Anyone get less sleep after starting CPAP?

My theory is that I am getting better quality sleep, so now after a few hours of sleep, if I wake and there is something on my mind, I can be up for an hour or two. This used to happen to me when I was younger, but I guess having kids and sleep apnea helped me to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the whole night. Dis this happen to anyone else here? Get better sleep, but then have more insomnia symptoms? I don't want to call what I have insomnia, because it is really just an hour or two every other night or so.

Mine is once in awhile. But I'm up 2-3 hours before I gotback to sleep.

JMJflyer wrote:My theory is that I am getting better quality sleep, so now after a few hours of sleep, if I wake and there is something on my mind, I can be up for an hour or two. This used to happen to me when I was younger, but I guess having kids and sleep apnea helped me to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the whole night. Dis this happen to anyone else here? Get better sleep, but then have more insomnia symptoms? I don't want to call what I have insomnia, because it is really just an hour or two every other night or so.

Hi,

Are you new to CPAP, or has this been going on for a while? I used to get up every 60 to 90 minutes before starting on the machine. Once I got started, I would get up after 2 or 3 hours, be awake for an hour or so, then go back to bed. That tapered off after about 4 months, and after 6 months, it became rare. I believe that I was so used to getting up that I had to relearn how to sleep once I started on the machine.

I find that my sleep goes in a cycle where I have a day or two near 8 hours, then a few days with just over 5 hours of sleep, and a few days in between where I get 6 or 7 hours of sleep. This is a big contrast from before I started on the treatment--I used to consistently need 9 hours of sleep (well, poor sleep at that time). One of the biggest side effects of CPAP is that I now have a lot more useful time each day, not only because I am awake, but also because I am in bed fewer hours each day.

-john-

I too am finding that I am sleeping less. But that the sleep is of much better quality than before. On Monday I met with my doctor for my first follow up appt. after starting CPAP and he confirmed what I thought. Because we are getting better quality sleep, we are sleeping less. I too am finding that my days are much more productive than before.

I also have some minor insonomia moments every few nights, as I wake up a lot. But I think because when I do sleep, it is better quality sleep, I don't feel as tired as I used to. Kind of amazing this CPAP thing is doing for me.

Katie

I am also just beginning to sleep better with APAP. Two nights ago I woke up at 2am and took over an hour to fall back asleep. This morning I woke at 4am and did not fall back to sleep at all. Nevertheless I am feeling much more rested because the sleep I did get came without apneas and oxygen deprivation. I think in time I will be sleeping through the night; I just need time for my brain to reprogram. This might be difficult considering the old version of DOS I was born with.

Have a Great Easter!

I've noticed that the few nights I sleep without my cpap, I can easily lay there in the morning and go back to sleep. But I never seem to need to do that when I'm using my cpap. Its quality now, not as much quantity.

I used to be able to sleep 8 or 10 hours without issue. Well, I thought it was without issue. I'm anywhere from 6-7 hours now. When I first started out, I 'd wake up every morning with the mask on the floor having only kept it on for maybe four hours.

Pre-CPAP, I slept--poorly at best--anywhere from 7 to 12 hrs/night. At first on CPAP, I slept 8-9, sometimes 10 of vastly more restful sleep. Now I'm averaging 7-8; but I feel and function best with 8.

What you should fine is as follows:-

Pre CPAP treatment
- Sleep easily for 8-10 hours
- Be woken up 5-6 times a night
- Frequent bathroom breaks
- Takes an hour to get back to sleep

Post CPAP treatment
- Sleep less - 6-7 hours is healthy
- Be woken up 0-2 times a night
- No need for bathroom breaks as your kidneys and other organs are rejuvenating
- Takes about 15-20 mins to get to sleep on average

They say it's actually healthy to sleep 6-7 hours per night. There's also suggestions from doctors that sleeping less, e.g. 5-6 hours will lengthen our lives. For people in the late 18 hundreds to 1920 people used to sleep 8-10 hours a night and would live to 50-60 years of age. People post 1920 tend to get less hours sleep, usually 6-7 hours and people are living well into their 80's with some into their 90's and beyond. Not all of this can be considered down to sleep as there's lifestyle changes and medical changes in our lives, but some sleep doctors do suggest that sleeping less (e.g. 607 hours) is more healthy than sleeping for 8-10 hours.

Before CPAP, I was napping through out the day and slept 8-12 hours a night. Now I sleep 6 hours. It does'nt matter what time I fall alseep, six hours later I am up for the day! So I now make it a point to time my sleep so that I am not up in the middle of the night filled with energy with nothing to do....