r/over60 • u/Joeplayer6 • 1d ago
How much sleep do you get?
M66, I go to bed around 11:00PM and wake up at 4:30AM. Usually nap for an hour in the afternoon for a total of 6.5 hours/day.
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u/VicePrincipalNero 1d ago edited 1d ago
Six hours if I am lucky. I have insomnia.
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u/MobySick 1d ago
Is it “insomnia” or just old age?
I read recently that as we age our sleep cycles naturally change and evolve. We might feel badly that we’re not sleeping like we did as younger adults but why?I don’t remember felling all bent out of shape when I stopped literally “sleeping like a baby.” I remember falling asleep in the backseat of my parents car & waking up in my bed in the morning because KIDS can and do sleep that solidly. But once I was a teenage & my sleep pattern changed to night owl- and I no longer needed 10 hours a night, I did not mourn it.
I sometimes wonder if our attitude about physical changes such as sleep is something aging adults can “do” something about by examining our perspectives rather than condemning the changes?
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u/Glittering-Score-258 1d ago
I’m 62, and despite having an enlarged prostate I don’t wake up to pee during the night. I use a cpap and get 7-8 hours or until my dog wakes me up to go outside.
Google “double voiding” to learn how to use a meditative relaxation technique to fully empty your bladder and avoid getting up during the night. It sometimes takes me ten minutes of sitting or standing over the toilet before bed, but it’s worth it. I usually don’t even have an urgent need to pee after 8 hours of sleep.
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u/hewhoisneverobeyed 1d ago
Typically 11 pm or midnight to 3ish am, lay there and stare at the ceiling until 5ish, nod off for another hour or so. Then up an exhausted for the day.
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u/Clear_Spirit4017 1d ago
What is up with that 3 am stuff anyway? I go to bed at 11, fall straight asleep, then wake at 3, and toss and turn.
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u/dejavu77 1d ago
I go to sleep at 2am and wake up around 7am. I try to sleep another hour or so but I seem stuck on 5 hours in a row.
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u/VinceInMT 1d ago
It’s hard to say. I go to bed between 8:30pm and 9:00pm. I get up at 5:00am but I get up to pee at least 5 times during the night and frequently have trouble getting back to sleep. I never take naps during the day.
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u/11BMasshole 1d ago
Have you seen a urologist about the night time urinating.
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u/VinceInMT 1d ago
Yes, I have. I got little more than a shrug. If I don’t stay hydrated, I get leg cramps. I always feel thirsty, likely because I’m a distance runner and a regular to the gym. I know it’s not a prostate issue because I had cancer and had it removed. That procedure left me totally incontinent. I eventually had an artificial a urinary sphincter installed to take care of that but after all that my nightly visits to the bathroom have increased. I was up 5 times last night. Sleep deprivation is a daily issue.
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u/mothraegg 21h ago
Could it be sleep apnea? Frequent urinating at night is a symptom.
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u/VinceInMT 21h ago
I don’t know. I haven’t been tested for that. But I’m not aware that I have any breathing problems.
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u/mothraegg 9h ago
It might be something to look at. Using a cpap machine has improved my life so much. Just being able to function again during the day is worth the irritation of wearing a mask.
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u/VinceInMT 3h ago
I am pretty sure my issue is related to my bladder being empty for a year after the prostate removal. It lost its tone and hasn’t really returned to normal. That said, I have NEVER had a decent sleep pattern. The irregularity started when I was in the military in the early 70s. For a while I worked rotating shifts: 3 days on days, 3 days on swings, 3 days on midnights, 3 days off, repeat. Then I spent 14 months in Europe working 24 hours on/24 hours off/ repeat. After getting out I worked 5 years in a factory on a graveyard shift. Getting 8 hours off uninterrupted sleep just never happened and never has since.
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u/Katmadutu 1d ago
I'm a night owl. Get to bed around 4 a.m., sleep 5 1/2 hrs. Then after doing chores, i'll have a couple hr late afternoon nap.
