How much time to fall asleep

[Rainmom17]

Every article I read about sleep says one clue you have major sleep deprivation is falling asleep in less than 5 minutes.
For me, it takes probably a minute or less. Pretty much my head hits the pillow and I'm out.

Informal survey - about how long does it take you to fall asleep?

[LSAT]

<10

[sptrout]

For me, 30 to 60 minutes if I am lucky. Never have been a quick to sleep person, seldom get more than 7 hours of sleep, and never take naps. I would love to be able to fall asleep in less than 30 minutes. Not a CPAP issue, it has not changed sleeping times.

[kteague]

When I was severely sleep deprived I would fall asleep before my head hit the pillow. Once my sleep apnea was effectively treated and my jumpy legs were under control, the time to fall asleep increased to 1 or 2 minutes. If it's gonna be a good night, my first wakeup will be in either 1.5 or 3 hours. If it's not going to be a good night, I'll doze lightly in and out for hours. It's not the falling asleep, but staying asleep that's more problematic for me.

[MaxINTJ]

Typically less than a minute. For my first sleep study it was 30 seconds because it was past my normal bedtime.

I'm definitely sleep deprived

[AMESS]

About 5 minutes on Cpap. Problem --waking at 2 or 3 and cannot get back to sleep. Still exhausted.

[knothead]

Around 10-12 minutes, just a guess cause I'm asleep...

[RicaLynn]

Around 10-12 minutes, just a guess cause I'm asleep...

+1

[Pugsy]

I don't know. I don't have a clock in the bedroom.
Doesn't seem to take very long though.
I can sometimes spot how long by looking at the flow rate up close for when it changes to asleep pattern. Not always easy to spot though.

[sptrout]

For me, 30 to 60 minutes if I am lucky. Never have been a quick to sleep person, seldom get more than 7 hours of sleep, and never take naps. I would love to be able to fall asleep in less than 30 minutes. Not a CPAP issue, it has not changed sleeping times.

======

do you wait until you are sleepy before you go to bed ?

if you stayed up later would you have trouble getting up ?

All you folks make me jealous, I can't imagine falling asleep in a few minutes. As for the questions, yes most times I do get sleepy before heading to bed, but that doesn't make much difference. As for going to bed later, no luck there either since I always wake up at the same time regardless; 5 to 6 AM then lay there until I get up at 6:45. Since I am retired there is no reason for me to get up at any specific time. I think it is in my DNA. My brother and mother are terrible sleepers, much worse than me and they do not have SA problems.

Funny, the first night that I used a CPAP machine 2 1/2 years ago, I slept for 9 straight hours, may have set a new personal record. I thought that this was going to be great. But, the next night, 8 1/2 hours. From then on to now, back to my normal even though my AHI is always much less than one.

[sptrout]

For me, 30 to 60 minutes if I am lucky. Never have been a quick to sleep person, seldom get more than 7 hours of sleep, and never take naps. I would love to be able to fall asleep in less than 30 minutes. Not a CPAP issue, it has not changed sleeping times.

======

do you wait until you are sleepy before you go to bed ?

if you stayed up later would you have trouble getting up ?

All you folks make me jealous, I can't imagine falling asleep in a few minutes. As for the questions, yes most times I do get sleepy before heading to bed, but that doesn't make much difference. As for going to bed later, no luck there either since I always wake up at the same time regardless; 5 to 6 AM then lay there until I get up at 6:45. Since I am retired there is no reason for me to get up at any specific time. I think it is in my DNA. My brother and mother are terrible sleepers, much worse than me and they do not have SA problems.

Funny, the first night that I used a CPAP machine 2 1/2 years ago, I slept for 9 straight hours, may have set a new personal record. I thought that this was going to be great. But, the next night, 8 1/2 hours. From then on to now, back to my normal even though my AHI is always much less than one.

=========


how do you feel

the average sleep is 7.5 hours
some need 9
a few need only 6

how you feel is more important than some number

I feel fine with the hours of sleep that I get. I just hate getting up before the sun LOL.

[Sunnymuffins]

I was also normally falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow from the sleep debt I was racking up. I've been on APAP for about 3 weeks now, and I'd say I still fall asleep within a few minutes. I figure it'll probably stay that way for a while until my therapy hopefully reverses some of the damage since I've most likely had it and gone undiagnosed for years!

[Mogy]

If I have to wait 10 min before going to sleep I get up and go do something. I figure I am not tired enough yet.
If I wake up in the middle of the night with my mask on and can't get back to sleep within a couple of minutes I take the mask off. I can't risk staying awake the rest of the night which may or may not happen. It is much easier to go to sleep without the mask.

[SnoringInOregon]

I can sometimes spot how long by looking at the flow rate up close for when it changes to asleep pattern. Not always easy to spot though.

I use SleepyHead to check my results every day. Now that I've been doing it for about six months, it's not hard for me to see patterns in my sleep. But I'm sure that's a very individual thing; some people's sleep patterns may just be more "inscrutable" than other people's.

Last night, based mostly on my flow rate, it probably took me 10 minutes to fall asleep.

My respiration rate is often quite elevated when I'm dreaming. This is easily confirmed if I wake up right after a dream. It's easy to look at SleepyHead: "Yup, I was dreaming just before I woke up". So my dreams (probably REM sleep) also seem easy to spot.

My bigger problem is if I wake up after 4 or 5 hours, perhaps to go to the bathroom. Then I'm not that tired, so it could take 1/2 hr or more to fall back to sleep.

[JeffL]

Hard to say. Often I lay in bed watching TV. If I find myself getting drowsy, I hose up and fall asleep. Other times I go to bed sleepy and fall asleep right away.

You never know you fell asleep until you wake up