Life with Cancer: How much sleep do you need/want/get?

I'm curious about sleep lately. I suppose it's because I now have a kid so no matter what time I go to bed I'm getting up at 7 (6:45 if it's not my lucky day, 7:15 if it is). Alex is a great sleeper and always has been so I don't really have anything to complain about...but here I am. My issue is that I really need to get eight hours. If I don't, I just don't feel right. And I kind of become obsessed about it, especially if I've realized--usually in the middle of the night--that I'm going to come up short.

Last night there were the cutest little blonde kids running up and down the hallway in my hotel. They were playing "Mother may I" and screeching and laughing and occasionally throwing their green jelly flip-flops at my door. I wanted to go out there and say, "um, excuse adorable little kids, but ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Instead I huffed and puffed while I did some work and sipped a beer. I couldn't spoil their fun...I remember staying in hotels as a kid and being so excited, although I highly doubt my mother would have allowed such behavior (and, as I told the room service girl, neither will I).

Anyway, I was convinced that these kids (or their boozing parents) would keep me up all night. They didn't. I accomplished that all on my own. At precisely 3 a.m. I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep. And all I could think about was how I wasn't going to get my eight hours, which made me less able to relax and fall back to sleep. It's a vicious, neurotic cycle. What's worse is that I just saw a study that said we're supposed to be getting 10 hours a night. (If I weren't on the side of a highway at a Dunkin Donuts right now, I would try to find this study). Who has the time for that much sleep?

As a cancer patient and regular health-conscious person, I'm a big proponent of getting enough zzzzs every night. But I'm also realistic and some days I just can't go to bed at 10:30, you know? So I'm curious. How much sleep do you guys get? Do you think it's enough? Here's to a great, restful weekend for all of us!

--Erin

Be sure to check out Glamour's 15 ways how not to get cancer!

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From the Community…

Comments 1-10 of 10

Posted by JJ Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:04pm PDT

I get 6-9 hours depending on what time I fall asleep and that is if I stay sleep through the night. Also, I have to be up by 530 in the morning to get 2 kids and myself out the door by 6 so its really not enough, because i wake up tired, go to work tired and come home exhausted. I commute an hour to and from work so I really only have the weekends to catch up. This weekend i crashed, but the last couple of weeks I've been on a roll. Thankfully I am off this week, I can take the kids to daycare and go home and go back to sleep.

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Posted by Joy Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:55pm PDT

for four weeks my husband has been getting up at 3:30am to get to work by 4:00. He usualy gets to bed between 10:30 and 11:00pm which if you do the math is about4.5-5.0hrs of sleep. Friday he ended up at the doctor with a stress induced mouth infection. The doctor said it could be from too little sleep and too much stress. he is 32

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Posted by nlallave Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:59pm PDT

I get between 6-7 hours of sleep. I go to bed between 10:30 and 11:00 pm. By 1:00am I wake up for 15 mins then go back to sleep for the rest of the night. I also use a c-pap machine when I sleep which helps ,so I am not tired throughout the day. I wake up at 5:30 am to start my day.And I am not tired, if I am tired in the middle of the day I take a nap for an hour then I am fine for the rest of the day.

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Posted by cyndi _w Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:38pm PDT

When I had ovarian cancer, at times I slept 10-12 hrs a day, Real bad days sometimes more.And also when going through treatment, 3-4 hrs...Real good days sometimes more. Now, I average about 6, any more and I'm sluggish any less and I'm tired. I think its different for everyone though. I've heard Einstein only slept like 4 1/2 hrs a night and look what a genius he was!

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Posted by Lainey Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:23pm PDT

I believe the recommended hours of sleep necessary for average functioning is 7 hrs. That is with no disturbances and wake ups. We all need the REM phase which is a deep dream state. Myself, I can go to sleep at 11pm and wake up at different hours during the night. I probably have a sleep disorder. I live alone, post menopausal and have nothing to disturb me.I get 9 hrs. of sleep which has always been my average to function at above average ability.

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Posted by mary Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:17pm PDT

With cancer there are no rules except what your body tells you to do. When you feel good, get up and do what you need to do. When you don't feel good, reduce your "to-do" list and focus on the crucial things. Cancer, surgery and chemo has totally messed up my bio-clock/rhythms. I wake up at night and then sleep like the dead at noon. If some idiot is critical of a messy house then ask that person to help you clean the darn house

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Posted by she with the little feet!!!! Tue Jul 1, 2008 5:43am PDT

I try to get around 7 or so - I got to bed sometime between 9 and 9:30, the alarm squawks at 4:30 (I have to be to work at 6:30, and with traffic, its a 30 minute drive). Question is: do I count the five (pregnancy induced) times I get up in the night to hit the loo against the total? ;-) Yes - I'm being a smartalek.

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Posted by Rae Tue Jul 1, 2008 9:10am PDT

I try to get 9 - like you said, your body feels weird when it doesn't get the down-time that it needs. My body needs a lot of sleep because I work out really hard.

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Posted by VERSACE Wed Jul 2, 2008 2:28am PDT

i need atleast 7 to 8 hours to feel good when i wakeup.
if i get less im not in a good mood, and if i oversleep
i feel really crappy so i dont know whats worse. i always
set my alarm clock when to wakeup even in the summer, HAHA!

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Posted by jenni Wed Jul 2, 2008 3:50am PDT

iam really feeling sleeping in working place as well as at home....
even i wake up lately at 7:00....but its very bad ..i need a day for me should be fresh and happy....ofcouse in night time i wont get sleep...very easily....

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Comments 1-10 of 10

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