Sleeping Less

[hcubed]

It's been over a month since using the pap machine. Everything is going better than I expected. The stats are good, AHI is 1.7, and I'm feeling a lot less tired and my morning headaches are gone. The only thing I'm a little concern about is that I'm sleeping less. I usually get around 7 to 8 hours of sleep before using the machine. Now I'm sleeping 5 to 6. Like I said I'm not feeling tired but should I be alarmed by the decrease in the number of hours of sleep I get? Do you guys find that you are sleeping more, less, or the same amount with the machine?

[Tez62]

Hcubed, welcome, we are all different and each night is a different night. You are actually sleeping more now than you were before as it is quality sleep. Before CPAP you get waking up each time you had an apnea. It will just take time to adjust and you may get back to the 7 to 8 hours you had before but you body and brain will tell you how much sleep you need.

[Mr. Van Winkle]

It's been over a month since using the pap machine. Everything is going better than I expected. The stats are good, AHI is 1.7, and I'm feeling a lot less tired and my morning headaches are gone. The only thing I'm a little concern about is that I'm sleeping less. I usually get around 7 to 8 hours of sleep before using the machine. Now I'm sleeping 5 to 6. Like I said I'm not feeling tired but should I be alarmed by the decrease in the number of hours of sleep I get? Do you guys find that you are sleeping more, less, or the same amount with the machine?

My problem is I work , so If I watch the Nightly News before bed I can only get 6 hrs , but the weekends if there's no need to get up early I can easily log 10 hours (12 is my record).
The bottom line is even at 6 hours I feel rested because it's quality sleep without waking up so my time with events, sleep test was an AHI of 37 now, Sleepyhead is telling me AHI 1.12.
So I would not feel too Alarmed at this time you will start sleeping longer.

[surferdude2]

hcubed, I have a theory that anyone who has suffered with sleep apnea for a long period of time, which is most newbies on CPAP, are generally accustomed to getting the bare minimum of real sleep. They become so conditioned to operating at that level that it takes some time to get beyond that and convince the brain to allow us to sleep longer and that we will still be safe and it will be beneficial.

When first using CPAP and getting a much better sleep experience and improved health, the length of sleep time doesn't increase immediately but over an extended period of time. In some cases it may take several months or even a year to get to a point where sleep is a continuous process without periodic interruptions. It may be a matter of developing trust in the equipment or just a matter of getting out of a rut, either way, it takes some time.

There's nothing new about this theory since it works similar to how a person who has always gotten up at 5 am to get ready for work will do so for quite a while when in retirement. I still do so and have been retired for 17 years now. BTW, I have never needed much over 5 1/2 hours of sleep and marvel at how some people can sleep 10 ~ 12 hours if left alone. I suppose I should admire them but I'm not so sure I do when I consider how much conscious life they're missing.

The bottom line often is, how do you feel?


Best regards,
Dude

[novatom]

hcubed, I have a theory that anyone who has suffered with sleep apnea for a long period of time, which is most newbies on CPAP, are generally accustomed to getting the bare minimum of real sleep. They become so conditioned to operating at that level that it takes some time to get beyond that and convince the brain to allow us to sleep longer and that we will still be safe and it will be beneficial.

When first using CPAP and getting a much better sleep experience and improved health, the length of sleep time doesn't increase immediately but over an extended period of time. In some cases it may take several months or even a year to get to a point where sleep is a continuous process without periodic interruptions. It may be a matter of developing trust in the equipment or just a matter of getting out of a rut, either way, it takes some time.

There's nothing new about this theory since it works similar to how a person who has always gotten up at 5 am to get ready for work will do so for quite a while when in retirement. I still do so and have been retired for 17 years now. BTW, I have never needed much over 5 1/2 hours of sleep and marvel at how some people can sleep 10 ~ 12 hours if left alone. I suppose I should admire them but I'm not so sure I do when I consider how much conscious life they're missing.

The bottom line often is, how do you feel?


Best regards,
Dude

Thank you for posting this. I hope your theory is correct. I'm 7 weeks into my CPAP therapy and am hoping I can expand my hours of continuos sleep. Before I was diagnosed with moderate SA, I was averaging 3-4 hours of continuous sleep per night. With therapy, I'm still averaging 3-4 hours per night but I'm at least now able to go back to sleep for a couple more. My goal is to achieve a minimum of 6 hours of continuous sleep per night. Your theory gives me hope that I will eventually achieve that goal.

Having said all that, I can attest that no matter how many hours of sleep I am averaging now, CPAP has most definitely improved the quality of sleep.

[surferdude2]

Sounds good. BTW, Don't overlook the opportunity to post your graphs here if you think you may need help with adjusting your therapy. I notice you list 6 cm H2O as your setting. That's considered a low setting. That's not to say it's wrong but just something that sticks out as a bit unusual.

[quiescence at last]

I am still at 6 but 90% pressure doesn't stray too far above 8. I have only been at it about 3 months, though. I am glad you are one of the approximately 85% that do feel quite good on CPAP. I am, too.

[hootietoot]

I also find I need less sleep on CPAP. I'm relatively new to it myself, and I was spontaneously waking up after just a few hours in the beginning, too.

Now I can sleep longer if I want to, but I also still seem to be able to function very well on only 5-6 hours when life makes it necessary (which it often does, unfortunately). No idea if that will continue, but I certainly appreciate it!

[Sparkle]

I have been using CPAP for 32 nights now. I am definitely sleeping more. I was diagnosed in Dec, '14. As far as I can tell I believe the sleep apnea began about 2.5 years ago. I had been attributing my sleepless nights to outside noises, having to get up to use the bathroom frequently during the night, a heavy work schedule and a class schedule (I'm working towards a bachelor's degree - 3 classes per semester).

At first using the CPAP I was getting between 6-8 hours of sleep as compared to 4-6 before starting CPAP. The last couple of weeks my sleep has now been 8-10 hours per night with three nights of 13 hours! Its like I crave sleep now like a person in the desert would crave cold water. Its really a weird phenomenon. Its not like I'm tired. But a couple of nights I was hit all of a sudden with this wave of fatigue that had me crawling into bed at 7pm.

I do feel good, and of course, with all the snow we've gotten there isn't anything else to do besides sleep! I live in a three story townhouse and the snowbanks are nearly reaching the the third floor!

[novatom]

Sounds good. BTW, Don't overlook the opportunity to post your graphs here if you think you may need help with adjusting your therapy. I notice you list 6 cm H2O as your setting. That's considered a low setting. That's not to say it's wrong but just something that sticks out as a bit unusual.

Thank you, I will. My Dr. set my machine to 6 cm H20 when I started my therapy 7 weeks ago and after 3 weeks, decided to stick with it when he saw that I was averaging 5-6 AHI. My next visit is St. Patrick's Day and I may well have my pressure increased. My average right now is 6.09 over my first 47 days. Untreated is 28.