Teenagers can lie down be asleep motionless for 10 hours. Then try to get’em up and seems like another 10.
Metabolism runs like water over a cliff.
Sometime during a day I average 6 or 6 1/2. Anything more than that messes me up or pains the back. Yet a same aged buddy can still do ten and likes it.
Got me to wondering about builder’s sleep averages. Averages, not the messed up bodyclock from pushing 20hours sleeping 3 and doing another 20 kind of stuff.
6 to 6 1/2 about normal?
Replies
I'm not a builder, so maybe my opinion isn't what you're looking for.
I generally sleep 8 hours, more or less. If I doze off in the recliner before bedtime, I wake up at 3am and can't go back to sleep.
I can stay up all night if I have something to do - Like plowing snow or something like that. But if I sit down after 9pm, I go to sleep.
I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a congressman.
I'm weird, most nights 10-12 hrs. Sun to Thu nites. Weekends, I stay up straight thru, (and don't drink!). I'll stay up 72 hours straight, maybe grab a 1 hour catnap once or twice. Same whether I have to work, am remo'ing the house, or backpacking (lots o' batteries, lots o' miles in a weekend).
Been doing this for about the last 30 years of adult life. Works for me.
5 1/2 to 6 1/2. If I sleep more than about 7, I wake up with a headache. One brother with same habits as me. 2 other brothers have to have a full 8. DW needs 8 or 9. DW's St. Bernard needs 15.
My rooster "Floyd" is ready to go 24/7 and during a full moon, has been known to crow at 2:30 AM. ('course he came from a hatchery in Iowa so maybe he's still on Central time).
Notchman, I've got that same headache problem. If I try to sleep late on the weekend, it will ruin the entire day for me. It's a nagging headache that just won't go away until about 15 hours later. I have to force myself to get up after 7 hours or I'll surly regret it.
I guess. Somewhere between 4 and 6 for me; every couple of years I need a week off and get 5-6 days straight of 7+, with maybe a catnap during the day, to recharge my batteries. That was very coomon when I was a corporate worker, although there are people who need 8 hours almost every night or they're useless. The worse part of any short-hour regimine is that one's bladder seems to get into a habbit it can't break, so a seven hour sleep for many of us is really 6, then 2.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
I feel great on 8 or 9 hours of sleep but rarely get that much during the week. Generally hit the hay around 11:00 PM and pop up bright and squirrely in the morning around 6:00 AM. The level of brightness or squirreliness is contingent on when I went to bed. Whatever time I go to bed, I'm asleep almost the second I get fully horizontal.
If I manage to get to bed by 10:00 PM I wake up just before my alarm goes off every time and I'm ready to get up and go immediately. If not, it takes about three snooze alarm shutoffs and a jab in the ribs from my wife before I finally roll out, fall down once or twice and run into three or four walls on my way to the bathroom.
I almost never get enough sleep during the week. I start feeling the sleep deficit around Thursday, drag through Friday and then pay off the deficit on the weekend by sleeping in.
I adopted this routine as a teenager and can't seem to break it now that I'm old enough to know it's killing me.
War news last night had me up pretty late- seriously baggy eyed this morning. Feeling a 10:00 am risin' comin' on this Saturday... Yawn!
Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
Hey... that's my sleep cycle!
LOL
RASP
Three things affect my sleep.
1. Always needed at least 8-9 hours of sleep.
2. Bi-polarism
3. The metal plates in my back.
All my life, I have needed at least 8 or 9 hours of sleep, or I was "foggy" all day long. I can function, but I am slow. Including the thnking process.
I am Bi-Polar. I have found that if I do not pay attention to the amount of sleep I NEED, be it 8 hours, or 16 hours, (yes it can vary that greatly. And sometimes from one night to the next), then I shortly find myself becoming more and more muddy between the ears. Invariably, if I start to become wonkered, (Usualy very depressed), someone will ask me if I have been getting enough sleep, and I will realize that I haven't. Only takes one or two nights of getting the correct amount, before I am back to what passes for normal for me.
