Can you still sleep through the night?

I used to sleep 8-9 hours straight through. I still fall asleep quickly but wake up every 90-120 minutes all night long. I have neck and back pain and need to turn over. I sleep 6-7 hours usually. Sleeping problems start in my family in everyone’s 60’s. I also have to use the bathroom at least twice.
 

foreveralone said:
Haven't slept through the night in over 20 years. It's not to use the bathroom?
I wake up every hour all night, I wake up exhausted then off to work.
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It's been that way for me for about as long. Not every hour, but by 2 or so, I'm awake for the day and can't make it change no matter what time I go to bed. Sometimes first wake-up is around 12:30 but usually around 2. 🥱 It's so annoying but nothing has helped.
 

Barely ever. I wake for the loo at least twice. Today as often happens, I was woken by lower leg pains at 5a.m. and had to sit up and doze best I could but oh the sharp aches. Shin pains to the side of my leg. I put a cushion under them and eventually they felt better.
 
Blessed said:
Nope, up every three hours for the bathroom. Also have trouble getting back to sleep. I miss the old days when I could sleep ten hours straight when I could. Now, I am lucky to get 5 or 6 hours. I also have an upset sleep schedule while up most of the night and sleep in the day.
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I doze in the day in my chair but never go to my bed.
 
These last few years I've started waking up about 5am for a bathroom trip. No special reason...bladder just getting old and wore out, I guess.

I wish I could sleep like I did when I was young. I remember one Saturday years ago, when I had my own apartment, I laid down on the couch for a nap around noon, woke up at 1pm, and decided to make a quick visit to my parents. I walked in their house, spotted a newspaper on the table, and was shocked. "How did you get the Sunday paper on a Saturday???" They looked at me like I lost my mind. "Today IS Sunday, dear." I had slept on my couch for 25 hours. :sleep:
 
dilettante said:
I don't usually worry about it. I'd like to be on a regular schedule but I've been lucky lately and haven't reverted to a rotating pattern of being up basically all night and then sleeping during the day.

I usually don't wake up and get up in the night and then later go back to bed. If I'm up, I'm up, then fill in with a nap later.

I only get concerned if I can't sleep at all and can feel incredibly tired but just not get to sleep. That's something I haven't had for months though and I don't miss it.

Laugh if you must, but if I can't sleep right away I watch an ASMR video, usually 20 to 30 minute ones and often the "spiritual" ones about "cord cutting" and "psychic healing." I don't subscribe to that but I can suspend disbelief and be calmed, often falling asleep and letting the TV turn itself off after the video ends.

Example (click Watch on YouTube):


There are many others doing these, of all ages including ours. There are others I find restful that include "eye exams" and other scenarios.
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Thank you for that! I think it might help my son who has chronic insomnia and often has to go to work (where he is on his feet for 9 hours) after only an hour or two of sleep. He has long been into Buddhism, meditation, veganism, etc.

Me, I go to bed at 8, read until 9 or 10, sleep until 4 or 5. Except for about every tenth day when I can not sleep at all and remain as wide awake at 2am as at 2pm. I don't get it.
 
oldaunt said:
Could someone explain why so many of you need the bathroom so much at night? Any idea what causes it?
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Reduced bladder size as you age. And, in some, reduced ability to hold it longer. As I've suggested in my comment, reduce your fluid intake. If you can't, then tapper off your intake as you near your bedtime. For example, do your intake with your first and second meals. Stop thereafter. Try it. Yes, a million reasons why not. But, stop and try it a few times. Most won't because they are 'married' to their daily routine.

As for sleep, most really don't want to change the routine. Why? Because they don't want to change their routine. Think about it. How much of your life revolves around your sleep habits or practices. Willing to change it all? Most are not. Most here are retired. So nothing stopping you from remaking your life or routine. But, most won't. Inconvenient. Stubborn. Hate change... a million reasons why they won't. Too old to change.
 
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fuzzybuddy said:
Yeah, sleeping through to morning with out bathroom break is something I miss. Having to get out of bed at night is something that eventually happens to you, like "senior moments". Currently, I jump in bed at 11PM, and by 1:30AM- got to go. Then about 5AM, again. Well, of course, by 7:30 AM. again.
Can you still sleep through the night?
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Surely you jest. 🙄 That ain't happenin'. Sleeping through the night is a thing of the past. 🥴
 
Since hubby died in October I've had a hard time sleeping. I usually read before I go to bed and shut the light out around 10:30 or so. I usually wake up around 2am but sometimes it's 3:30am. Then, my mind won't let me go back to sleep. Lots of times, I just get up and go down stairs and sit in the family room. Sometimes, I doze off for a little bit.
 
Wes said:
reduce your fluid intake. If you can't, then tapper off your intake as you near your bedtime.
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What I do is drink a lot when I first get up and a bit throughout the day but then I stop at night until right before bed, then I drink some. Otherwise, I'm parched at night, and it affects me the next day. It does take some experimentation to see when the water will affect me during the night.
 
I think I do. I take 100mg of Trazadone, followed a couple of hours later by Fall Asleep Faster (natural supplement). I could very well get up to use the bathroom during the night, but if I do I don't remember it. I typically go to sleep at 1am and wake up around 10am.
 
Not sure if anyone else has tried this, but when I'm at home I have a fan and an air cleaner on high for white noise. For traveling, I've purchased a head mask from Sharper Image that covers my eyes and holds my AirPods in my ears. I have my iPhone set to White Noise for the AirPods. It allows me to sleep through the night. I wouldn't hesitate to use it at home either if I had an issue.

Total Sleep Mask System @ SharperImage.com
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Yeah, sleeping through to morning with out bathroom break is something I miss. Having to get out of bed at night is something that eventually happens to you, like "senior moments". Currently, I jump in bed at 11PM, and by 1:30AM- got to go. Then about 5AM, again. Well, of course, by 7:30 AM. again.
Can you still sleep through the night?
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I have always had a bad relationship with sleep. I always saw it as a complete waste of time. Sleep, and the need for it, gets in the way of my doing the things I really want to do. As such, I try not to sleep, right up until that moment when I'm so damn tired I can barely keep my eyes open. This is every night.

Still, medics say it's essential, you should get 8 hours (laughable, in my 20's I was a 5 hour a dayer). In fact, while studying I'd wake early, go to work all day, come home and set the alarm for 30 minutes or so, and have a short nap. That would power me through the early hours of the morning where I could read etc.

This is not the best way to live your life. :D
 

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