Perception of length of time while on CPAP

throwaway123817 · Post by **throwaway123817** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:46 pm

zoocrewphoto · Post by **zoocrewphoto** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:55 pm

throwaway123817 wrote:Hi all,

Started using CPAP regularly about 5 days ago. My question is, is it normal that while using the machine I feel like more time passes than that which has actually passed? While not on the machine I'll sleep for maybe 10 hours. However, while on the machine, I sometimes wake up (not sure why - more on this later), and I'll notice that it has felt like a full night, perhaps 8 hours or more, and in reality only about 4 hours have passed. It's kind of nice, because I'm about as rested within 4 hours as I would be in about 9 hours without the machine. The problem is, that I cannot really go back to sleep too well after waking up. So I often sleep, while on the machine, for about 5-7 hours, usually. As you can imagine, my sleep schedule is kind of messed up at the moment, because of the change in hours.

It happened to me when I started. I think it is because we are so used to bad sleep, our brain gets so much better sleep that we wake up thinking we got a good night of sleep (way too early). I think it was my 3rd night, I suddenly jumped out of bed like it was time to get up, then realized I had only been asleep for 4 hours. So, I went back to bed.

It will get more normal as you get used to it. Your brain is just a little confused right now since it is expecting bad sleep and getting much better sleep now.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:59 pm

I only sleep wearing my mask. Retired, no set time, two clocks on the table by my machine. I have diabetes, seem to wake up if my sugar level drops under 100. Jim

MaryLand · Post by **MaryLand** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:55 am

I'm two months in to my cpap journey. I used to sleep 9+ hours per night and not feel at all refreshed. Now many nights, I'm waking after 7 or 7 1/2 and feeling well rested, and not able to go back to sleep. Some nights I'd sleep more than that, but then was not able to fall asleep well the following night because I wasn't tired enough. Some days I'd need naps and then that would mess up my bedtime. It's just the past couple weeks that I feel like things are finally evening out so that I can fall asleep and wake up at more regular hours.

Petrodon · Post by **Petrodon** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 9:45 pm

I can also confirm, as your body adjusts to your new sleeping patterns time will even out. It is also possible that your body is still adjusting to life under the mask (so to speak) and some awakenings are simply caused by your body reacting to wearing the mask itself. Three years into therapy (and 100% compliance for 2.5 years) I can assure you, you can get used to it.

Most of us will probably attest that once your therapy is going smoothly you will be more nervous to sleep WITHOUT the mask.

gregnga · Post by **gregnga** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:10 am

I have the same problem as the OP except what happens to me is that by about mid morning, the fact that I have only had 5 hrs sleep starts to catch up with me and I start getting really tired. A nap usually cures this.

jnk... · Post by **jnk...** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 2:40 pm

If a brain is not used to getting full uninterrupted sleep cycles, it can take it a while to get used to that and to establish a new pattern for itself. I could not sleep longer than 90 minutes or so at first on PAP. It took many months before my brain could go right from one sleep cycle to another without waking me up, as if it were all proud of itself for what it had done.

Then again, I think I once heard Mulder and Scully say that aliens prefer abducting CPAP users when facing a choice, since the hose is already in place for hooking up to the machinery on board the mothership--and we all know how time perception changes during those abductions, don't we.

D.H. · Post by **D.H.** » Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:00 am

To the OP.

You're getting good sleep, so it feels like you slept a lot longer than you did. You will learn a new sleep pattern over time. Typically, one should sleep no fewer than 7 hours, no more than 9.

Since you probably won't be able to sleep "just anytime," you may need to establish a more rigid routine than you had before. This is a good thing.

Note that if you take medication for blood pressure and/or blood sugar, they may fall too low. Monitor those carefully, and if they do fall too low, discuss reducing the medication with the physician that prescribed them and/or or the CPAP prescribing doctor.

Perception of length of time while on CPAP

Perception of length of time while on CPAP

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Re: Perception of length of time while on CPAP

Re: Perception of length of time while on CPAP

Re: Perception of length of time while on CPAP

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