Rise and Shine Everybody

Pappy

Pappy

Living the Dream
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Moved back to NY from Florida. 🤓 2025
I've noticed since getting older, I don't sleep as good as I use to. Awake several times a night is not unusual for me. I even have my earbuds connected to my radio and many nights lay there and listen to George Noorys Coast to Coast program.

Some nights it is the bad back and hip that bug me all night, but even when they don't hurt so much, I still have a problem sleeping.

I guess it must be an age thing because I have no problem dozing watching TV. I do kinda miss the days when I could grab a solid 12 hours without getting a bathroom break.
 
It's a good morning here. Got up early because I have out of state company coming today.

I have no problem dozing watching TV
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That's the secret Pappy.
I fall asleep and stay asleep for 8+ hours if I start by falling asleep with the TV on. I turn the TV timer on for about an hour. It's my sleeping pill.
 
I always ensure that I get to bed early, usually around 2am. ;) I get up when I wake up and no one's here so no one minds my nocturnal habits. Not even the dog.
Luckily my aches and pains only bother me when I move around, once I'm still and comfy I sleep right through.

If you do ever stumble across one of those body exchange shops let me know Jillaroo, I'll see what a trade-in would be worth. ;)
 
Good morning, boys and girls. I rose. I'm shining. Ready to lick my weight in wildcats (anybody know a wildcat that weighs about 110?). And today I get to go to work! Woohoo. This sitting around on my dead center stuff gets old real darned fast.
 
I'm like you with the earbuds Pappy, sometimes I fall asleep listening to George Noory, if they're talking about something interesting. I go to bed by midnight usually and am up around 9am, but rarely sleep right through. Nice thing is, I don't stress out over it if I don't sleep well, not like when I was working and had to get up when it was still dark outside. As far as body parts, yeah, recently I woke up and my shoulder hurt...just from sleeping! :eek: :eek:ld:
 
I've only needed 2-3 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period since I discovered polyphasic sleep back in the mid-'70's. Basically you divide your present sleep time into 3 groups during a 24-hour period and take a 1-3 hour "nap" every 8 hours. Then if you so desire you can cut back on the time of the naps, which is what I ended up doing.

Now I usually catch a 1-hour nap at 9am, 5pm and 1am, and I'm good to go the rest of the time. Occasionally I'll need to lengthen the nap times if I've been out distance-walking or biking, but generally I stick with my regular schedule.
 
I have some nights where sleep just doesn't want to happen, but mostly I just hit the pillow, and am gone for the night. I used to listen to George Noory when we lived in Idaho, and he came on earlier, but out here, it is about midnite before the program even starts, so I would have to be up all nite to listen.
Actually, that is not even such a bad idea !
It is so hot and muggy here in the day right now, that a sleep reversal would be beneficial. I could sleep during the heat of the day, wake up when it starts to cool off, be up all night, go and do my gardening and yard work at the crack of dawn, and be snoozing by the time it was really hot out. I just have never been a night person, so I don't know how well it would work for me.

I take melatonin before bedtime, and it really helps me sleep better. No more waking up every hour or so, or bathroom trips during the night, at least usually, and provided I took my Lasix early enough the day before. Melatonin is a natural hormone substance, so there are no side effects, and it only takes a little bit to help you sleep well.
 
If I nap during the day, I'm no good to do anything after. Totally throws me off. I don't have trouble staying asleep but as fate would have it, I have a cat that starts howling about 5 am and will not stop until I let him out. Drives me CRAZY....... Hardly know he is around during the day, sweet little thing but every morning he wakes me up - too early.
 
Happyflowerlady said:
It is so hot and muggy here in the day right now, that a sleep reversal would be beneficial. I could sleep during the heat of the day, wake up when it starts to cool off, be up all night, go and do my gardening and yard work at the crack of dawn, and be snoozing by the time it was really hot out. I just have never been a night person, so I don't know how well it would work for me.
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Steve Pavlina's blog has several great articles on his experiments with polyphasic sleep from 2006, but I believe he has abandoned the experiments now. He even blogged about his reasons why.

Just as a note, Pavlina's blog is a storehouse of knowledge on personal development - he's also been one of my "Internet idols" for many years. His articles are long but they're highly informative as well as entertaining.

I take melatonin before bedtime, and it really helps me sleep better. No more waking up every hour or so, or bathroom trips during the night, at least usually, and provided I took my Lasix early enough the day before. Melatonin is a natural hormone substance, so there are no side effects, and it only takes a little bit to help you sleep well.
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Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the effects that meds will have on polyphasic sleep patterns, but I suspect that they won't be beneficial.
 
Luckily, I have no problems sleeping. In fact, what we're experiencing here is forum sleep posting . . . Of course, there are the occasional bouts of restless night which usually keep me tossing and turning, haunted by dreams of SifuPhil's next What Is It? . . .
 
Sifu, I think that it would be okay to take melatonin' regardless of when I went to sleep. It is not a medication, but a natural thing that our body makes when it starts to get dark, so we begin to get sleepy. It works on humans, and many animals, and is produced in the mother animals milk, so it helps the babies to sleep well.

Melatonin also works with some of our other hormones, and is an anti-aging hormone. Unfortunately, as we age, we make less of it, so we don't sleep as well as when we were younger.
Plus, we have artificial lights, and many people are watching action TV shows that stimulate adrenalin, and keep us awake.
I have never heard the term polyphasic sleep, but I will check out the link you posted.

(Edit to add: just looked at the link about polyphasic sleeping, and yes, even melatonin would hinder that kind of a schedule. Still reading , but I think I would become a zombie if I tried the 20 minute naps thing)

Meantime, if my posts get even more erratic than usual, you will know that I am testing out the sleep reversal idea....
 
Lady, I'm already familiar with melatonin but thank you for the refresher course. ;)

It would take pages to explain my views on using supplements, especially those tagged as "anti-aging", but in a nutshell I don't believe that we should deny the natural aging process in any way, shape or form.

Just because our bodies naturally produce a substance does not mean we should supplement it when the body chooses to shut down production. There is a natural reason for everything that happens to us, and we're nowhere near smart enough to understand the ramifications of playing God.

Perhaps we are not MEANT to sleep as much as when we were younger - because we don't NEED to. Just a thought ... :)

I wish you luck in your researches and if you have any questions about the polyphasic sleeping let me know. A lot of people who have tried it couldn't get into it because, well, probably because their bodies just weren't MADE to do it. It just so happens that mine seems to be so I'm a bit of a town-crier for the technique, but I DO understand that it isn't for everyone.
 
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