Because of the metal plates in my back, I cannot sleep on my back. So, I have to sleep on my side. One side or the other. With a pillow in front of my chest, and one between my knees. (This keeps the spine roughly aligned enough that it doesn't do any damage, or cause pain.)
Of course, you can only sleep on one side for just so long before becoming too uncomfortable to sleep. So that means that all night long, I sleep anywhere from half an hour, to 3 hours, then have to wake completely up, turn over, rearrange the pillows and blanket, then go back to sleep.
Well, you asked.
Quittin' Time
Reading all this reminds me.
It's time for a nap.
See y'all in an hour or so.
I average about 5-1/2 or 6. Then I get a twelve hour nap on a Saturday or Sunday once every five or six weeks.
I need a whole lot less sleep the last few years. I'm not sure if it is from getting older, from more time in front of the monitor and keyboard, or from the pain meds and other meds I have added to my "diet", or a combination of all the above. It make slittle difference whether I get to sleep at ten PM or at 2AM, I am awake and ready to go at 5:30 - 6:00AM.
When I was younger and working physically more regular, I could easily get ten hours in the winter and never more than six in the summer. The daylight hours make a difference.
readsers Digest just had an article on the subject. They seemed to be saying that you will have better health, lower blood pressure, and live longer if you sleep more than you do now. So I've gpot to decide, Do I want to live eighty seven years at seventy percent speed or a hundred and ten years at fifty percent. LOL
Excellence is its own reward!
Decisions, decisions, decisions ;-) Let us know what you decide there Piff.Tamara
Piffin, your concious hours probably work out about the same, why spend the extra time sleeping? Me, I'm a 6-6 1/2 hr. guy, all my adult life.John Svenson, Builder, Remodeler, NE Ohio (Formerly posted as JRS)
"why spend the extra time sleeping?"
I don't think that I ever quit working. i am always getting woken up by ideas. There might be some design problem or layout nightmare bugging me and I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a Eureeka! moment.
I've got to get that subconscious piffin on the payrole.....
Excellence is its own reward!
I average about 8 to 8 1/2 hours, but it changes from day to day and season to season.
I'm surprised at how little most of you folks sleep. I wonlder how much extra sleep people get who never log on to a computer forum!It doesn't matter how fast you get there, it just matters that you go in the right direction.
my sleep cycle vary more with the season's
winter 6-8 weekdays
8-10 weekends
the rest-
4-6 weekdays/weekends
But in your case, it's called hibernation, Mr. Bear! :-)
Complete shotgun pattern. One night it's 8, then 4, then 3, then I'm wasted and take pills, so I'm back to 7 or 8, hit a lazy Saturday when the wife's out of town and I'll rack for 10 pretty easy. Suppose it averages to 6 1/2 or so. Too much in the head spinning around at night, hate the drugs, makes the first two hours after you get up feel like you're walking in a haze. (Does this make you feel safer driving next to me at 8am? heh heh heh) Everything gets better after coffee, sugar, nicotine, and the first Pepsi.
" An example from the monkey: The higher it climbs, the more you see of its behind." Saint Bonaventure
WOW!, I thought my head was busy.
Excellence is its own reward!
Ever seen Phenomenon? Try that much garbage on a lower IQ. <G>" An example from the monkey: The higher it climbs, the more you see of its behind." Saint Bonaventure
I sleep ffrom 11 pm until 5:30 am, then work for 10 hours or so. Weekends, maybe a little less sleep. If i sleep too long on the weekends, my back kills me for a couple hours in the morning. Most of the time, I feel like I could sleep longer in the am, but I gotta go to work, so its not an option.
Usually 5 or less. I probably need more than I get, but if I get more than 5 hours I have a hard time getting to sleep the next night, and have nightmares. So I stay sleep deprived to even out the bumps in the night.
Don't consider myself a builder anymore, just a weekend warrior with my remodeling business. I work four tens at my day job, starting at 6:00am. Every other weekend I get four days off. Those are the get it done days, so sleep goes down the toilet- 4 to 5 hrs max then. Durring the four work days I average about 7hrs.
