Why cant I sleep longer?

[SavageAnimal]

4 nights now using BiPAP set @ 22/18 with AHI down to 3.0-8.0 (Study AHI was 117.7) and I most definitely feel the positive effects from it.

I wake up feeling great, wide awake and ready to get up, which I do.

The problem is I'm only getting 6 to 6 and a half hours of sleep.

I go to bed at 12:00AM and wake up feeling that way at 6:00-6:30AM. Monday through Friday I have to get up at 7:00AM, so I am yet to sleep til the Alarm goes off. Last night, being that I didn't have to wake up at 7 I intended to try to get more sleep. It didn't happen. I got to sleep at 1:30AM, woke up wide awake and refreshed at 8. I haven't been taking any naps in between. I have 0% Large Leak, but last night I had 2% Periodic Breathing 1% the night before, and 0% the first two nights.

Is this normal? Shouldn't I be getting at least 7 hours a night? Any advice?

Btw, I used to sleep as many as 9 to 10 hours of worthless sleep plus random naps pre-PAP (I guess you could call them naps, more like passing out lol)

[kteague]

Does the amount of sleep you're getting seem to be enough for you to have a normal day? Maybe you're one of those who don't need 8 hours to feel rested. If this is all still fairly new to you, it's hard to say how things might look in a few weeks. While your AHI is much improved, it still has room for improvement. If you are watching your data, it would be interesting to see if you are having more events at the time of wakeup, maybe due to being in REM at that point in your sleep. If your sleep cycles are fairly consistent, maybe after that many hours it is REM time for you. Did your sleep study show worse events during REM?

[SavageAnimal]

Does the amount of sleep you're getting seem to be enough for you to have a normal day? Maybe you're one of those who don't need 8 hours to feel rested. If this is all still fairly new to you, it's hard to say how things might look in a few weeks. While your AHI is much improved, it still has room for improvement. If you are watching your data, it would be interesting to see if you are having more events at the time of wakeup, maybe due to being in REM at that point in your sleep. If your sleep cycles are fairly consistent, maybe after that many hours it is REM time for you. Did your sleep study show worse events during REM?

Well, this is all very new to me. I've only been on PAP for 4 nights, but these 4 days I've felt great all day and haven't fallen asleep against my will.

I really don't know much at all about my sleep study results other than its very severe with an AHI of 117.7 and oxygen dropped to 54% for the first half of the study, and AHI 9 with oxygen at 89% the 2nd half of the night while using CPAP. And I didn't even find that out until about a month and a half after the study from the Respiratory Therapist that gave me my machine. Had I educated myself a little more on the subject sooner, I'd have had better questions to ask. My Dr and insurance is a bit of a joke.

EDIT: I am so glad that I found cpaptalk.com and really appreciate everyone's time and kind advise and answers. I am learning a lot. Thank you! Also, I am considering getting SleepyHead, but I have a couple concerns. 1-The Cellular Modem is blocking access to the SD card slot. and 2-The only thing I have to read the card on my computer would be to put it in my tablet and connect it to my computer, I just hope my tablet doesn't write something to the card or corrupt anything. Are the cards formatted a special way or anything like that, and is there anything that could be lost on it?

[Pugsy]

There's nothing critical that would get lost IF the tablet wrote something to the SD card that couldn't be put back on the SD card IF something should happen because the machine stores almost all the data in its internal memory.
But you can switch the write protect feature on the SD card to "On" and then nothing by accident or on purpose can be written to the SD card. Just slide the little plastic write protect thing on the SD card to "On"...just don't forgot to slide it off when you are done.

The PR S1 machines don't seem to get all excited if something is written on the card that they don't expect. Now the S9 machines..yes they will reject a card but the PR S1 machines don't....I did an experiment by adding something to the SD card and my PR S1 machine never squawked at all.

Regarding sleeping longer. There could be any number of reasons why you aren't sleeping longer but try not to worry about it right now...4 nights using the machine isn't very long and it takes the body a bit of time to adjust to all this new stuff and the body may just be in a habit of so many hours.
Is the 6 to 6 1/2 hours of sleep good sleep with minimal wake ups? How are you feeling otherwise during the day?

Seeing your software reports might shed some light on the situation though. Sure wouldn't hurt.

[Julie]

Maybe you were never meant to be a 'long' sleeper, but until starting Cpap, could never appreciate that!

[Hawthorne]

I wouldn't be worried about 6 - 6 1/2 hours sleep a night as long as you feel alert and able to do whatever you want or need to during the day without feeling sleepy or dragged out.

People are very different with regard to the amount of sleep they need to function well during the day. This may change as you get older. It did for me. I'm 74 now and don't need as much sleep as I seemed to need when I was younger. Since I was diagnosed with sleep apnea almost 12 years ago, I have needed less sleep as time goes by.

The key is - how well do you function during the day.

As you adapt to cpap the number of hours you sleep may change as well.

[Sean Kaye]

I had EXACTLY the same phenomenon when I started on CPAP.

I use to be able to sleep through anything, fall asleep at the drop of a hat and could easily sleep 14 hours if allowed...

Problem was, I wasn't getting good REM sleep, so I was tired all the time.

First month on CPAP, I felt like a million bucks, but was getting about 6 - 6.5 hours sleep a night. I was getting up at 6:15am no matter what.

I just rolled with it and by the second month I was back to sleep 7 - 7.5 hours naturally.

Since going on CPAP now nearly three months, not once have I had to be woken up by my alarm clock.

Best part of all, I feel fantastic, never tired. Last night I had a late night, needed an early start this morning AND I have a cold - got 5.1 hours sleep - I've now been up for 18 hours and running fine, it's midnight here.

CPAP changed my life, I just look at the less need for sleep as more time to live... Sounds corny, but so true. I can't believe over the last ten years how much of my life I wasted because of poor sleep.

[SavageAnimal]

I had EXACTLY the same phenomenon when I started on CPAP.

I use to be able to sleep through anything, fall asleep at the drop of a hat and could easily sleep 14 hours if allowed...

Problem was, I wasn't getting good REM sleep, so I was tired all the time.

First month on CPAP, I felt like a million bucks, but was getting about 6 - 6.5 hours sleep a night. I was getting up at 6:15am no matter what.

I just rolled with it and by the second month I was back to sleep 7 - 7.5 hours naturally.

Since going on CPAP now nearly three months, not once have I had to be woken up by my alarm clock.

Best part of all, I feel fantastic, never tired. Last night I had a late night, needed an early start this morning AND I have a cold - got 5.1 hours sleep - I've now been up for 18 hours and running fine, it's midnight here.

CPAP changed my life, I just look at the less need for sleep as more time to live... Sounds corny, but so true. I can't believe over the last ten years how much of my life I wasted because of poor sleep.

Same for me. I feel great, and seem to be getting even less sleep every night, as little as 5 to 5.5 hours, One thing I have noticed though is even if I wake up for whatever reason in the middle of the night I feel the need to get up, I think it has a little to do with feeling a bit overwhelmed by the high pressure I'm using (22/18 BiLevel). I need to remember to just activate the Ramp feature ease the pressure off and go back to sleep...