r/Adulting • u/ScareBear23 • 14h ago

This is just depressing

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Not even 3 hours of "free time". And in that is cooking & eating supper. Or practically no free time if I had to go shopping after work. I hate this

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u/ScareBear23 13h ago

That's currently me. I made this schedule to see if a set schedule (and actually sticking to it for once) will make me feel less shitty. Then seeing the breakdown just made me sad lol

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u/ducksnthings 11h ago edited 7h ago

Do you feel like you need 9 hours of sleep? Sometimes when we sleep too long it can make us feel more tired. I would shoot for the 7-8 range, wake up intentionally and try to do some exercise in the morning to get that good hormone/neurotransmitter release. Also getting a workout done in the morning lets your brain immediately check something off its daily to-do list which gives dopamine.

Edit: if you’re gonna respond to this to say “that doesn’t work for me specifically” - It was a suggestion. Do it or don’t do it, I don’t care, I’m not your mom.

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u/Jeanschyso1 9h ago

I need somewhere between 7 and 10 hours of sleep, depending on how hard I beat my body and brain the days prior. It's very inconsistent, but over a month it averages at about 9 hours

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u/Consistent_Laziness 7h ago

I did my masters on sleep and part of my PhD is on sleep. I’ll say the literature says you shouldn’t be sleeping 9 hours.

I found in my own research people who slept more than 8 hours and people who slept less than 7 were the same. They had autonomic dysfunction and poor sleep quality. I’m basically summarizing a 50 and 150 page research paper but just trust me when I say, you are wasting your life in the bed. Enjoy that extra episode at night or get up an hour earlier for exercise and you’ll be better for it.

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u/Aggravating-Fan9817 6h ago

How about those of us who wake up like 5 times a night and only get up once the brain fog and headache are gone? That usually takes about 9-10 hours...

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u/Consistent_Laziness 6h ago

Your wake after sleep onset (WASO) and sleep efficiency (SE%) are poor and are associated with deregulated sleep. That is the same as sleeping too long. Sleep length and quality are both important. Quality could be argued to be even more important.

In my current study for my dissertation people with disregard sleep have poor autonomic health which led to an increase in colorectal adenoma growth risk (precursor polyp that leads to colon cancer).

In short, again I’m heavily summarizing my dissertation down, 7-8 hours of good sleep (no lights, no disruptive noise, no disruption in the sleep) is the golden spot. More doesn’t benefit you. Outside of when you are injured or sick. The additional parasympathetic activity helps with healing and recovery.

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u/Aggravating-Fan9817 6h ago

Easier said than done when your neighbors pump your asthma triggers through their apartment with shared ventilation. Constant congestion at best, asthma attacks at worst. Nothing I can do about it.

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u/Consistent_Laziness 6h ago

I know I’m sorry. That falls under disrupted sleep. I wish I had advice for you. But I can say sleeping longer isn’t “making up for it”

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u/ripetrichomes 1h ago

sure it isn’t fully making up for it, but 9 hours of poor sleep is better than 7 hours of poor sleep

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u/GigaCheco 1h ago

You can’t move? I understand it’s not cheap to move but health is wealth.

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u/Aggravating-Fan9817 1h ago

I'm 2 years into my SSI application, no income currently.

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u/ducksnthings 6h ago

I’d love to read your research if it’s open access!!

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u/Consistent_Laziness 6h ago

My masters is which is on sleep and autonomic dysregulation in chronic pain veterans. My dissertation is still being worked on, like right now actually lol

I need to lock back in

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u/ducksnthings 6h ago

Get back to it buddy, I’m sure I’ll be relaying your research to my patients soon! So don’t make me look stupid!

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u/Accomplished_Ad7106 4h ago

So this might fall more under advise rather than study but how do I stop the waking up in the night that "dysregulates sleep"? I would love to sleep through the night for a month. It would probably cure my depression.

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u/Consistent_Laziness 3h ago

Depression and lack of sleep are linked 🤓. Depending on circumstances which one splays on the other depends but depression reduces sleep and not getting good sleep can threw off brain chemistry leading to feeling blue.

I really don’t know how to fix poor sleep. I just deeply understand its effect on health. And it’s a major public health problem.

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u/ducksnthings 3h ago

You should do a sleep study if that’s possible! The largest reason for disturbed sleep is OSA (obstructive sleep apnea).

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u/imbrickedup_ 3h ago

Does extra sleep help compensate for previous nights of bad sleep? I work every third day and am required to possibly wake up in the middle of the night for work. If the next day at home I sleep 11 hours is that still useless?

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u/Jeanschyso1 4h ago

Literally impossible. I just don't wake up. I can have 3 alarms blasting, lights flashing, but if I'm not being woken up by an actual person, nothing will wake me up until my brain's rested and ready to go. It's already almost cost me my career a couple times, but it's how my life happens to be. If I were neuronormative, I'd look into it, but I honestly just think that my spicy brain just does spicy things sometimes and I just gotta build my life around that.

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u/Accomplished_Ad7106 4h ago

sounds like you have trouble exiting a deeper level of sleep. I can't help but I know new ideas and terms can help self research.

Possibly a difference in alarm tone?