mmmmmmmm, I realised that when I am deprived of sleep I wake up to a larger abdomen, however as a teen I thought getting 8 hours of sleep is adequate enough for my age, and I honestly don't know if trully is good or not...so is 8 hours of sleep adequate for a teen? And I am aware of what you said about teens needing atleast 9 hours of sleep however I have a pretty tight schedule and 8 hours of sleep will make things more....stable if you will =P so is it alright?

I am a night owl; that is why I don't get enough sleep. I wake up every morning M-F and Sat at 5am, but don't go to sleep until 10:30 or so. I just feel like I am going to miss something...that's how it goes with us night owls!

Well. My problem is... Children!

Yes I would love to sleep longer but my children don't actually sleep through all of the time, what with illness with one of them usually or nightmares, maybe I will try and get in bed earlier, I find that hard too though because of that being my only me time!

Interesting information though.

I have too many interests, read too much, and never have anough time for it all so I sacrifice sleep.  I have lately been making myself get to bed earlier however with the promise that I can do more on the weekend if I'm not dragging.

I certainly notice that if I get less sleep than what I am used to getting that I am extra hungry and that if I am staying up late - I crave a sweet snack - so it all makes sense, I just didn't put it all together.

Oh also, I have noticed of an evening I eat more as I am tired. I try to fight the tiredness and end up eating, I should really go to bed earlier lol. I will be slim!

Yes, this is totally me! And I've notice some belly fat increase in the last six months particularly! My problem is falling asleep or winding down, I can lay down at 10:00 and still have tons of stuff running through my mind for the next day. Any suggestions?

Original Post by: mdickey1

Yes, this is totally me! And I've notice some belly fat increase in the last six months particularly! My problem is falling asleep or winding down, I can lay down at 10:00 and still have tons of stuff running through my mind for the next day. Any suggestions?

I used to have this problem all the time. I started dedicating 15 minutes a day to writing down everything that was racing around in my head. After the 15 minutes, I have to switch to "what can I fix" mode. This gives me an outlet for all the stuff in my head, and it helps me focus on results instead of worry. I do still wake up in the morning with racing thoughts, but at least I slept.

I'll have to try that tonight - I'm big on lists anyways, so I'm sure it will do me some good!

I love sleep - so is there something wrong with getting TOO much sleep? I could probably go to bed at 9 and not get up until 7 or probably later the next day...

I don't finish my classes at college until ranging from 9pm to 10pm, and I have to get up for an early ballet class every day... I simply can't get to sleep soon enough, I am usually doing homework and spending time with the boyfriend and trying to unwind. I usually am asleep by 1, I get about 6 hours of sleep a night. And as a dancer I am supposed to be getting 10! 

My husband has suffered from asthma, pre-diabetes and general declining health.  He was diagones with sleep apena in Sept. but was unable to get use to sleeping with the C-Pap machine...until he suffered respertory arrest and spent a week in the hospital.  Since then, which has been less than two months, he has had a decreas in his blood sugar, he was retaining water in his legs, that has corrected and he is getting a complete nights sleep which he hasn't experienced in 10 years.  The right kind of sleep is important!

I can totally relate!  I've been a night owl for as long as I can recall.  I have a bad habit of drinking wine in the evening and right before bed...to help get me sleepy.  Night owls never seem to get sleepy on their own.  Anyway, I have noticed that when I do get to bed early I feel lighter.  This is such a vicous cycle for me though.  I have major belly fat and it's only getting worse.  Glad to know you guys are hear to talk to :)

I wonder if it matters how late we go to bed as long as we sleep for 8 hours before we get up? My schedule gets me to bed at 1am but I sleep til 10am. That is 9 hours of sleep.

Haha, me too!

astull - it is the number of hours of sleep, not which hours, so you are on track.  we night owls should rule the world - if i didn't HAVE to get up early for work, i could be better at everything!

Original Post by: astull

I wonder if it matters how late we go to bed as long as we sleep for 8 hours before we get up? My schedule gets me to bed at 1am but I sleep til 10am. That is 9 hours of sleep.

