How many hours of sleep a night do you need? - Now with Poll

How many hours a night of sleep do you need to function best on average?

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If I do too much during the day, particularly going out (grocery shopping, hair cut etc) I am guaranteed that it will take a long time to fall asleep and I will sleep less (3-4hrs max).

But when I have PEM I can fall asleep with no problems and sleep quite well.
 
MeSci said:
I take Melatonin every 2 nights (3 mg, was 5 mg) but it doesn't always work. Last night for example I woke about 0400, after going to sleep about 2230-2300.

In the early days I slept longer (as I believe research has shown), but now my 'ideal' seems to be about 7-8 hrs. I have very rarely been able to get any sleep during the day, at home anyway - maybe I did in hospital? (because couldn't access any of my usual activities)

It seems to vary with what I take (and possibly what I eat); for example last night I took a cetirizine tablet with little effect, and on previous nights I haven't had enough sleep with chlorphenamine, although sometimes I do.

I am going to have one or probably two promethazine tablets tonight, which usually works.
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maybe try the slow release melatonin - they work really well at giving a longer nights sleep
 
I've needed at least 9 hrs sleep since I got ME just to function at all. I do take sleep meds though, without them I wake up after 3-4hrs.

PEM causes insomnia initially,followed by several days of sleeping for over 10 hrs.

My sleep is now messed up by thyroid issues and I can now sleep for up to 15 hrs.
 
I sleep 9-11 hours per night. Less than 9 and I'm barely functional. If I don't set an alarm, which is most of the time, I sleep 10-11 hours.

I used to have terrible "tired but wired" problems (up til 3 or 4 am), but that has come to a screeching halt since I started taking N-acetyl cysteine at the dose recommended on the bottle (Jarrow N-A-C). I've been doing this for about 5 months.

I can't take melatonin; I get hallucinations.

Since concluding that I'm in constant PEM, I've started resting in bed most afternoons, usually with an audiobook. I often fall asleep for an hour or so.
 
Mij said:
It's interesting to read how much sleep everyone needs.
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It really is. I wondered if we need more sleep then non patients but the consensus is not clear but troubles with sleep seem to be quite common among thread posters (and myself) :banghead: :cry:

TigerLilea said:
If I sleep for 10 or more hours I feel awful for the rest of the day. Usually the only time I sleep that long is when I'm sick with something like chronic sinusitis or a cold.
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I used to be this way but these days not so much, though when i can sleep more then i need i do still feel stunted mentally though usually i wake up when i have had enough and can't fall asleep again.

TigerLilea said:
PEM doesn't affect the numbers of hours I sleep, however, I do find that when my PEM is at its worst, it takes me much longer to fall asleep at night.
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I am surprised that PEM affects some peoeple's sleep patterns but not others, it seems to be an individual thing.

Louie41 said:
I sleep 9-11 hours per night. Less than 9 and I'm barely functional.
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Indeed, same here :(

Louie41 said:
If I don't set an alarm, which is most of the time, I sleep 10-11 hours.
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I can't do alarms anymore, the lost sleep and jarring wake up really burns me for that day :banghead:
 
Louie41 said:
I sleep 9-11 hours per night. Less than 9 and I'm barely functional. If I don't set an alarm, which is most of the time, I sleep 10-11 hours.

I used to have terrible "tired but wired" problems (up til 3 or 4 am), but that has come to a screeching halt since I started taking N-acetyl cysteine at the dose recommended on the bottle (Jarrow N-A-C). I've been doing this for about 5 months.

I can't take melatonin; I get hallucinations.

Since concluding that I'm in constant PEM, I've started resting in bed most afternoons, usually with an audiobook. I often fall asleep for an hour or so.
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Interesting @Louie41 i must put NAC on my list of things to try. I have the 3-4 am thing although I am finding 1mg of Melatonin helps most nights and hasn’t given me the problems you’ve had. After a special event when I’ve done more than I should is when I get worst tired but wired it is the start of PEM. So it would be good if NAC could reduce that somewhat.
 
