Friday, January 24, 2014

The Older You Get the Better Guard You Make?





First off this isn't suppose to be a researched and tested work on this subject. In fact it is really just me rambling on about something I have noticed about my own sleeping habits of late but has given me something to think about later on.

Since Wednesday morning when I woke up at about 8AM I have slept about six hours total in three 2 hour blocks. Now I am not bringing this up to make it sound like I am some superman or that this is something anyone couldn't do when the need arises. What I am mentioning is how it seems to effect me in an entirely different manner now then it did 20 or 30 years ago.

I used to love my sleep by golly. I could snuggle in for half a day at a time and still want to go back to bed after a few hours. Certainly I could also stay up for days when needed or made to but I can also quite vividly remember how I felt when that happened and it wasn't good.

These days I seem to be able to actually focus at a normal level as long as the task at hand isn't too complicated and it seems easier to make myself not drift off when I am in my own thoughts. Nodding off unexpectedly always seemed to plague me when I was younger.

I remember over the years many a gentleman who was in his 50's or 60's or even older remark about experiencing the exact same thing I seem to be noticing. I find it is quite easy for me to rise after only a few hours of sleep. Getting up at the crack of dawn? Who cares it's not a problem any longer even when I didn't get to bed until 3AM.

One thing I refuse to do is use my new found easy wakening skills to belittle those younger than myself who like to sleep till noon though. I have always had the ability to  remember and empathize with my past. I won't be like some old first sergeant who's hair won't grow and can't see worth a damn so he forces the enlisted men to get shaved bald and wear issued glasses as a revenge move.

Yet this has gotten me thinking. Perhaps us older fellows would make the perfect watchmen and night guards in a survival/tribal defense situation. Surely if what I am experiencing is a side effect of aging it could be put to good use in a situation like that.

Have any of you guys around my own age found it easier to sleep in small batches the older you get?

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


18 comments:

  1. I still enjoy sleeping but just don't get to do it as much as I want. But I seem to be able to wake up just about when I want to without an alarm. Last night I cut my wood furnace firing back to every 3 hours from 4 and some how woke up at the proper times. I really would like to go back to bed instead of get ready to go out to feed the animals and break ice if that is possible, 4 degrees awhile ago.

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    1. Sf - Ya know I have noticed I can do the no alarm thing with a lot more confidence now than I could all those years ago as well. Good catch. In fact I just did it went to bed at 3:30 and had my alarm set for 5:45 and woke up three minutes before.

      It was zero when I went to bed and now the temp reads 1 degree. Guess it's a warming spree!!!!

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  2. Yes I have noticed the same thing and it can't be good for ya.Maybe the body just doesn't have that much left to repair and has thrown it's hands up in disgust.I'm thinking that's my deal yours may be different.

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    1. Heh. Let's hope your wrong but it did make me chuckle :)

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  3. PP -
    Less sleep is pretty typical of older people and is one of the "joys" of growing long in the tooth.
    May have been pretty normal in young people too before the Industrial Revolution.
    I agree with you that it has a family, group or tribal advantage.
    Old men make pretty good night sentries and old women are perfect for crying newborns and sick people.

    Actually historian Roger Ekirch has written extensively about this topic - bimodal sleep pattern.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep

    Probably no harm comes from it. I've been at it for the last 15 years and haven't noticed any problems.
    The fact of the matter is, it enabled me to do Granny Miller, knit tons of sweaters, read the personal papers of George Washington (that was a project)
    and keep my house & barn spotlessly clean.
    After all what else can you do at 3am?

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    1. GM - I can certainly see some advantages to it that's for sure.

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  4. I have not crested 50 yet but I have noticed that my sleep pattern is significantly less regular than before. For me I really believe it happened when we began having children; now, the slightest noise will wake me up. On the bright side I can pretty much wake up with an alarm at a time at this point.

    Question to the group: have you found that less sleep overall has made you feel more tired or not? This is the problem I seem to suffer from still.

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    1. TB - Well it seems to equal out for me but I have noticed that when going on less sleep I do have a shorter fuel range so to speak.

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  5. As I approach 59, it's apparent that whenever I get to bed before 10pm, then 'wake-up' occurs between 2:30 and 3:15 on its own. I wasn't one of those teenagers who seemed to sleep all the time, but I do wake up earlier now than ever before.

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    1. RP - I sued to be able to sleep blissfully for hours. Especially if I managed to stay up real late and not get waken up by some parent who thought I shouldn;t be in bed so late. These days it just aint happening. Except my wife still thinks I sleep too late. she gets up at like the 4 am every day. Of course she turns into a pumpkin somewhere around 9 pm each night.

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  6. I have the opposite problem. I will be 45 this April. Since I was 14, I have had insomnia. Until I was 40, lack of sleep didn't appear to slow me down much. I could get 2-4 hours sleep and go all day. Now...that is not the case. I crave sleep. For the past year I have been taking herbs to help heal my adrenal glands. This has allowed me to actually get sleep around 10 pm. I don't go to bed until midnight usually, but I can go to bed and sleep. I have never slept straight through in my life for 8 hours. I always wake up every 1-2 hours, but lately I have been able to go right back to sleep. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to sleep. I'll leave the watchman stuff to my husband, who now appears to have switched with me and has insomnia :)

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    1. Amy - Glad to hear it has improved for you. Maybe you are the sleep equivalent to a late bloomer. A late sleeper by a different definition :)

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  7. I agree with just about everyone. Last night I was not feeling well, went to bed at 9pm up at 230am. I was able to fall asleep again. I can get my self up before the alarm goes off my 15 min to half hour. having a new born in the house seems to help too.

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    1. Rob - Heh I think having a newborn in the house makes you disqualified from any sleep related study/questioning :)

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  8. PP,

    It's not just men who have this change in the amount of sleep they get at night. I find myself going to bed usually after 11PM, and getting up any where between 4 - 5 AM without an alarm clock. Now there are days where I can sleep for only 2 hours and be just fine. And then there are days where a nap is mandatory.

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    1. Sandy - Well I wasn;t trying to keep the women out of it I just had never heard a women mention it before but have heard many a man talk about it. Like you I have learned to appreciate the nap sometimes :)

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  9. I haven't been able to sleep except for short periods for more than thirty years, so I don't know that's its related to age in my case. But I can sleep just a few hours, then do what ever needs doing, then go back to sleep. I'm up most nights more than I am days now that I think about it.

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  10. I'm not an old man, but when I was young I could stay up all night and sleep the day away. Now no matter what time I go to bed, I'm up before dawn. I think it's knowing the animals need me that gets me up, who knows!

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