Sleep Poll: Your hours, your protocols...

In My Humble Opinion
1

  1. Demographics (age, gender, married, kids?)

  2. What is your usual bedtime/wake time? How different is it from your preferred bedtime/wake time?

  3. How do you feel when you first wake up?

  4. From your first wakeful moment in the morning, how long does it take you to feel awake and functional?

  5. Do you use an alarm clock? Do you hit snooze? Does it annoy your bedmate, if you have one?

  6. If you could take a pill that would eliminate the need for sleep, would you take it?

  7. Do you have any nightly rituals that comfort you or help you sleep?

  8. 36, female, married, no kids, but noisy cats who wake me up at times

  9. During the school year, 12pm-7am. During the summer, 3am-12pm, which is my preferred time. If it weren’t for this bullshit diurnal paradigm our society is married to, I’d have no sleep disorder.

  10. I always, invariably feel like shit. The way you feel when you have the flu, minus the respiratory symptoms. Achy, sore, headache, the works. Every day. Must… have…shower… and… caffeine. And food. Otherwise, :mad:

  11. I wake up 2 hours before I have to be to work, and that’s about enough time to become functional.

  12. I use an alarm clock though I almost always turn it off before it goes off. I hate the damn snooze button.

  13. Yes, definitely. I’d be first in line. I hate sleeping.

  14. I always try to read before bed.

2
  1. 55, male, divorced, two grown kids, live 17 floors over a forest–totally quiet
  2. 11 pm-4 am which is why I’m typing this at 4:17 on Saturday morning. No, it’s everyone else who’s crazy.
  3. I 've learn to live with it. Plenty of caffeine.
  4. Hours on end before I have to be to work, not a problem
  5. No alarm clock .
  6. You love sleep compared to me.
  7. Always have a book next to my bed; sometimes I’m unconscious before I finish a paragraph.
3
  1. 40, female, single, no kids.
  2. If I have a guild raid (world of warcraft) around 11pm, that’s 1 hour since my body starts saying “want bed now!”
  3. Like it’s about bloody time I was out of bed! (Except if it’s 3am and I just need to visit the bathroom in which case I just feel like I haftapeenow)
  4. A few minues.
  5. Use what? The what? Uh, I set the alarm in my cellphone at the time I need to leave the house…
  6. What’s in that pill and who makes it? Probably not, although I’d be happy to have a summer house in Alaska and a summer house in Patagonia… But you have to take into account that I did work for Big Pharma and the mental allergy I got from that’s still hale and healthy.
  7. Not unless you count moving around a lot until I find the right position.
4
  1. 27, male, single, no kids
  2. I go to sleep between 1 and 2pm and awake around 9:30pm. I’d prefer a day job so I could rise with the sun and go to bed when it’s dark.
  3. Varies - usually a bit sore and stiff, and tired.
  4. Usually about an hour or more.
  5. I use my cell phone as an alarm clock and never hit snooze, except by accident.
  6. Assuming no ill side effects, of course! I could get a hell of a lot more done. Or at least waste more time playing tower defense games online.
  7. I usually play a podcast on my laptop and drift off listening to that. EconTalk puts me right to sleep, usually.
5
  1. Single…live by myself
  2. 4-6 am to 10 am-1 pm My preferred sleep would be 1am - 7am
  3. Definately not social…do a routine and am up about 2.25 hours before I have to leave the house on workdays.
  4. About an hour.
  5. Yes, but it seldom goes off…no everyday bedmate.
  6. No…but if you’d have asked me ten years ago, I would have.
  7. I read to fall asleep.
6
  1. 54, female, married, one grown kid, 2 dogs, and a cat
  2. Since I have to get up for work at 4:45, I’m usually in bed before 9. Even on weekend, it’s rare for me to be awake till 11PM, and rarer still to be able to sleep past 6AM.
  3. Unless I’m in the grips of an intense dream, I usually hop right out of bed and start my routine, so I’m feeling OK. If I’ve had a wakeful night, I’m less pleasant.
  4. A minute or two.
  5. We awaken to our TV, so ABC news starts our day. No snooze - I quit using a snooze alarm in college when I almost snoozed past a final exam.
  6. No - I like the down time of sleep.
  7. The closest thing to a ritual is watching a little TV in bed till the drowsies set in.
7
  1. 37, male, married, 3 kids (oldest is 5)
  2. Sleep schedule varies because of shift work, my preference is to stay up late 3am would be my regular bedtime if I could swing it.
  3. I could strangle a puppy
  4. At least an hour, two if there’s no coffee
  5. My kids are my alarm clock
  6. Yes.
  7. I listen to music to fall asleep.
8
  1. single female, no kids
  2. I usually am up between 9am to 10am. Ideally I’d like to get up a bit earlier, but since I go to bed past 2am, getting up earlier than nine is a bit difficult.
  3. Once I splash water on my face, I’m pretty fully awake. Unless I’m hungover.
  4. See above. Although I’ll need coffee before actually doing any work.
  5. I have an alarm clock but I usually wake up before it goes off. I’m not a snooze person.
  6. I’d take it some nights, like if I’m out partying or something. Otherwise, no - I like those few hours of unconsciousness.
  7. I fall asleep pretty quickly most of the time. Some nights my vibrator helps.
9