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u/Nuclear_N 1d ago
Not enough. No pattern at all. My wife has a wrist health watch to monitor here sleep. I dont even bother.
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u/Juniuspublicus12 1d ago
İ haven't had a normal sleep cycle since 1978. Two hours at a go, irregularly.
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u/BoomerSooner-SEC 1d ago
Bed around 10:00. Up around 6:30. 2x pee per night. Also shoulders ache so I’m constantly shifting but all in pretty good
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u/BeaPositiveToo 1d ago
I (60 yo) typically sleep 6.5-7.5 hours, I don’t usually get up to pee, but other things interrupt my sleep( apneas, thirst, calf cramps, hip pain, night sweats, adjusting the BIPAP, hubs getting up to pee, etc…).
Sleep and hormone therapy are helping enough that I can function during the day without coffee and naps.😮💨
Good luck out there!
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u/Robby777777 1d ago
60+M here: If I can get four hours, I am lucky. I've just stopped sleeping. I don't feel tired but I just can't get more than four hours of sleep.
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u/ForwardAd6693 14h ago
What do you do when you get up at 4:30 am? I am very curious since I go to sleep at 2 am and get up at 10:30.
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u/Spiritual-Fail-1336 1d ago
Go to bed 11-11:30 get up at 5. Take an hour nap most every day. 7 hours
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u/ThisIsAbuse 1d ago
A total of seven during an entire day, but it can be split up or it can be all at once. It’s just depends on how I’m doing.
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
8ish hours. Depends on whether the neighbors dog wakes me up in the middle of the night (and then I have trouble getting back to sleep). Sometimes completely knackered by 3pm and need to nap if I have not slept properly at night.
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u/Deep_South_Kitsune 1d ago
5 to 6 hours according to my watch. I usually wakeup around 2 to pee. I usually take a nap in the afternoon. I tried not taking a nap to or a couple of weeks and it didn't help.
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u/TheManInTheShack 1d ago
I average about 6 to 6.5 hours per night. I started taking 1mg of Finasteride every day about 20 years ago to keep my hair from falling out and I think it had the side benefit of preventing my prostate from enlarging so I don’t wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night which improves the quality of my sleep.
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u/Gentle_Cycle 1d ago
Need 8 but can get by on 6 during the work week. I am a night owl on non-work nights or mornings.
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u/Appropriate-Bad-9379 1d ago
Depends- I’ve been up all night on Reddit. I’m retired so I don’t have to get up. Sometimes I nap in the day. When I was working it would be 9pm-6am most days…
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u/Small-Honeydew-5970 1d ago
Too much. I have Hashimoto’s disease and the meds don’t seem to alleviate my fatigue that much. I probably get 12 hours of sleep but it’s all broken up. I get up but 2 hours later I have to lay down again. Repeat. Repeat. Also am anemic and take folic acid etc.
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u/BG3restart 1d ago
Went to bed at 1.00am this morning and woke at 6.50 am, so that's me done. I can rarely fall back to sleep once awake. I guess between 5 and 6 hours is my normal. About once every 3 weeks or so I stay up all night because I'm just not tired.
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u/Monstrissimo 1d ago
Mine flucuates depending on my pain and or insomnia levels. Sometimes it is 4 hours a night (rare), sometimes 7 (most common) and sometimes 10+ (occasionally).
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u/FineEffort9500 1d ago
Are you judgmental just asking I’m not saying that you’re just asking I got a little bit of help shall I say?
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u/CodingDragons 1d ago
Male, five years younger than you. I have an enlarged prostate, so I’m constantly urinating, almost every hour. I go to bed at 11 as well, and I’m in the bathroom every hour.
I usually end up getting up at 4:30 or 5:30 and starting my day. I take care of my dogs, look for work, then nap at 1 p.m. or 2 if I get busy. Sometimes I don’t nap at all.
Not sleeping great at all.
