Average Hours of Sleep per Night

[Polar Bear]

I got this idea from another thread about what sleep we get and how it is likely to be far removed from a healthy baseline.

I would be interested to know what others consider to be::
1. your average total hours sleep on an average night.
2. is it continuous sleep or fragmented.
3. do you use a sleeping aid i.e. Ambien/Lunesta or some other
medication.
4. do you consider your sleep to be restorative/restful.

[badnights]

Can you add: is it restful or not? Or some sort of subjective measure of whether we think we're hitting deep sleep?

My sleep lately is not always fragmented anymore (thanks to zopiclone, I only wake up 2-5 times per night) (have I lost sight of a healthy baseline?) but I am pretty sure it's mostly Stage 1 and 2 sleep, because it is not refreshing (and because my Zeo told me so).

[Polar Bear]

If you awaken 2 - 5 times per night would you not consider this to be fragmented?

[helen1965]

I average between 4 and 6 hours a night, every night. Always fragmented. Always. And I don't think I'm getting much of the deep sleep, I never wake feeling refreshed. I take Ropinirole, not really a sleeping aid but it does zone me out! Before I took Ropinirole I got 0 hours sleep. Every night, no exceptions.

[badnights]

PB I guess I have lost sight of a healthy baseline; fragmented before was waking a few times an hour.
Total hours now are 6-7, not bad, would be more but I cannot get myeslf to bed on time (I have to take the zopiclone first, which makes me realize I'm tired).

[TimG]

I average about six hours per night with four awakenings. I'm hoping that the new medication (pramipexole 0.125 mg) will increase the hours of sleep and decrease awakenings.

I consider my sleep to be somewhat restful and restorative, but I like to get a 30 min nap in the early afternoon when possible to reduce sleepiness during the day.

I take Ambien 5 mg on occasions when I wake up and can't get back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time.

[Polar Bear]

I guess I should add my own average sleep.

At present - I'm in a good spell - I get about 1.5 hours sleep (starting around 1am), awake for an hour or so, and then a further approx 4/5 hours sleep, with perhaps one awakening and over again to sleep quickly. This is much improved on my previous sleep pattern.

I think this improvement is a result of 20mg amitriptyline (for fibro).
Like Tim, I take the occasional sleeping pill usually about once a week when it gets to perhaps 3 or 4 and I'm still awake. Last night was an example, fortunately I was able to sleep until I woke naturally at 10.30 am.

The sleeping pill definitely definitely definitely does the job when only taken occasionally.

[luvskermit]

I try to get in a full 8 hours of sleep time. It's fragmented, though, so I know I sleep less than that. I believe I am up 2-3 times per night but sometimes for an hour or more. Since starting iron supplements I do feel more rested and have dreamt. I am still having the RLS symptoms on the evening, but maybe it's not quite as disruptive now. This, I feel I can live with...

[ViewsAskew]

On Mirapex nights: sleep 3 to 4 hours, awaken, and continue to awaken frequently after. I might get another 30 to 60 minutes after the first awakening, but by hour 5 or 6 I awaken every 5 to 20 minutes. I try to stay in bed because I'm tired, but eventually give up and get out of bed. I am then tired and grumpy during the day.

On Methadone nights: I get wired by the methadone, so don't get to sleep until 4 AM at the earliest, 9 AM on a bad night. I then sleep solidly for at least 9 hours. I hate getting up, however, and am a zombie for most of the day.

So, good sleep followed by a zombie day, or bad sleep followed by a grumpy day.

[badnights]

ARGGHH try ZERO Monday night. Then 6 last night, because I increased my dose past the presecribed amount. Morning RLS what a joyful thing to wake up to, two weeks now. Sorry, just ranting on a data-collection thread. Bad me.

[Neco]

On average I try to get about 8 - 10 hours.
I have not had trouble falling asleep ever since I started taking Methadone, but before that even with other opiates, I had chronic insomnia going back to childhood.

Generally I only wake up for two reasons.
1) Bathroom
2) Food

Sometimes I do kind of just wake up, but in general one of those two has at least a little something to do with it.

[Polar Bear]

Badnights: I sometimes wake up to morning RLS. Also having been on the same dose of two meds for 4 years I sometimes think about upping a dose slightly to try to cover breakthrough. But it is not rls that wakes me during the night or prevents me going to sleep.... the dreaded insomnia.

Zach: I know that you have to be careful with your methadone and make sure it lasts from one month to the next .... but to get 8 - 10 hours, bliss.

Views: Your sleep is either badly fragmented and so you're still tired, or alternatively its almost like being on the nightshift, getting solid sleep, but zombified afterwards.

My own sleep pattern with its improvement is much better and actually I now feel humble when I see what some of you are still dealing with.
I have 'been there' and dare say I'll be there again at some stage but for the present I am thankful.

Before having sleep issues I used to think that in general if folks had poor sleep for a few nights that their body would eventually give in and sleep would happen. How little I knew.

We appear to be grateful to have something that resembles a few hours sleep, be it with the help of a sleep aid or otherwise.

[rthom]

I am very new to this site and am so glad to have found you. I have had RLS for 45 years, began an undiagnosed child and only in the last 15 years have I received diagnosis and treatment. I get at best with optimum meds on board up to 2hrs 40min per night. The norm is more like an hour and a half in a 24 hr period of very broken sleep. At worst I will go for 6 - 7 days with no sleep until the doctor finds a way to basically knock me out. Contributing to this is a sleep issue that shows via computer testing results I drop immediately into the backside of REM sleep and immediately begin to wake up. Testing showed I "wake up" over 100/hr and twitch and jerk up to 6 times a minute. I kick at about the same rate. Does anyone else get muscle spasms? I get them recurrently in my feet and legs all night on bad nights. I rarely feel refreshed. It relies on my meds and each med seems to be effective for a limited period of time then we have to try something new. I often am in the tub up to 3x nightly to cope with the symptoms. I have never been symptom free. I would like to hear from others who have had RLS from childhood, there are so many things I would like to know/share. Reports were even as a baby there were issues with my sleep and no one could pick me up as I could not tolerate touch.

[peanut1]

My sleep goes in phases. Sometimes I can get up to 8 hours a night only awaking 2 or 3 times and sometimes I get 1 hour a night. For the past 2 weeks, I've been averaging around 3-4 hours a night. Week before that it was a solid 2 hours a night. All with sporatic medication since it never seems to work long.

[rthom]

Do you wake feeling rested when you get the 8 hrs or the 2 hrs?