One big factor I have to live with is sleep apnea. If I don't wear my CPAP mask at least 2 to 4 hrs of my sleep time I am exhausted when I wake up and have either one of those low level headachs or a real thumper. Durring the sleep clinic test I woke up 274 times in a seven hour period. That is I would stop breathing long enough for my brain to tell this old body to wake up and breath.
For those of you experiencing morning headachs, beware, that is one of the symptoms of sleep apnea. Two other indicators are snoring and an almost chronic fatigue. Catching up on sleep means being exhausted to the point that you need 10 to 16 hrs and if you are lucky you will get to REM (dream) level sleep three or four time durring the extended sleep period. Tell your doctor about morning headachs if they relate to to your sleep patterns. Sleep apnea can cause all sort of other health issues, including heart problems.
Sorry for the sermon. It took three years for DW to talk me into getting tested. Proper treatment has made a world of differance for me.
Dave
Don't worry about the "sermon" DAVERICHESON. This is information that many can use and may save lives. I read up on it when a friend was diagnosed with it. Apnea is linked with many debilitating physical and mental conditions. Some of which can, if allowed to get bad enough by not getting proper treatment, can cost lives.
I have a friend that had apnea and his case was so bad that it affected his heart and will to live. He was constantly tired. Even after 12 hours sleep he could barely move. He could get so little accomplished and always felt so bad that it effected his mental health. He deeply contemplated suicide.
His problem with apnea was only identified after a psychiatrist recognized his fatigue after long sleeps as a physical symptom and looked into. Several interlocking physical problems were identified.
Now he is doing much better. He has lost about 40 pounds. He wears a positive pressure mask when he sleeps and gave up alcohol completely. He is continuing to improve and the outlook looks good. The first day back at work he said much what you said. The mask makes all the difference in the world in the quality of sleep. Once he was able to get a decent nights sleep all the other problems were manageable.
IMHO this sort of information is entirely appropriate for this section of the forum. The word needs to get out as there are many people suffering needlessly for lack of the information that there is a name for their problem and treatments that work.
Thanks. Your more eloquent post says it better than my sermon.
Historically speaking, most Americans slept 9 to 9 1/2 hours a day until the Industrial Revolution.The change at this time to automated processes,factory whistles and production then changed to 8 hours.This was then recommended by doctors as a general guideline though individuals vary.Three 8 hour shifts neatly fit into the 24 hour day and fueled the rapid rise of production in factories and agriculture.
Me, I try for 8,but usually get 6 0r 7 hours.
I like to get at least six. Saturdays and Sundays eight. I love a good nap on the weekend also. My work schedule is pretty erratic though so I have to adapt a lot. When were busy we work a lot of fourteen to 16 hour days, and when were doing after hour remodels which usualy start on Friday night, and run till Sunday night,I usually am lucky to get four or five in all weekend. This week I had 43 hours in by Wed..
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Who Dares Wins!
Normally I awake after 6 - 6.5 hours. I worked rotating shifts for 25 years (nuc plant) and when working the back shifts, sleeping 4 hours straight would be a Godsend. As I get older, I seem to need less, though the whole nap-factor has increased as the need for night sleep has decreased. Ironically, my wife can't survive on less than 8, preferrably more, so here I sit, pecking away at the keyboard while she quietly snores upstairs.
Another question, do women need more, or less, generally speaking?
And should we submit this to some quack so they can get a government grant and take credit for the results, as well as our tax dollars?
"...do women need more, or less, generally speaking?"
Generally speaking, Women need less so we men get less.
Oh - you were talking about sleep...Ooops.
Excellence is its own reward!
I get about 5 - 6 1/2 during the week between working mornings, school and homework, occasionally less and once I am out of bed I am good to go until its time to go to sleep.
Saturdays and Sundays I sleep 8-10
I usually go to bed between 8-9:00 in the evening( still daylight in the summer) and get up between 5:30-6:00 in the am----I guess that works out to 9-10 hours every night.
Very cranky if I don't get my regular sleep.The older I get ,the earlier I like to go to bed and the earlier I like to get up.