What is the expected time for continuous sleep?

[Benji]

This is my first post. I have had a cpap for 10 years. On average I get 5-6 hours of continuous sleep before I awake. Is this normal or should I expect more hours of continuous sleep?

[OpalRose]

Hi Benji,
You don't mention how you feel after the 5-6 hours of sleep. Some of us need more sleep and some can do with less.

If your feel tired when you get up or during the day, then something may need adjusted with your therapy.

Do you know your AHI number?

Which S9 are you using? The S9 Elite would be able to give us the data we need to see.
You can download #SleepyHead software, and someone can take a look to see what is going on.

[sonicboom]

It would also be helpful to know what, if anything, wakes you up. Is it the urge to make a pit stop for example? Additionally, a much overlooked but extremely important aspect of quality sleep is sleep hygiene. For example, are you leaving 3-4 hours between last food and beverage and sleep? Are you abstaining from late caffeine or alcohol? Are you sleeping in your best position? Is it dark in your room throughout the times you need to sleep? There are many other things that could be responsible and we would need to see your data to comment but in the end for us all its how do you feel during the day. If 5-6 hours is enough then consider yourself lucky. You get to have more awake hours. If its not, lets get you on track for better sleep.

[Benji]

Thanks

I have the S9 Elite. The AHI number is generally less than 1. I do not have any data from the card because I just learned that either the SD card or the machine is defective. I will get this fixed.

I go back to sleep after the 5-6 hours and get another 1-2 hours sleep so generally I feel good during the day.

I do eat the majority of my calories of the day in the evening before I go to sleep. This may be bad. I do not know. Binging actually. Alcohol and room conditions are not a problem.

I have a big however here. During the past several months I have only been getting 2-3 hours of constant sleep and wake up 2-3 times during the night. This has made life pretty miserable. I am exhausted all the time. I believe it is related to my smoking. Generally, when I smoke less (less then 1/2 pack per day) I get the 5-6 hours of continuous sleep. If I smoke more then 1/2 pack then I get the 2-3 hours of sleep. I know the obvious answer is to stop smoking.

From two sleep studies, the last being about 4 years ago, I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ben

[sonicboom]

I go back to sleep after the 5-6 hours and get another 1-2 hours sleep so generally I feel good during the day.

If true - you are good to go in my opinion. I usually get around 7.5 hours. Sometimes straight through but oftentimes with 1 wake up in the night usually somewhere between 4-6 hours in. I suspect the eating volume and time before bed when eating is what breaks up your sleep. If you want longer sleep duration try changing your eating pattern and see if that makes a difference.

You have stated the obvious with respect to the smoking.

[OpalRose]

The "Binging" before bed and the smoking will most likely affect your sleep quality. With an AHI <1, there can't be too much off with your therapy.
The obvious is to make life style changes. I know...easier said than done! But start with the eating, and try not to eat after dinner time.

I've never smoked, so unable to advise.

Sleep Hygiene is very important. Try to maintain the same schedule each night as far as sleep. Be sure your mask is clean and adjusted properly. You could try taking Melatonin. It doesn't do much long term, but can "reset" your sleep schedule if used for a few weeks.

[trish6hundred]

Hi Benji,
WELCOME! to the forum.!

Hopefully, you can get your machine fixed soon, that is probably contributing to your sleep problems, too.
Good luck to you as you continue your CPAP therapy, hang in there for more responses to your post.

[cpdaniel]

This is my first post. I have had a cpap for 10 years. On average I get 5-6 hours of continuous sleep before I awake. Is this normal or should I expect more hours of continuous sleep?

I'd kill to sleep 5-6 hours continuously. After 14 months on the hose, I'd estimate I rarely get more than 2hrs of continuous sleep. I rarely had problems sleeping before PAP, so I suspect it's the mask/hose that's waking me up. It's a work in progress

[Timur]

Before starting CPAP I would wake up very often during the night, almost every hour or so. It was pretty bad. I thought it was my "new normal" and chalked it up to being 50.

One of the great things about CPAP is that I now sleep solidly for about 4 to 5 hours, then usually wake up briefly maybe twice after that, to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep in total.

I'm very envious of folks who can sleep through the night for 7 or 8 hours solid, with no wake ups at all ... haven't done that in a long time, nor have most of my friends in the same age group as me, and they don't even have to wear a mask at night!

I mentioned this to the sleep specialist and she said this is pretty normal in her experience, many folks wake up several times at night, but usually fall back to sleep pretty fast.

I found tweaking my EPR settings really helped me to sleep better with CPAP, from multiple wake ups to fewer and fewer.

[cpdaniel]

I'd kill to sleep 5-6 hours continuously. After 14 months on the hose, I'd estimate I rarely get more than 2hrs of continuous sleep. I rarely had problems sleeping before PAP, so I suspect it's the mask/hose that's waking me up. It's a work in progress

I guess I killed it last night - for the first time in more than 18 months, I slept for 6.5 hours straight. Hopefully this work in progress continues with the progress!