Getting 8 - 9 hours of sleep is what's important.

Not to contradict the expert, but I have read several places that sleep before midnight is worth twice sleep in the wee hours and daytime. I don't know, because I'm not tempted to try it. At my age, keeping regular hours is caring for my body.

I have "missed" an awful lot of sunrises and sunsets. I think catching them, the smell of trees in the rain, the song of birds, is much more important than reading the hottest book, downloading favorite tunes or even diligently working toward some materialistic goal. Not that weight-loss isn't materialistic, but recovering from weight loss, getting sleep, rest, proper food and exercise, all that has a calming effect on the spirit as well.

I've had my share of years waking up in the wee hours and gorging on sweets and breads. I see what it's gotten me, and I'm truly happy to give that up. Winding down in the evenings is not always my first choice, and not that easy when you live with a young person with changeable hours. I am glad this article & the sharing will help me focus on the importance of letting go of the hustle & bustle, and getting rested.

I think that the amount of sleep that every adult needs varies. I have found that getting 6 to 7 hours is plenty for someone my age, 20 years old, maybe older adults need more? However when I get 8 to 9 hours I feel like I have slept to much, and Im sleepier throughout the day.

I've been a night owl ever since I can remember.  I could sleep 15 hrs straight as a teenager.  At 50, 8 or 9 would be good for me, but I can still sleep a 10-12 hr stretch if exhausted from the work week, which is a lot.  If I let my body choose, I'd say I would fall asleep between 2-4am and then awake 8-9 hrs later.  Always struggled with feeling "out of sync" with the rest of the daytime world.  My body would never wake up naturally at 6am.  Ever.  oh well

I love to sleep, and I've been making an effort to get more, but I'm so busy! I have after school activities and chores, plus some nights I have team practices that go until 9:30 (home by 10:00). I have morning rehearsals at 7:30. Some days its just so hard to finish the homework and the chores in good time with all the activities! I get 7-8 hours on a good week day, sometimes less than 7 on wednesdays (late practice and morning rehearsal the next day). I wake up at 6:00am in the morning to be on time! I can't be a night owl, but sometimes I have no choice :(

me three!

I work nights which really messes with one's sleep schedule.  So, I sleep days.  Although I love working nights (I'm an RN), after over a year of this I am finding that my body doesn't enjoy it so much.  On my nights off, I switch my schedule around to being awake during daytime hours, sleeping with my husband at night and participating in life with our friends. 

I then switch back to night schedule.  I get about 6 to 7 hrs of broken sleep on my night schedule because I have a dog that needs to go outside.  I do pretty good but I find at least once a month, I need to sleep a very long day.

I'm a "natural" night-owl!My "best" sleep hours are 4:30a to 11:30p If I had a career that I could work Grave yard shift, OH MAN! I'd be so happy! but alas, the "Normies" work 9-5, so I have to conform!HOWEVER~I don't have to "fight" with my body now! here's what I did;I went to Lowes and just stood in front of the Giant color wall, the one with all the paint swatches on it.Next I jsut stood there for about 15 minutes looking at all the colors! eventually my eye drifted to a GREAT "raspberry" color!(homestead Raspberry) my stomach tickled like butterflies everytime I looked at it! I'd walk away, take a stroll out into the garden area and then return only to "find" that color again drawing me to it along with the butterflies!SO...off I went to paint my new color onto the bedroom walls! I Knew in an instand that was my color! I then found a remote ceiling fan with an uplight/downlight at walmart.I only spent a total of $200 remaking my bedroom with the kilz,color tinted paint and the wall paint, the Cornice over the window that has a 4" black with 2" dk grey "picture frame" around the frame of the window then 2" wood slat blinds (already there) and the 6 Black sheer panels over those (also from walmart @$5 a sheer & voila! the first night I slept in my new "cave" as I call it [my family calls it my "coffin" it's so dark] I was a complete rest! total complete rest!I do not have more than that in my bedroom!I have no room for my computer so eventually I found a double door computer amore which I sit on an angle in the south-east corner of the room (FungShui)and I've no electronics or alarm clock (it's in the bathroom now) in this room at all! I go to bed now every night no later than 10:30 because I do 20 minutes of "Crunch Abs" or "billy Blanks" off the "instant netflix! from 9:45 - 10:15 with a shower!Last month I lost 12.5#'s!I started Atkins on 1/28 use the charts here on calorie.com..I love DSL(day light savings! that means I can ride a bike when I get home after work or use the hula hoop outside! I love the summertime & it's at least 120 up in the high desert during the summer!Hope these help those of you who have a terrible time sleeping at night! (ever think your "light sensitive"? think about getting allll "light" or sound emmunating things out of your sleep space! it might help!

