Poll:How well do you sleep?

[W2R]

How well do you sleep, and are you retired or not? For the purposes of this poll, you are the sole judge of whether you are retired or not, and of how well you sleep. If you can't decide, or if these categories just don't fit your situation, or if you just feel cantankerous, there is a 7th option "none of these categories fit" just for you.

I have slept like a baby since I retired, so I am voting for that one. I do tend to want to stay up later and sleep later each day, on a 25 hour per day schedule, so I have to set an alarm. But otherwise, I have never slept so soundly in my entire life.

When I was working, I was often insomniac and constantly sleepy. I think I was just too keyed up most of the time to sleep well at the time.

Just thought it might be interesting to see how others feel about their own sleep, and didn't find a similar thread so here you go.

 

[REWahoo]

Although I am retired and sometimes awaken much earlier than I would like, I voted for #1. The ability to take an afternoon nap on those early wake up days works great for me.

 

[Purron]

I sleep very well. The only thing that bothers me is I dream a lot about my past. Past jobs, old friends I've haven't seen in years, and so on. Makes me think I'm a bit mired in my past - in my dreams anyway. Don't feel that way when I'm awake. I've become involved in many new activities since retirement I love but there's that ghost of the past that seems to still inhabit my dreams.

 

[scrabbler1]

Although I am an early retiree, my quality and quantity of sleep is mixed. While being able to get my coveted afternoon nap 7 days a week is great, it is often disrupted by phone calls, my upstairs neighbor coming home from work and walking around, or my having to go to the bathroom. My regular overnight sleep is nice because I don't have to be up at any certain time. But it, too, is often disrupted by the upstairs neighbor up early and walking around, or my having to go to the bathroom. It is about 50/50 I can get through the night undisturbed.

 

[aaronc879]

I'm currently unemployed(not retired) and sleep much better than when i'm working full time. I never set my alarm unless I have plans to be somewhere before noon and involves other people which is very rare. Lately, i've been sleeping from 9pm until around 7-8am. I never sleep straight thru since small bladders run in the family but I sleep well.

 

[My Dream]

I voted #3 and this is the reason why,

I wish there were 30 hours in a day since I never seem to accomplish as much as I would like. I wake up at around 6:00 am every morning (during the week) and make breakfast and lunch for everyone. Afterwords I start my day of chores then onto the home renovations or what ever or who ever needs help repairing stuff. I try to go bed early every night but I usually fall asleep at around 11:30pm since I can't seem to get everything done during the day.

I usually go to the washroom 3 times and night and that makes me loose about 15 minutes sleep each time so I loose 45 minutes each night. If I do the math right I get close to 6 hours sleep a night and that's not enough.

For the most part the quality of sleep is good except for the overactive bladder. I still get the occasional nightmares about work and it's been six years since retirement.

 

[Mulligan]

W2W, I am very jealous of your ability to sleep away the night. I might sleep 7 solid hours without waking, maybe twice a year. I usually have 2 obligatory trips to the restroom a night, but even then sometimes I am just awake. I don't mind laying 2-3 hours in a semi conscious state but would rather be out like a light. The odd thing is, I have no problem falling asleep, and am never tired during the day, so I never nap. I guess I must be getting enough sleep it is just not in the way I desire.

 

[Animorph]

Since I retired I no longer require weekend mid-day naps. Hopefully that will last for quite a few more years. My Mom will sleep at the drop of a hat if she's just watching TV. I answered #1.

 

[truenorth418]

The only thing that bothers me is I dream a lot about my past. Past jobs, old friends I've haven't seen in years, and so on. Makes me think I'm a bit mired in my past - in my dreams anyway.

I have been retired for a little over a year, and lately I have found myself dreaming about old work colleagues and situations. I did not have these dreams in the early months of my retirement, only more recently. Although I would not characterize these dreams as nightmares, I usually wake suddenly and with an anxious feeling. I'm not sure how to interpret these dreams, but it sounds like others have similar experiences.

 

[FIREd]

I usually sleep very soundly (always have, even when I was still working). It took me a few months to get used to big city noises when we moved to San Francisco, but everything is back to normal now and I sleep soundly again.

 

[UnderTheRadar]

I am not retired - but I travel a lot with my job and regularly have trouble sleeping in hotels. This is probably not for everyone - but I downloaded an app on my iPhone that I use to put me to sleep..."relax and sleep well". It took a little bit to get used to the guys voice, but now I almost go to sleep automatically.

