I definitely agree with you about the news. Try to limit my intake of that for my mental health.
We eat fairly late (usu 8ish, sometimes 9ish) and then often relax by watching a TV show. Last night we watched NCAA basketball. Then before bed I make sure the kitchen is cleaned up, doors locked and all that. Then once I brush my teeth and all that, I usually read in bed for 30 minutes or so.
What do you do in the 3 or 4 hours before your bedtime?
Great question!
We eat an early dinner (typically 6 ish) mostly because of my GERD issues. I clean up the kitchen and if it’s nice outside we sometimes go for a walk. After that I read and H watches TV (I watch Jeopardy and sometimes something else). I lock up and set the house alarm at 9.
Since there have been a couple of posts about middle-of-the night wakings I want to put this out there. I have hypothyroidism, and my main symptom when my thyroid is not controlled is middle-of-the night wakings. Thyroid problems are very common in middle-aged-plus women (which I think many of us are) and tend to be under-diagnosed. If you decide to get your levels tested, most specialists think TSH should be under 2.0, even though GPS will say that is within the normal range. If that’s you, I would suggest seeking out an endocrinologist.
Anyway, that’s my PSA for today!
3 or 4 hours before bed.
Summer: eat dinner later - 7 to 8pm. Lots of outside time: walk, run, garden, visit my second garden, cut the grass, near sunset LOVE to sit/lay on my outside chaise lounge and watch the sky colors change and read until it’s getting dark. An hour or so of tv before bed.
Winter: still eat dinner on the later side - 7pm. Outside time before dusk in the form of walking or a run. Walk the dog just before dark or sometimes in the dark. Maybe a short exercise video. Prep my food for work the next day (breakfast, lunch). Maybe a little inside house upkeep tasks. Read a little. An 1- 1 1/2 hours of tv before bed.
Not really that different all year around except much more outdoor time in the summer. Time always flies after work!
We eat on the early side (6). After dinner, I clean up the kitchen, set up coffee machine for morning, organize my work bag/prep the food I’ll be taking to work the next day, take a shower, tidy up my bedroom, then join my H on the couch in front of the tv around 8. I try to read while he watches, and I start nodding off at 9, but don’t officially get up and go into bed until my phone’s “bedtime” feature nudges me at 9:45.
Go to bed around 11pm, but read till midnight, sometimes later
Get up at 7:30ish on weekdays on weekends sleep till 8:30 or 9 pm.
I function best on 8 hours of sleep, but only get it on weekends.
Our cat would howl outside our bedroom door at 5 am until we got up to feed her. She now talks to the automatic feeder (another level away from the bedroom) until it feeds her at 8 am and 5 pm.
4 hours before bedtime: I get home from work and chill for 30 min doing DuoLingo or read a book. Then I make dinner. We usually eat between 6-6:30. Then, we typically go run an errand and get home around 7-7:30. We get ready for the next day and then watch a TV show from 8-9. Then I eat a snack and go to bed around 9:30.
Neither H and I can make it through the night without waking up, and haven’t for years, but I don’t have any trouble falling back asleep. I usually just need a bathroom and/or snack break. Lately, I’ve been moving to the couch. As I mentioned above, I like to stretch in bed for 15 min and don’t want to worry about waking H up. I’m a champion couch sleeper, and H is a bed hog. I have more room on the couch. I do also have a few extra real beds, but I prefer the couch!
I am also a champion napper. If napping was an Olympic event, I’d be a gold medalist. I’d be Michael Phelps! I try to nap every day at lunch. I am lucky to live 5 min away, so I have a super quick lunch, and into the recliner I go. I have my phone alarm set to wake me up, where I stumble back to work. Fortunately, it’s an easy drive. I prefer long 2 hour naps, but those are reserved for weekends, or if I take Friday afternoon off.
After dinner, hubby and I usually watch a few hours of “TV” together (typically Netflix or Amazon Prime series programs, sometimes a movie). Based on the other threads for Binge watches and movie recommendations, I had assumed many other couples were doing same.
We usually have cocktail hour on the patio after 5 and try to eat around 6, but no later than 6:30. After everything is cleaned up, we both read in our various spaces, sometimes I crochet or write a bit, sometimes we watch a movie, sometimes we talk to our son on the phone. Our time is fluid. A couple of times a week, DH and I have separate club functions or we’re entertaining friends but, mostly, we both try to spend our pre-bedtime evening hours with quiet activities.
I go up to bed between 10 and 11 and fall asleep about an hour after I’m in bed. I wake up between 6:30 and 7:30. Weekends everything is a little later.
Saw this and thought of this thread:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/health/napping-dangers-dementia-study-wellness/index.html
When we lived in Chicagoland, I used to say I was on California time - go to sleep at 2 to 3 am and wake at 8:30 or 9. Now I guess I’m on Hawaii time? I stay up late watching streaming shows on the computer and reading. Wash up about midnight. Wake whenever but it varies from before 7 to nearly 9 depending on the sun, birds, airplanes, bathroom needs, etc. Once I wake, I stay awake.
And now I do Wordle and variations at midnight.
Before the pandemic my weekday schedule was sleep at 9:30-10:00 and wake up at 5:00-5:30. Working from home during the pandemic, it became 11:00-11:30 bedtime and rise around 7:00.
I go up to bed around midnight and read for an hour or so. I’ll wake up at 8:30 or 9:00. I am so lucky, I have no trouble falling asleep. Since I retired, I am not in a rush in the morning and take my time getting up. I’ll read and check my email and do either the NY Times Crossword or Spelling Bee and now Wordle. My H goes to bed at 9pm and is up by 5am. By the time I get downstairs, he’s solved world problems.
What happens before bedtime varies widely.
When I’m not coaching we tend to eat at 6ish (nights I coach will either be earlier or later).
Tuesday nights I play soccer from 8-9:30 and then go out to a local bar so those nights I pretty much go straight to be when I get home (anywhere from 12-1AM).
Other nights are mix of watching TV (usually soccer) and taking care of stuff for my volunteer gigs.
The less cool nights are nights like tonight where I keep doing work until far too late
In any event, I’m usually done with “chores” by 10:30 and then I play video game/surf the web
And there’s this study.
At least that study gives a recommended range of 6-8 hours. The typical advice is everyone needs 8 hrs which doesn’t make sense to me. There are recommended ranges for pretty much everything health related. But for sleep you usually read an absolute 8 hrs.
And I readily admit that if there is a needed number of sleep hours (at least over say 5), I can’t get there. I can increase exercise. Decrease calories. Make a host of other changes. But I can’t increase the number of hours I sleep. I can increase the amount of time I spent lying in bed (will be awake for it though) but that doesn’t make sense. Only so much you can do.
I don’t have a clue. All I know is anecdotal. My mom was a slight sleeper, she didn’t live long, died in her early 60s, too early for dementia to take effect if she had it. My brother’s MIL died at age 98, didn’t have AZ either, but she dozed off at a drop of a hat, while even in conversation with my mom.
This is my house only the opposite - H stays up later, gets up later. In fact, he just is getting up now - I’ve already exercised for 4 miles including walking the dog, showered and dressed and have worked for 45 minutes! But by 8pm I don’t want to be “productive” anymore.