When I was in my early 20's I thought sleep was a waste of time. I felt like there was something I could be doing. I would find myself up at 2am dusting or doing dishes. I have since gotten over it. Now I want to sleep and can't. I work 2 jobs so by the time I get home around 10pm, I usually eat (bad, I know), then I try to watch a movie and the news. I usually get in bed around 12pm-1am and back up by at least 7am.  I am always exhausted.

I am notorious for getting into a good book and staying up way tooo late.  My current book is just boring enough that I only read a few pages before bed but not so boring that I don't want to read it.

I used to go to bed at midnight every night and get up at 6:30 but now I'm up at 5:30 and to bed routinely at 10:30.  My weight loss has increased and I generally feel really good.

Erin

www.momandbabyboutique.com

I've always been a good sleeper and loved the occasional middle of the day naps when I was in college. Now that I'm working, stress keeps me up and I don't doubt that getting a good night sleep in addition to exercise and a healthy diet really help the gut.

Thanks for the info.

I had a HUGE GUT! I had heard somewhere that soda/carbonation helps to "gas up" the gut as does drinking through a straw, as does chewing gum, as does smoking! so...For me,...no more gum!,no more straws, now more cigerrettes, no more soda's I bought a 75 oz water jug at Walgreens and I drink ! a day fro sun-up to sun-down!I don't work any more than usual (I'm a hairdresser) and talk about the stress! but the excersise just befor the shower is what "kicks" it for me! everyone has to find their own level of zen, but for me the greatest stress relief is that restful sleep I get every night! I weighed this am I'm at 156  (3/6) from 171 (1/28) I've lost my "apron" over my "lap" and I've started feeling those sides & ribs again!

I was brought up with the parrot of 'it's the hours before midnight that count'.  Many, many years later I read/heard on tv about the same thing in connection with the brain/hypothalamus responding to the light as it dawns. This starts to wake you up slowly, so if that is the case going to bed before midnight will mean that you get more and better sleep. Looks like mum may have been right after all.

I often go into productive mode at night. I can single things out in the quiet and truly focus. I get a ton of stuff done at night, but totally regret it in the morning when I don't want to get out of bed. Lately I've been trying to go to bed earlier but most nights it just doean't happen. I had no clue that teens needed 9 hours of sleep. I usually only get 6, but when I get around ten on my days off I wake up with extreme headachs and I feel tired all day. It makes sense now.

I know that setting a schedule and sticking to it helps maintain healthy weight or help with weight loss, but sometimes there are uncontrolled circumstances that interup both sleep, exercise and eating patterns.  I am a morning person I perfer exercise in the morning to get my day going, but my schedule is taking up my time. So far I'm making a weightloss effort by cutting out alcohol, soda's(diet and reg) and by passing junk foods I did increase  water especially at night.  my skin looks better but the scale continues to show Big Fat numbers, guess it's all about patients before the scale moves down.

I'm purely and simply an insomniac.  Part of the problem is that I find it easiest to fall asleep around 2 in the morning, but if I stay up 'til 2, I should really sleep 'til 10 -- which probably wouldn't go over too well with my boss!  :D  I struggle to get to sleep around 10:30ish, and then I find myself waking up frequently.  If I maintain this routine rigidly, I can manage it for a while -- but small interruptions will throw the whole thing off.