  1. 38, female, live with boyfriend, one teenager

  2. Normally, I’m up at 4:50 to be at work by 6, my partner works nights so I usually go to bed around midnight. I’m not working right now, so it’s in bed around 3 and up around 9. I’d prefer this schedule all the time.

  3. At 4:50 I feel sad, at 9 I feel great.

  4. Five minutes to function, but I don’t really feel awake until 9 or so, luckily consciousness isn’t a real job requirement for me.

  5. Yes, was a chronic snooze button user when I was single, stopped to be considerate.

  6. No, I enjoy sleep.

  7. I can sleep at the drop of a hat, but enjoy getting cuddled to sleep.

10
  1. 19, female, single, no kids
  2. Usual bedtime is between 10:30 and 11:30; waketime is between 8 and 9; wouldn’t prefer it another way
  3. Refreshed, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed
  4. 5-15 minutes
  5. Yes; sometimes I hit snooze, although that can be dangerous (if I have something important to do and I happen to fall back asleep again); we have to wake up at the same time, so no.
  6. Good question. I’d say no, because I love to sleep
  7. Nope; just flop into bed and curl up
11
  1. 38, female, no kids that live with us, married, but my husband and I have separate bedrooms and bathrooms.
  2. 12 am - 7 am. I’d prefer 2 am to 9 am, so, not a huge difference.
  3. I’m groggy, grumpy. Need caffeine.
  4. About an hour.
  5. I use my cell phone as my alarm clock. I usually hit snooze twice. It doesn’t seem to annoy my husband on the nights I sleep in his bed. His alarm clock annoys the shit out of me though.
  6. I don’t know. Maybe.
  7. Sex. Or reading.
12
  1. 39 male, partnered, no kids.
  2. Bedtime is 8pm, wake up time is 3 am.
  3. I’m tired, I take that first hour to wake myself up.
  4. One hour. Then one hour at the gym.
  5. Never use an alarm clock. For some reason, I always wake up on time.
  6. Sure. More time to read.
  7. I always read before I go to sleep.
13

  1. 53, menopausal female, married, kids grown

  2. Fall asleep around 9:30, wakeup between 4:30-5:30
    I wish I could stay up a bit later and sleep in a little more, but not too much.

  3. If it is summertime, I might be cranky. During fall/winter, we can have the windows open, and I sleep better with the fresh air

  4. About 15 minutes

  5. No need for an alarm clock, I am a very light sleeper

  6. I like sleep. It’s just that it doesn’t always like me.

  7. Watch part of a movie, read a chapter or two of a book, these pastimes take me out of my self and sort of clear my head. I hate pills but might take Benadryl if going through a bad spell of sleeplessness

14

1.) Male, 40, single. Occasional overnight guest, plus two cats that typically don’t sleep with me.

2.) Bedtime is typically between 12:00 a.m. and 2 a.m. and I wake up somewhere between 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m… This is pretty much my preferred schedule, but I do occasionally get insomnia after 2-4, which will cause me to go to sleep at 6-7 and wake up at noon.

  1. I usually wake up in a decent mood and am fairly alert.
  1. Awake and mentally functional? 5 - 10 minutes. However I may not shower and get dressed for an hour or two, depending.
  1. I have an alarm clock, but only use it when someone is staying over ( typically people need to get up earlier than me for work ) or if I need to get up early for some errand/event.

6.) Oh, fuck no. I enjoy sleeping and dreaming. I particularly enjoy afternoon naps.

Not really. I do any number of things, but nothing in the way of actual ritual.

