How much do you sleep?

How well do you sleep?

It takes me a long time to fall asleep. I don't want to try melatonin because it's a hormone and I don't want to ruin my body. I've started taking a few notes on my sleep each day. I'm tired all the time. It's too early to say anything about my notes, but in the 2 of the 4 days I've slept about 7 hours, I woke up feeling a bit more awake(still tired though) than the days I slept more than that. That's weird. I feel like I need more sleep. I've also started to use darker drapes, but some light from the window still seeps in. I think I need to tape the drapes to the wall to make it even darker. The drapes are thin, so I probably need another layer of drapes. I think I could've slept more today, but I drank too much water last night and had to go to the bathroom in the morning.
It's really hard to feel really awake. It's hard to experience true happiness. It's hard to focus.
I've been waking up with a runny nose these past few days, so my immune system is deteriorating. This gets me worried and I start to read up on extreme insomnia and it makes me more worried.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BomKqeQZwVk
My situation is definitely not as bad as his and he would wish to be my in my situation so I try to be grateful to God. I didn't take the antibiotic he did either. I just want to be normal. Thanks for sending positive energy and praying. If any of you guys have gone through this or have any tips please reply.

Try magnesium + calcium that's what worked for me.

I probably sound like a broken record now emphasizing sleep so much but since this is a sleep thread... I aim for nine hours every single day. Culturally, people in America are especially glorified for sacrificing sleep to work harder. To me this is insanity. You cannot ignore your physiology for long. I'm about to turn 26, and oftentimes I'm still mistaken for being 20-21 years old. And it is really no secret. Sleep gives your body and brain a chance to repair. Women don't call it beauty sleep for nothing.

However, it never used to be like this for me. In my teens I had insomnia and was lucky to get six hours. I sometimes wonder if my lack of sleep back then might have helped trigger my hair loss to have occurred so early. Things that helped were:

1) A fan for 'white noise', it is a constant relaxing sound that can mask other sounds like dogs barking outside, sirens etc.
2) A cool room. If it's just slightly chilly your body prepares itself for rest.
3) Melatonin. We don't produce as much as we should, anymore. Look into this if you'd like to figure out why this is true.
4) Do what you say you're going to do no matter what. Make a list of five things to accomplish every day, and go to bed knowing you got your errands done and that it was a productive day. This keeps your mind from racing. Write down your 5 things for tomorrow too so that you don't worry about what you have to do, because it's already written on paper for you to wake up to.

In my opinion, aim for 8 hours. This is what an average person should sleep for. I train like an athlete, and so for me average is not enough. When for example, a baby is growing, they need a ton of sleep. If I'm breaking down muscle fibers, and repairing and growing the muscle then who am I to think I can get by with just the average? Important thing is to evaluate your lifestyle, and decide for yourself what is optimal.

SonofOdin wrote:I probably sound like a broken record now emphasizing sleep so much but since this is a sleep thread... I aim for nine hours every single day. Culturally, people in America are especially glorified for sacrificing sleep to work harder. To me this is insanity. You cannot ignore your physiology for long. I'm about to turn 26, and oftentimes I'm still mistaken for being 20-21 years old. And it is really no secret. Sleep gives your body and brain a chance to repair. Women don't call it beauty sleep for nothing.

However, it never used to be like this for me. In my teens I had insomnia and was lucky to get six hours. I sometimes wonder if my lack of sleep back then might have helped trigger my hair loss to have occurred so early. Things that helped were:

1) A fan for 'white noise', it is a constant relaxing sound that can mask other sounds like dogs barking outside, sirens etc.
2) A cool room. If it's just slightly chilly your body prepares itself for rest.
3) Melatonin. We don't produce as much as we should, anymore. Look into this if you'd like to figure out why this is true.
4) Do what you say you're going to do no matter what. Make a list of five things to accomplish every day, and go to bed knowing you got your errands done and that it was a productive day. This keeps your mind from racing. Write down your 5 things for tomorrow too so that you don't worry about what you have to do, because it's already written on paper for you to wake up to.

In my opinion, aim for 8 hours. This is what an average person should sleep for. I train like an athlete, and so for me average is not enough. When for example, a baby is growing, they need a ton of sleep. If I'm breaking down muscle fibers, and repairing and growing the muscle then who am I to think I can get by with just the average? Important thing is to evaluate your lifestyle, and decide for yourself what is optimal.

Aren't there some negative issues related to taking Melatonin?

Nothing I saw looked too bad compared to all the benefits I get from more sleep. But maybe I missed something.