I need an average of 12 hours sleep a night. Although I've just spent more or less the whole of last 7 days in bed asleep, 4 days fighting the flu, then another 3 days with the most painful headache ever. Lost half a stone, relieved to have come out the other side and back to just the ME poorly feeling.
 
Louie41 said:
I used to have terrible "tired but wired" problems (up til 3 or 4 am), but that has come to a screeching halt since I started taking N-acetyl cysteine at the dose recommended on the bottle (Jarrow N-A-C). I've been doing this for about 5 months.
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Can you tell us more about this, what dose, how often, why you started it, does it help other ME/CFS symptoms?
 
I’ve had to get up at 7am 3 mornings running to be ready for central heating engineer and other workers coming to sort out problems inmy house. It is so against what my body needs at that time.
I had to go out yesterday lunchtime for food as I couldn’t use the kitchen. I had been resting on my bed upstairs out of the way after letting them in.

When I was out Compared to my energy on my normal sleep/rest pattern it was very low. Straight away I was walking a lot slower whereas that usually happens when I’m on my way back to the car.

It really bears out that I’m doing the right thing with my normal pattern of sleeping til about 9am then resting until late morning. I’ve probably got a couple of hours a night less sleep. It is very rare that I can sleep before midnight.
 
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Alvin said:
Can you tell us more about this, what dose, how often, why you started it, does it help other ME/CFS symptoms?
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Sure, @Alvin . For a long time, maybe 15 to 20 years (my onset was 1990), I'd go to bed exhausted, but then would just lie there with my mind buzzing around, unable to sleep. So I'd finally get up, go into my computer, and play Freecell for hours--at least until 3 or 4 a.m. and sometimes until 5:00.

I'd then usually sleep until 10 a.m. when I'd awaken without an alarm. I was constantly tired and short of sleep. But no matter how tired I was, I couldn't sleep when I went to bed around !0:30 or 11:00 p.m.

So, at the other place, I searched for info on "tired but wired," and came across this post by Hip: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/ind...d-hyperaroused-brain-state.44269/#post-719669

In solution #5, Hip mentioned Jarrow N.A.C. I checked with my doctor to see if it was okay for me to take this, and she said okay, so I started. I don't think I've had more than 5 episodes of being unable to sleep since then.

I take Jarrow N.A.C. (N-acetyl-L-cysteine) at higher than the recommended dose. I take 1 tablet 3 times per day--around 10 a. m., 3:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I actually thought I was taking the recommended dose until I checked the label to answer your question, so I'm going to have to follow up on where I got the dosage I'm taking, and maybe modify.

I also go to sleep with an audiobook, usually set for 30 minutes. That works best if it's something I've already read, so that I'm a little bored by it. I find David Sedaris particularly soporific, and have plans to someday write a book called, "Sleeping with David Sedaris." I expect Hugh won't appreciate it.:laugh:
 
Louie41 said:
I take Jarrow N.A.C. (N-acetyl-L-cysteine) at higher than the recommended dose. I take 1 tablet 3 times per day--around 10 a. m., 3:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I actually thought I was taking the recommended dose until I checked the label to answer your question, so I'm going to have to follow up on where I got the dosage I'm taking, and maybe modify.
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If you are taking the 600mg tablets (the ones I have here) then that's exactly the dose that Shungu did a small study on, maybe that's where you got it from :)

Presented at the IACFS/ME conference in 2016:
CONCLUSION
The results of this study have provided the very first direct evidence that NAC crosses the blood-brain barrier to spur in situ synthesis and elevation of cortical GSH. Significantly, increasing cortical GSH levels with NAC ameliorated symptoms in CFS patients. Future studies evaluating the clinical efficacy, and optimal dose and treatment duration of NAC are warranted.
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See page 34:
http://iacfsme.org/ME-CFS-Primer-Education/News/IACFSME-2016-Program.aspx
 
MeSci said:
The vast majority of results in animals do not occur in humans. Believe me, I have studied it extensively.
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So we dismiss what we don't want to hear because we can convince ourselves it does not apply based on unrelated associations and non associations
I take things more cautiously, i don't conveniently dismiss out of hand, i am not claiming this does apply to humans but i am saying i'd like to find out if it does or does not.
 
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