h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello
Its 7am in the uk and i was just wondering how much sleep you need to have a "normal or good" day, i suffer from a mild form of insomina and generaly sleep 3-4 hours a night but sometimes not for 24 hours and more, the latter tends to make me slow and lethargic.
On a normal day i'm very active, but this can come to a stand still some times when i will become very sleepy for no reason.

I need to wake up about 2pm to have a good day.

Worst thing is I'm up at 6am ever morning for work. I think everyone knows not to ask me anything till least 10am else I'll be in a foul mood.

I usually get about 6 hrs sleep in the week, weekend 9~12 hrs. AT the moment I keep getting less and less (5 last night)which means I'm hitting the coffee hard every day.

I definately need more sleep than I am gettingI need 8 hours but get much less and when I do sleep it is always in short periods of 45 minutes with an hour of wrestling the sheets in fits of torment in between!It is nice to know there are fellow insomniacs out there in the twighlight zone

How many hours!!. you dont know how lucky you are i would love to be able to sleep that long.

on a second note how do you dream?
my dreams WHEN i have them are very lucid and very viberant in colour, i say them because i seem to always have more than one. I've spoken to other poeple who suffer the same and most of them dream the same sort of way.

Hi wildamethyst, please dont take this the wrong way and fogive me if you have done this already, but have you tried changing your bed? how long has this been happening?

also how do you dream if you do in that sort time your asleep.

Oopps just seen the above post and i'm sorry to sound a bit doctorish wildamethyst *bows head in appology*

your = you

Well I purchased a very nice posturepedic bed just last October so am afraid it is not the beds fault more my head I think.
Funnily I do have very vivid dreams in colour and a very overactive imagination I think.
I had glandular fever in February and had to take strong antibiotics and they really messed up my dreams in fact they gave me horrible nightmares and destroyed my sleep pattern altogether.
I get lots of fresh air and excercise,and I also practise yoga so guess I will just have to get used to itBut it is nice to know others suffer too

lol suffer on the sleepless warriors

Isn't wonderful when you do get a good nights sleep though*sighs wistfully*

I am an herbalist and still don't get enough sleep, the theory is if your dreams are vivid your mind doesn't actually rest at all and even though you may get sufficient quantity of sleep you may be getting poor quality of sleep. Try Verilium or go to a Chinese Herbalist and ask for Gui Pi Tang (this one is really good for dreamers that feel bloated after eating).

Oh how wonderful a cure!Thank you in advance,that is exactly how I feel that my mind doesn't rest at all.
A herbalist that is a really interesting career,how long did it take you to train?

Five years still learning, I also do acupuncture (because secretly I am a masicist) and Tui Na (Chinese Massage). Unfortunatly it would be very unlikey that I would see any of you Living in Oz and all that.

Does acupuncture work for insomniaTui Na chinese massage I find strangely appealingshame you are not local
How does chinese massage differ to just plain massage ,and does it center on different energy zones?

Most folk tend to need 9 hours sleep to function well and be healthly.
When I was younger I tended to feel and function best on 7 hours and bouts of insomnia didn't really phase me, just meant I got more reading done. At some of the worst times with my depression I could get on without 12+ hours. Now I'm on the standard 9 hours most of the time but a bout of insomnia really leaves me wrecked.

Hope you are coping well with your depression now,my friend has been a sufferer on and off for a few years but is managing much better now.At her worst point she just couldn't make any decisions not even between tea or coffee and was very unhappy although to the outside world looked fine.
I know what you mean about a bout of insomnia leaving you wrecked ,it just sort of upsets the body's natural balance doesn't it!

Managing much better myself, thanks.
When one's mind is weighed down even a simply peice of decision making seems to take alot of effort to get past...

Upsets the balance to the point where one's vulnerable to just about anything...

Glad to hear you are managing much better.Did your friends and family give you a lot of support?
My friend found that some family couldn't really understand her problem and took the 'pull yourself together stance'.But most people were supportive and really understood although I used to feel really helpless when I saw the torment she was going through.It is really good to see her old confidence coming back
and

Didn't really have alot in the way friends or family around to give support.

That must have been very difficult for you then I know my friend felt very isolated and a sense of being very alone even though she had friends and family around
You must have great inner strength

Tui Na is simply using acupuncture theory in a massage. Vander I sympathise, my mum suffered from PND for years after my little brother was born. She had a rough time as there was six males in the house that were very good at detatching themselves from their emotions, we had to learn to emote again so that we could support our mum