However, I've been this way since early childhood, so it seems to simply be a function of my individual physiology.  I'm not really worried about it: I've learned to live with it.

Pup2pup -- the 'out of sync' feeling is roughly the same thing I experience.  Apparently, some of us are born with our circadian clocks set a couple time zones ahead or behind.  If we move to a 'suitable' time zone, we'll be okay for a bit, then our circadian rhythms will adjust and we'll find ourselves out of sync again.  I'm not sure anyone really understands why some of us are naturally 'out of sync,' but I like to think that, from an evolutionary perspective, we're the night watchmen and -women who kept the beasties at bay back in our prehistoric days (or, conversely, the early birds who rose before the sun to catch more fish, or something like that) :D

Sannep -- You're correct; different people need different amounts of sleep, though the amount in question doesn't necessarily correlate directly with age.  The 'normal' range runs from about 6 or 7 to 9 or 10 hours, with most people requiring around 8 hours of sleep.  It also depends on whether or not you use caffiene -- there are a great many Americans, at least, who believe they're doing just fine on 5 hours of sleep or so per night, but don't account for the four or five cups of coffee a day that keep them going, LOL!

It would be interesting to study the possible relationship between the rise of America's 24-7 culture and obesity -- if you think about it, over the past few decades, we've worked longer hours and tried to cram in more and more on less and less sleep, while becoming fatter and fatter.

I don't think that's the sole cause -- but it certainly could be an important piece of the pie.

weird part is if im not disturbed i can sleep for 13 hours and when i get up im still tired. im not sure if thats bad or not :/ lol.

is that normal??

If you ever find out then please let me know cos I'm the same.

My fiance and I met each other working third shift for a department.  I know that I would come home from work at 6:30 AM and try to go to sleep immediately.  I would normally sleep the entire day and not wake up until 8 PM to get ready for work.

I now work 8 AM to 5 PM and he's working thirds for a different department.  He goes into work at 11:30 PM and when he gets home at 7:30 AM he stays awake until 10-11 AM.  BUT, after I'm home from work, he still sleeps until 9-10 PM.

I argue that this is too much sleep! (Although, I used to do this myself) Even if I can sometimes wake him up around 6-7, he will sleep until 9-10 the next evening.

Is this too much sleep? Can anyone help me win this argument?!

Original Post by: mr_omario

mmmmmmmm, I realised that when I am deprived of sleep I wake up to a larger abdomen, however as a teen I thought getting 8 hours of sleep is adequate enough for my age, and I honestly don't know if trully is good or not...so is 8 hours of sleep adequate for a teen? And I am aware of what you said about teens needing atleast 9 hours of sleep however I have a pretty tight schedule and 8 hours of sleep will make things more....stable if you will =P so is it alright?

I have been reading a bit lately about cortisol which is a hormone the body produces which can result in belly fat! I also read that caffine can increase your cortisol levels so guess what I have given up coffee - not that I drank much anyway, usually only 2 cups a day if that. But instead I now drink tea and have found a nice green tea with raspberry. Green tea suppose to be v.good.

Also found article interesting that sleep and cortisol related which I think probably relates to me as I dont always sleep so well, even if I go to bed early. I have heaps of vivid dreams and dont seem to reach a deep sleep.

Like the tip about light sensitive. We have lots of little pilot lights in the room that actually combined give off quite a glow - t.v and dvd player, alarm sensor, alarm clock etc. Maybe I will tape over some of these and see what happens.

We've just had a prog on tv which I have rec but not fully watched yet. From the bit I have seen the vivid dreams don't actually make your sleep worse, but are good for you. I'll update wehn I've managed to watch it all but could be next week now as busy schedule next few days.

I've always been a sleepy head and one of my sons is too. when I was younger my boyfriend of the time's mother thought I had sleeping sickness as every time I went round I fell asleep watching tv. I did once read that it was bad for you to have too much sleep as in shortening your life as much as too lilttle but ono one ever talks about this only shortages. faced with walking around tired allt he time I prefer to get my rest and feel better in the waking hours.

