What hours do you sleep after FIRE?

[Eder]

I dont own a watch/clock, neither does the wife. We use blackout blinds in our rv so the sun doesnt necessarily wake us up. I stay up till mid nite or so and get up between 6am and 10am depending on road noise.
I use my computer as required to see what time/date it is.
Life is goot.

 

[scrabbler1]

My sleeping hours became somewhat erratic when I switched from working full-time to part-time in 2001. Instead of going to sleep around 11:30 PM and waking up at 7 AM 5 days a week, I was able to go to sleep around 1-1:30 AM on the now more frequent nonwork days and 12:30 AM on the work days (because I did not have to be at work until an hour later than before).

When my ladyfriend moved to my area, she had to go to sleep early when I stayed at her place on some weeknights even though I did not have to go to work myself. This made my sleeping hours more erratic.

When I ERed, I lost most of the early morning wake-ups when I had to get up and go to work. The only early wake-ups (i.e. needing an alarm clock) I had were the few times I actually had to be somewhere in the morning such as the school Scrabble tourneys I ran. I have about 4 or 5 per year.

But what has made my sleeping more erratic the last few years has nothing to do with any of that. Unfortunately, I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night more often than before. Not every night, thankfully, but it is often annoying to have my sleep disturbed that way.

Without any of these disturbances, I get up around 8:30 AM, give or take.

 

[glippy]

I get into trouble when I get into something interesting. - Like solving some programming problem or reading a great book or researching an interesting new topic... suddenly I'll look up and notice the sun is starting to come up.

Oops.

Good thing I don't have to get up early.

 

[Katsmeow]

Spouse is an early-to-bed, late-to-rise type. Whenever she's getting into bed, I try to be there for her... so most nights we're in bed by 8-8:30 PM. I don't know how she does it but she's rarely up before 6 AM and usually by 7 AM.

6 or 7 AM is late to rise? Oh, my.

Hmmm...I usually go to bed about 2:00 AM occasionally later and occasionally earlier. That is not much different than when I was working full time. Maybe half an hour later now.

I usually get up between 10AM and 11AM occasionally half an hour or so later. On the day during the week that I go to the office I get up about 8:15 and occasionally set the alarm for 9 or 9:30 if I have something specific to do. I am a night owl and could never go to sleep earlier (for years I tried and just ended awake for hours in bed) but had to get up for work. Now I just get to sleep later so feel more rested overall.

 

[FIREd]

I am a night owl. I usually go to bed around 1:00 am and wake up around 9:00 am, when my body decides it has had enough rest.

I never nap.

 

[GregLee]

My sleep hours are pretty irregular, but typically 8pm - 2:30am. There was no noticeable change when I retired. It is sort of nice to hear the birds starting to chirp and see the sun's first glint, but I'm up early simply because I wake up early.

 

[Nords]

Nords, I think you must have been a predator in a prior life. Or was that your prior life on a submarine?

Steely-eyed killer of the deep... nothing more challenging than sneaking up on a submarine of "some other nation" and following it undetected while keeping it constantly within firing range.

24/7-- for 30+ days.

Over the last decade, though, our pet bunny (and the many outdoor four-footed "visitors" dropping by to check up on him) have kept me keenly aware of the predator-prey relationship.

 

[SteveR]

I have had chronic insomnia for decades. Sleep aids are my only hope of getting more than 3-4 hours of sleep a night which was a bit rough when I was w*rking 14+ hour days; makes for a loooong day. Since ER, the only real difference is I don't get up as early...never have been a morning person. DW has always been an early sleeper and ER has not changed that very much. We go to bed between 10:30-11PM but I don't actually get to sleep for a couple of hours sometimes. We both get up between 6:30-7AM (except for the last couple of weeks due to female dog having some issues that force us to get up and take her out at 5:45AM. I can't go back to sleep once I am awake so I get up and let DW sleep another hour....we sometimes rotate but it seems I hear her first (even with a CPAP and earplugs). Being a light sleeper is a pain. I don't nap unless I am sick. Overall, I would say we both are getting a little more sleep time in ER than before...especially on Sunday nights; thinking about having to be at w*rk Monday morning can really ruin the end of your weekend.

 

[flyfishnevada]

I planned on roughly 11 pm to 7 am. I'd say 10 or 11 is a typical bedtime, occasionally earlier or later. I don't get up until 7:30 or 8, though I am often awake before that. I discovered that when my kids are in school, they hog all the hot water and I have to wait until 7:30 for it to warm up.

I suppose I have pretty consistent sleeping patterns, but the kids school schedule is part of it. We'll see how it goes this summer when they don't have to get up at 6:30ish.

 

[Moscyn]

Usually in bed between 11 pm to 12 midnight but that does not mean I fall asleep immedietedly. If DH does not set my nerves going wild by snoring loudly, then I usually can fall into sleep easily. Awake around 7.30 am. I sometimes take afternoon naps. About 2 times a month, I will get very tired (likely due to over-exercise or just tiredness) and sleep for 10 to 12 hours. I love those days. Had one yesterday - slept at 8.30 pm and got up at 7.30 pm though was waken up a couple of times during the night due to loud snoring but able to fall asleep again.

 

[Rambler]

Not ERd yet so not qualified to vote, but I was thinking of this topic just a couple days ago. I think in my case it is very likely that I'll get up with the sun pretty much year-round and go to bed when I feel ready to sleep. I think I've been able to sleep until 10am maybe twice in my life, and both times were when my body clock was completely screwed up by weeks of intercontinental travel and several days in a row of 2 hours of sleep in an airplane. In any case, I'm almost always up with the sun even on weekends and vacations. I have plenty to do outdoors when we get back to the USA, so no need for me to fritter the daylight away.

