affect when you wake up?
Happy mother’s day @abasket! Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t seem to matter what time I go to bed. I will wake up at around 3-4 but will then go back to sleep and sleep til around 6. I have no trouble falling asleep. I just have trouble staying asleep. There are 3 stages of “insomnia” . If I had to rate mine, it’d be “late” insomnia (which is the waking up early). I just get up, have a cup of coffee, read emails and watch the news. If I read cc before my morning coffee, bad things can happen
I wake up before 6 every day and have for many years.
Sleep patterns are heavily genetic. If you don’t have any health problems, it’s probably just a sign that you are getting enough sleep if you wake up earlier than your friends.
You’re not alone in this, but it is less common than being a night owl, which it sounds like your friends are.
I literally met my husband this way and I can unscientifically confirm that it is genetic- both of our kids are like this, too, including DS24.
If I’d known they didn’t want to go to the festival until 12:30-1, we’d have gone yesterday (its both days this weekend). Its in a big parking lot and will be VERY HOT AND CROWDED.
She used to be a teacher. Had to be at her school at 7 am. Maybe she is making up for lost time, but she has said she goes to bed at a “normal” time (like 11- 11:30 maybe?)
You’ve described my sleep cycle on a good night. Unfortunately, many times I can’t go back to sleep after the 3-4 wake up and less frequently I have trouble falling asleep at bedtime. I’m often tired and headachy all day and exhausted by mid-afternoon. I’ve been a light sleeper ever since I had my first child at age 21; he’s now 52! On the very rare days after I get a really good night’s sleep, I feel like a different person. My D22 (adopted, no biological relation) is the total opposite, a night owl who likes to stay up until the wee hours and sleep until noon or later.
I’ve never needed a lot of sleep. I think generally, seven hours is my natural amount. I have never been an early morning person, and typically wake/get up around 7-7:30am no matter what time I go to bed. If I try to sleep any longer, it ends up being short bits of sleep, wake up, fall back a sleep for 10 mins, wake up, etc. That doesn’t really seem like “good sleep” so figure it’s better to just get up. I cannot imagine sleeping until 10:30! Even if I stay up until 1-2am, I wouldn’t be able to sleep that long. I’m fortunate that I have no trouble sleeping but I went through a period years ago when I had middle of the night insomnia related to stress. It was all related to kid stuff but once that was resolved (getting LD diagnosis for my son and into an amazing high school program for kids with LDs), my insomnia disappeared. I hope you are able to find something that helps yours.
It’s too bad your friends were not up front with you and were flaky about their plans today. I do understand wanting to have a leisurely morning, but not when that means you aren’t even getting up until 10:30! Sorry that has affected your plans for today. I can’t even imagine “hot and humid” yet as we have had a very cool spring here. Just yesterday it was only in the low 60s and rainy. I’m enjoying a leisurely morning myself, on my front porch drinking coffee before taking a long dog walk, but it’s breezy and cool - I’ll need long leggings and a light sweatshirt for my walk (but it’s a gorgeous morning so no complaints!)
@jym626 me too! I imagine the luxury of sleeping until 7. My entire life, I have slept about 5 hours a night. Now that I am older I really feel I need more, but cannot achieve it. I also wake up at 3 or 4. Maybe half the time I can go back to sleep after reading for an hour or two. Today is a prime example. Yawn!
Obviously not giving medical advice but I was also plagued by waking up at 2 am and not being able to fall back asleep for hours. I turned out to be hypothyroid and when my thyroid is corrected appropriately that sleep issue goes away. When it comes back and I get rechecked I often need a dosage change.
Thyroid problems are very common in women over forty. Any of you with middle of the night insomnia may want to get checked, as that has always been my main thyroid symptom.
@kidzncatz and @compmom maybe we should start a “4 am are you awake? post here” thread! So many of us are up at 4 am, even in our own time zones, it might be amusing At our age, an “all nighter” now means sleeping through the night without having to get up at 4 am to pee!!
I get up at 7 every morning; some days I’d love to sleep in, but my body nixes that. I’ve always had issues sleeping; if I wake up in the middle of the night, I won’t be able to go back to sleep. Once my mind starts, it’s game over. DH has been recovering from the after effects of a black widow bite for the last year, so he hasn’t been getting up at 4:30-5 every morning. He’d gotten up that early for the last 15 years since he got back in the pool. Master’s practices were at 5:30 am. He tried to be very quiet, but I still have mom ears; once his alarm went off, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I can’t nap either; my mind doesn’t allow that
I am not a late sleeper either. Just not my nature! I do have friends who stay up late and then sleep late, and my H sometimes will do this. I can stay up late but then will need a little nap later.
I am sorry your friend spoiled your plans. Did you not know this was a possibility? I have a friend with a, shall we say, loose sense of time. I love her company and so I take into account her tendencies. But I could not see her every day. She would drive me crazy.
At our age, an “all nighter” now means sleeping through the night without having to get up at 4 am to pee!! 
