Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
Hi all,
I've been on the CPAP machine for about a month now, and after a rocky start (and some fantastic advice from you folk which helped me an enormous amount) I'm now sleeping through the night without too many problems - I wake up occasionally during the night, and take a little while to get back to sleep, but otherwise I'm doing okay.
The only concern I have is that I'm currently sleeping for between 10 - 12 hours a night (and more often the latter than the former), I've always been someone who needs a lot of sleep, but not this much by any means, and I was hoping that the CPAP machine would mean I need less sleep, not more.
So has anyone else found this? Is it something I should be concerned about? It's certainly frustrating as I'd like to get by on 8 hours a night, I'm losing 4 hours each day which could be so much better spent...
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
You might be repaying some sleep debt, but at some point, you'll just have to set the alarm and attend to sleep hygiene if you want to get by with less. If you are an active person and have things to do and places to be, I doubt you'll be able to fit in 12 hours. Maybe it's the time of year. Across the pond in Eastern U.S. it is unimaginably cold this year. I am thinking hibernating for the duration of the Arctic blast.
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
you have only been on CPAP for a month... The new reality has not had time to sink in.
your body has been sleep starved, and you might be sleeping longer than you need to, but extra sleep may also be helping you heal.
I have found that I *want* to sleep more than I need to for best results, and have had to go back to using an alarm clock (I have been on CPAP for a little over 3 months) I figure it will take at least a year to really get a new rhythm, increasing towards stable all the time.
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Tongue Suck Technique for prevention of mouth breathing:
- Place your tongue behind your front teeth on the roof of your mouth
- let your tongue fill the space between the upper molars
- gently suck to form a light vacuum
Practising during the day can help you to keep it at night
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RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
Hi alexinlondon,
I too find myself sleeping 9 or 10 hours. Now if I subtract the 1/2 hour it takes me to fall asleep and the 1/2 hour in the morning when I wake up and don't get out of bed, plus if I wake up in middle of night to use bathroom, then It doesn't sound too bad.
But in all seriousness, it does take time for your body to heal from all the time you spent with untreated apnea. Just try to keep to a schedule, like going to bed around same time, etc.
It's been 4 months for me and I know if I set the alarm and I only get 6 or 7 hours sleep, I still feel pretty decent most days.
Hang in there!
OpalRose
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
When I moved to the "beautiful albeit very wet (except for this winter which has been gorgeous) Oregon coast" I donated every suit and tie I owned to the Smithsonian. I also sold the alarm clock on Ebay.
So I sleep when I lay down and get up when I wake up. Usually that's only 7 or 8 hours, so I would be willing to take one or two of those extra hours off your hands. It's the least I can do........
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
I find I enjoy going to sleep now knowing I'm not going to wake up choking and gasping for air.
I normally only get 6.5-7 hrs.
But I understand, it seems to me if I sleep more than 8-9 hrs if feel like I wasted my day away.
Happy Sleeping!
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
Hey Alex, I went from 10-12 overs to 8-10 over the last year and some change on the CPAP. I know 8-10 is considered excessive by a lot, I guess I just resolved not to feel guilty about it. I lift weights, I program computers, I do plenty of stuff to earn that recovery time.
Basically, if I were you, I'd stop looking at the number and start asking yourself "am I well rested?" and then work backwards from there.
02-25-2015, 07:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-25-2015, 07:44 AM by lab rat.)
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
I agree with the others in many respects and will add this perspective.
If you had just had an operation to fix a chronic health condition, you would expect it to take a few months for you to recover to some extent.
If you have been "Lying" in bed for 10 hours a night and only getting the equivalent of 2 hours sleep, neither of which was deep REM sleep (as I also had done for God knows how long before getting onto CPAP) your entire body has a hell of a lot of recovery to do. Of course you will sleep quite a lot each day until you get to the point that you can get 6-8 hours and awake more refreshed than many of your friends
So just lie back and think of England.
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
Thanks for all of the replies, it's reassuring to hear, and hopefully things will even out after a while...
RE: Sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a night
This happened to me for a few months when I started. I would sleep for 8 or 9 hours with the CPAP, then take it off and sleep a few more hours. This still happens to me sometimes but it does seem to have subsided somewhat.