Feeling better today as had two nights of 11hours. Weight also down 2½lb since Sat. 

I too am I night owl,  plus I have ADHD.

I have been known to stay up all night,  and go strong the next day,  with no sleep.

Many a night I get 4-5 hours.

I have never heard about the cravings and being sleep deprived before.  I just can't seem to go to sleep before midnight-1am.  I get up at 6am also.

I don't drink caffeine either.  I'm just hyper-active natually.

I will try to force myself to get some more sleep,  and see if it makes a difference in my weight.  I lost 20 pounds in 2005, and 16 pounds in 2006, but only 9 in 2007,  and in 2008 I lost a whopping 2 pounds. I good at maintaining,  I just want to maintain at 40 pounds less than I am now... seem to be stalled in my weight loss efforts.

I'm in peri-menopause and it is causing the rooster comes at 3:30 am almost every mornng.  Some times I can go back to sleep, many times I do but don't sleep soundfully.  I don't to take pills so any other suggestions would be helpful.

earth_mom wrote:

"Not to contradict the expert, but I have read several places that sleep before midnight is worth twice sleep in the wee hours and daytime."

I do agree with you earth mom.  The body does operate on a daily rhythmic activity cycle (circadian rhythm) based on a 24 hour interval, and there are shifts in hormone levels related to exposure to light.  This sleep-wake cycle promotes optimal body functions during the day.  Ideally, we would sleep and wake with the light.  But, overall, total amount of sleep is more important than time of sleep. Circadian rhythms are more pronounced in young people.

I gave up drinking red wine and my problem of waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep disappeared.

I gave up drinking all wine and alcohol, except for special occasions, and began to see my weight drop, and my slacks become looser, even before I began a more elaborated diet. 

I work overnight(11pm to 7:30am, and the work time is in no way adjustable,) and I am really concerned with how I am going to be able to maintain eating over 2300 calories a day, AND getting enough sleep.

Anyone in a similar situation, please respond with some helpful tips, because I am just starting on my weight loss journey, and I don't want to throw my cards in simply because I don't know how to play them.

I had been dieting successfully (1-2 lbs per week) for a total loss of 30 lbs until I hit a 3 week period where I experienced no loss at all; no gain either,  thankfully, although my jeans seemed to get increasingly tighter around the waist. Keeping a food diary daily made it clear that mycalorie/fat/carb intake remained exactly the same. After many attempts to break what I thought was a extra stubborn plateau, I pondered the pproblem. In retrospect I found the only change during that time was intermittent sleep or little total hours of sleep. Not fair! We lose sleep AND gain inches/weight??? I can't seem to get to the root of the sleep issue, but other ladies have suggested it may be hormonal; oh great! As if weight loss were not difficult enough!!:)  

A great article and so friendly to read. I always sleep atleast 7.30h a day and feel great.

For those of you who have bad eating habits I reccomend the harmless appetite suppressants.

Harkon, http://hoodiastore.net/

What made the difference for your husband with the CPAP machine?  I can usually get to sleep with mine on, but is uncomfortable and I find I have pulled it off, often after a short amount of sleep-or perhaps longer. I am never sure unless I happen to wake up.  Some days I am just exhausted and it is difficult for me to sleep more than 4-5 hours even if I manage to keep it on.

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jhoncena

This is not so much a comment as it is a question. Is it better to excercise after you have eaten or before? I have heard Yes to both questions and a no to both. I am really curious. Is it better to walk in the morning or the evening? I'm just full of questions, but I would really appreciate an answer. Thank you so much. I am throughly enjoying this site.....I finally have the insentive to try. I feel it has a lot to do with the encouragement that I find in here. Once again, thank you. Toni

Original Post by: fioyne

If you ever find out then please let me know cos I'm the same.

 

Have you been checked for sleep apnea?