R

 

[Walt34]

For a long time I had this dream of having a huge wooden mallet, roughly a foot in diameter, which I would use to smash that damn alarm clock that woke me at 0430 hours. I planned on having the mallet by the bed on the last day of work and using the mallet when the clock went off.

When I did retire I didn't smash the alarm clock because doing so would have damaged the table underneath, upset DW, and then I'd have to buy a new table.

So I normally go to sleep about midnight or 0100 and wake up between 0600 and 0800, sometime a bit later. Which is one reason I like the job hours I'm working now, 1400-2200 fits my circadian rhythms, the 3.4 mile commute is easy, and I've yet to be denied a day off when I wanted it. Oh, and almost zero paperwork.

And I used to feel guilty about the amount of money they're paying me to keep a chair warm but with therapy I got over it.

 

[audreyh1]

I am usually awake by 6am when my alarm goes off. I rarely sleep in past that. Go to bed around 11pm. I don't seem to need as much sleep in retirement. And I like to be up before sunrise.

 

[RockyMtn]

Thought I would sleep later after I fire'd but that has not been the case. Usually hit the sack around 10:30 pm to 11:00pm and am up around 6 am...about the same as pre fire. Still tired at the end of the day...just not from the job, but from my daily activities!

 

[Sue J]

I'm not retired but my itty bitty part time job is on a school calendar schedule so I'm off for the summer, since June 3rd.

I love early morning, but I also love late night. I'm like W2R's brother where I would naturally end up having about a 26 hour day. Too many days of that and I'm all screwed up. This past week I stayed up late and slept in and felt like I lost too much daytime so I'm back to setting a timer (different from the alarm clock used for working days). I'm going to try to get to bed by 11:00 to midnight and get up 6:30 to 7:30. I like having a routine.

DH is retired and he's staying up much later than when he used to work. He never sets an alarm and just sleeps until he's done. Sometimes it's 7:30, sometimes as late as 10 am. I don't mind him sleeping late because it lets me have TIME ALONE which is very rare these days.

When he worked he went to bed around 9 or 9:30 because he was naturally waking up around 4:30 or 5:00 even though his alarm was set for 6 am. His bladder or the light or the birds would wake him and he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. He would go take a walk or go on his computer until it was time to get ready for work. So it's nice to see him sleeping until he's done now that he's retired.

 

[harley]

And I like to be up before sunrise.

I'm often up before sunrise, although I try to fall asleep before it gets to be too light.

 

[Goonie]

Before I retired I went to bed between midnight and 1:00am, and got up at 5:30am. In retirement I usually hit the pillows sometime between 1:00am and 2:00am, and crawl out between 7:30am and 8:30am.

I rarely use an alarm clock....normally only if I have an appointment with my Doc.

As far as naps go, I ocassionally grab an hour long siesta sometime after lunch during the summer....usually during the heat of the day.

 

[Mulligan]

My biggest change is now I will lay in bed in the morning in a semi conscious daze for an hour or so until I have enough energy to get out of bed to make the coffee and read the morning paper. It is not natural for me to pop out of bed right when I wake up. Probably the most enjoyable part of retirement is laying in bed until I'm ready to get up which is anywhere from 7-9 a.m.

 

[rescueme]

...how many people continue to use their alarms after RE.

Don't need no stinking alarm; I have a dog that jumps up on the bed and starts licking my ear at 5:30 a.m. 7 days a week, all year long . Yeah, that's his picture.

At least it's better than when I got up during my work*ng years at 3:45 (to exercise, before going off to the office by 5:30 a.m. since I worked for two different Euro firms, with HQ in Western Europe, and we had a lot of noon meetings - their time via video conference/NetMeeting with a six hour difference in local time). At least they had the same situation with communicating with the China, India & Oz units. The Euro guys had to get up early to have meetings with them while I was sleeping. Working in a company that "never sleeps" did require me to be at w*rk at midnight (rarely) since in those days, the available communications network - to your home PC, with audio/video - was the exception, rather than the rule.

Today, I normally go to bed around 11-12 pm, much later than my normal 8pm during my employment.

Actually, I get less continuous sleep in retirement (due to you know who), but most days I take an afternoon nap for an hour or so to "recharge". In reality, I sleep less in retirement. I'm sure that my need for sleep in my wor*ing years was also attributed to stress - which has fallen to a negligible level during the last four years, in retirement.

 

[Lsbcal]

I get up between 6am and 7am generally after 8 hours sleep. If can't sleep I'll try to just lay there until 6am -- allergies sometimes wake me early.

Nowadays I've got to beat the heat to get my runs. It's most pleasant to run in the 50 degree weather, low 60's is a bit much. Also gardening is more pleasant in the early AM and the birds are out and about.

 

[freebird5825]

First 3 years of FIRE - up at o'dark thirty, napping a lot midday, in bed by 10 PM.

Recently...in bed by 10 PM, waking up at 6 AM, but developing bad habit of rolling back over and sleeping in as late as 10 AM. No midday naps.

I tried the alarm clock on "wake to music" so I get my lazy carcass out of bed, but...
oh well.

My sleep patterns need to stabilize a bit.

 

[Moscyn]

I like reading this thread - sleeping is not boring, it gives me a luxurious feeling to be in bed and feel great about the day and just let your body rest. That's one of the best thing about ER. When I was working, I can't have that feel good factor when I hit the sack. It was thinking of work and when I finally sleep, it was dreaming of work. So, after ER on those days I can't fall into sleep that easily, I don't worry too much and just enjoy the feeling of closing my eyes and just resting without worries. I can always take an afternoon nap to catch up.