 

[Alan]

Since I retired I no longer take naps.

I sleep really well at night and rarely lie awake, going to bed at ~11 and getting up ~7:30.

Retirement has been GREAT for my sleep patterns.

 

[bssc]

Not retired. Can sleep through helicopters flying over my house, from experience.

 

[NW-Bound]

People who have had children know how babies sleep. They wake up every hour or so through the night, and cry. Yes, mine did, particularly my first born. I would lose so much sleep, and fell asleep at my desk the next day.

So, who wants to sleep like a baby?

PS. Look how this daddy calms down his crying baby.

 

[obgyn65]

I don't sleep well at all. Four to six hours only on average, sometimes fewer hours for a few nights in a row. It was worse when I was a student. I also have a very light sleep.

 

[John Galt III]

Due to my work schedule, I can only begin to sleep after 2 am. And then I can only stay asleep for about 5 hours. But I'm nice and worn out by the time I go to bed, so am out like a light 99 percent of the time, which rarely happened when I was in corporationland. I have a blue collar job now. The 5 hours seems to be enough, along with two 15 minute naps during the day.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

My quality of sleep has improved greatly since I got my CPAP. Still wake in the night but when I do get up I feel much more refreshed. I voted # 1.

 

[Midpack]

Hard to choose between the first two options (not much difference) but I chose the first. My sleep hasn't changed since I retired, I still go to bed early and wake up early even with no alarm clock. If anything I wake up in the middle of the night more now than when I was working. But now I can sleep in a little if I want to.

 

[easysurfer]

As long as I go to bed before midnight, usually I'll feel all refreshed by morning.

Sometimes I wake up during the night (no, not from getting old and having to use the bathroom to take a leak ), but I put my cats in the other room and one of them has night terrors and rattles the door and meows like it's the end of the world .

 

[MichaelB]

Retired and well rested here. After leaving work my sleep improved substantially, mostly due to more hours. I still wake up early, but not nearly as early as before, and enjoy leisurely mornings drinking coffee and reading.

 

[freebird5825]

Sleep and I are old friends.

Mr B is a nocturnal frequent riser. I just go right back to sleep. zzzzzzzz

 

[BTravlin]

Not retired yet and am not getting the quantity or quality of sleep I would like. Usually go to bed at about 11:30 and DW says I'm out before my head hits the pillow. Up at least once during the night for the bathroom run and sometimes difficult to get back to sleep after that. My mind starts turning things over and can not shut it off so once or twice a week I'm up at 4-5 in the morning. Other nights I sleep until 6 am and feel well rested. Sure would like to sleep an additional hour or two on weekends but my internal alarm doesn't seem to grasp the concept, 6 AM rolls around and BAM - I'm awake.

 

[imoldernu]

First 15 years of retirement, slept 8 hours.
Now different.

Reading between the lines, is seems that sleeping is important, and years and 5 or 6 years ago, I'd have agreed. Not now.

Life is such a great adventure, that sleeping may just be a waste of time. I even consider dreaming to be a part of "entertainment". Our lives are so basically peaceful, that the time of sleeping and the number of hours is not important... Can go to bed at 5PM or 1AM, sleep 'til whenever, get up and "compute" or watch TV, and even go to Walmart... at 2AM. Matters not.

Yes, I know and understand sleep theory... anabolic sleep, REM, etc, etc... and suppose that when the functional part of the non-sleep period is important, that the theory works. I don't think it applies as much when we grow older, and have a lifestyle that doesn't require being fully alert, with all systems functioning at 100%.

After getting over the "guilt" part of not sleeping well. It's much more enjoyable to take sleep as it comes.

Life is good!

 

[Midpack]

Life is such a great adventure, that sleeping may just be a waste of time. I even consider dreaming to be a part of "entertainment". Our lives are so basically peaceful, that the time of sleeping and the number of hours is not important... Can go to bed at 5PM or 1AM, sleep 'til whenever, get up and "compute" or watch TV, and even go to Walmart... at 2AM. Matters not.

After getting over the "guilt" part of not sleeping well. It's much more enjoyable to take sleep as it comes.

Life is good!

Quoted many times since, but it seems that the line 'I've got plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead' appears in a 1934 play by Alice Gerstenberg called Within the Hour.

 

[Chuckanut]

I used to sleep well but not anymore. While I go to sleep easily, I often wake up after 2-4 hours and toss about for an hour or two before I go to sleep again. Then I wake up an hour too early and toss about a little more.