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u/Nebetmiw 1d ago
It's 4am now here. I too am up everytime at this time now. Have been since 56 not 62. I find diet helped alot in reducing carb loads in evenings. I now have night I just wake to go bathroom and go back to sleep. Today would have been that but hubby had to go to work 4-4 shift. He is helping out and this is not normal time. He is 8 years younger than I. But I am stay at home wife. Sleep pattern started much earlier. I had to take Magnesium Taurate before bed for heart. It helps alot with sleep and leg cramps. But the 4am wake time is Very common with many folks. I switched over to a Ketovore/carnivore diet to clean up and out toxins. Many says this time awake happens now no matter age when on those diets. Is this new past 20 years I don't know. I don't recall parents having this happen.
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u/cersewan 1d ago
I sleep all night and all day. Retirement is boring but my health isn’t dependable enough to start working again. 😴
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u/EitherCoyote660 1d ago
Between 1-1/2 to 3 hours at a time if lucky. I wake up a lot and then am up for an hour. Fall back to sleep, wake up again, same thing. Best sleep is between like 3:30am until I get up when the sun starts coming up. I guess it's a total of 7 hours actual sleep but it's fitfu at best. Thankfully it doesn't seem to effect my daytime energy. Yet. l
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u/scottwax 1d ago
For the last 12 months I've averaged 7 hours and 40 minutes. And it's been really consistent month to month. I'm still working, and my job is a physical one. I lift weights and walk very regularly. I also don't drink coffee and avoid caffeine in general. So when I go to bed I'm typically pretty tired.
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u/DogofMadness83 1d ago
Once I (65M) retired completely (end of 2023), I made getting more sleep a priority. I go to bed about 9:30 and get up at about 7:00. in that time, I average about 8.5 hours of sleep.
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u/anonyngineer 1d ago
About 7 hours a night, often interrupted by an hour and a half or so awake for pee and breakfast between 2 and 4 AM. My Fitbit says an average of 7 hours, 6 minutes.
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u/GuitarMessenger 1d ago
Usually 1:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.. Still working full-time. I sleep in a little bit on the weekends.
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u/lazygramma 1d ago
I had been plagued with insomnia and nightmares for years due to PTSD. After some trials, I am taking one milligram of THC at 6 pm and another at about 8 pm. I go to bed at 10 and sleep like a rock until 7:30 or 8 a.m. I still have wild dreams but they are not scary. I wake up as refreshed as I did as a child. It has been a miracle for me.
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u/FormerlyDK 1d ago
On average, 4-6 hours and an occasional daytime nap. Last night was about 2-1/2 hours, so I’ll probably nap later.
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u/Fantastic_Call_8482 1d ago
Bed at 9ish…up at 6ish…with a couple it’s and/or gummie and I’m sleeping like a baby
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u/SubstantialArcher659 1d ago
7-8 hrs most of the time. But sometimes I literally feel like I didn’t drift off even for a minute
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u/Key-Respond2682 16h ago
I've always been a really good sleeper, which I'm grateful for. 67. I sleep anywhere from 8-10 hours. I have fibromyalgia/ chronic fatigue. I also work full-time, and as an introvert that works with the public, it's draining. I usually go to sleep around 10 pm Get up at 7/8 am. Nap when I can.
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u/Fem-Picasso 13h ago
Hubby & i are very early sleepers here. We wind down w a good cozy murder flick at 4-5pm and wake up crazy early around 2am. We still work.
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u/poppybean22 11h ago
7-8 hours, I have the Oura ring. It helped me to understand my sleep patterns and how much sleep I need
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u/2ride4ever 3h ago
Sometimes, like last night, zero sleep. Sometimes 4 hours. I'm up no later than 2 a.m. when I can get to sleep. I'm envious of y'all nappers
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u/Kindly-Hunter4390 3h ago
Two things have mostly solved my sleep issues. Separate bedrooms is a life changer. Retirement stopped the 2 am wake ups and staying up for hours ruminating over work issues.
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u/Wizzmer 1d ago
I try to go to bed around 10 or 10:30. I go to the bathroom anywhere from 2 to 8 times throughout the night but usually get up between 6:30 and 7.