15
  1. Male, 23, single, none.
  2. Weekdays: 11:30-midnight to bed, wake at 7-7:30. Weekends: midnight-2 to bed, wake at 9-10. Preferred: sleep at 2, awake at 10.
  3. Wake up before 9: groggy, headache, generally not good. Wake up after 10: fine.
  4. I am fully awake and functional around 9:30 or 10 am, regardless of when I woke up.
  5. Yes. Yes. My preferred bedmate, when she’s around, doesn’t even usually hear the alarm.
  6. No. I love my sleep, the more the merrier.
  7. I like to read for a little, but I don’t usually have the time. So normally it’s fall down and shut eyes.
16

  1. Demographics (age, gender, married, kids?)
    29, Female, single.

  2. What is your usual bedtime/wake time? How different is it from your preferred bedtime/wake time?
    I go to bed around 11 and try to be asleep by 2 AM. I’m supposed to get up at 9.

  3. How do you feel when you first wake up?
    Shitty. I hate waking up.

  4. From your first wakeful moment in the morning, how long does it take you to feel awake and functional?
    A couple of hours some days. Other days I’m all right.

  5. Do you use an alarm clock? Do you hit snooze? Does it annoy your bedmate, if you have one?
    My alarm goes off at 8:30 and then the radio plays until I wake up. I do not snooze. Sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 the dog comes in and whines at me until I get up.

  6. If you could take a pill that would eliminate the need for sleep, would you take it?
    Nah. I like sleep. I’ll take the pill that eliminates food, tho!

  7. Do you have any nightly rituals that comfort you or help you sleep?
    Yeah I watch tv shows and videos on my laptop from 11 to 2. I usually have 1 thing picked out that I can roll over and fall asleep to. It helps me clear my mind if I am trying to concentrate on the actors’ voices instead of my inner thoughts.

17

Turns out my doctor is right-- most people do not want to go to bed at dark, many do have trouble falling asleep and have rituals to deal with it, and most are not alert the moment they get out of bed. I thought I was some sort of freak… well, maybe I am, but not in this particular respect.

18
  1. 22, female, cohabiting!, no children.
  2. Usual - 3am - 6:30am. Pref - 3am - 11am.
  3. I feel like I want to cry because Im so tired. Usually feel a little ill also.
  4. Doesnt take too long. I usually get up an hour before I due at work, Enough time to wash, dress and travel.
  5. I set my alarm clock as well as my phone alarm. On my phone I try to choose a different song to play to wake me up. For a while I had the muppet show on so I could dance to it in my bed and to stop me being in such a bad mood that I had to get up. Unfortunately after a while it started to annoy me. If I wake up before my alarm goes off I switch it off striaght away as I get real angry if it goes off when Im awake. My other half usually nudges me to get up and will join in with the dancing!
  6. I like to sleep sometimes but I have problems sleeping so I think I would take the pill once in a while if I was having a particulary bad sleepless night.
  7. I always put on a dvd of my favourite series and watch it in bed before I decide to try to get to sleep. Then once the tv is off I’ll come up with little stories in my head (Im a fan of writing now and then) if Im lucky Ive fell asleep before Ive finished the story.
19
  1. 31, single, two occasionally noisy cats
  2. 11-12 wake at 6:30. I’d prefer to sleep 2am-10am.
  3. Not too bad. I cough a lot at first, and I’m cranky for 15 minutes or so, but I’m okay after that.
  4. half an hour if I wake up normally, an hour if I sleep through to my alarm.
  5. I have an alarm clock for the 10% of the time I don’t naturally wake up when I’m supposed to. Snooze buttons are bad, I try to avoid them.
  6. Instead, could I take half a pill and be okay on 3.5/4 hours sleep? I like dreams too much to give them up!
  7. Other than nightly prayers, nothing consistent.
20
  1. Male, 51, married, no kids, 3 cats (the significance of this will become clear)
  2. 10 or 11 pm till 5:30 am on work days, till about 7 on off days. I would prefer midnight-8 am.
  3. Groggy as all get-out, but caffeine and a shower usually get me going pretty quickly.
  4. About 20 minutes (see above)
  5. Yes, but don’t need one. The cats have grown accustomed to being fed at a certain time; at about 5:15 the male is right in my face: “MEEEEEOW! MEEEEEOW!” On my days off, I just toss him off the bed, but he’s usually back by 6:30 or so. The alarm is on my wife’s side of the bed, so it’s under her control.
  6. Absolutely not. I enjoy sleeping, thankyouverymuch!
  7. I read most of the time, occasionally watch TV.