How much sleep do you get

We go to bed between 9.30-11.30. DH is asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. Sometimes read a while, then drop off and stay asleep till around 6am but mostly I’m awake around 2am. I used to get up and mark or plan, but now I just fish for my kindle and read till I drop off again.

If you can function well on 5 hours then there shouldn't be a problem, do what pleases you. I tend to need 6/7 hours but read every night before nodding off. The only thing to be aware of is that our body clocks become quickly attuned to our habits and adapt. I personally would not like the habit of waking mid night to read, but if it works for you.....why not?

I'm the snorer in our house! I usually stay up as late as possible to allow my OH to drop off before I join him. I always wake for the loo at 7am (the time I got up when working- my bladder never adjusted to retirement!) but could easily sleep for another 2 hours if allowed. Unfortunately I usually get woken by my OH turning on Breakfast TV around 8am.

I have always been a lark, while DH and DS are both owls. As a country child, I tend to live by natural light hours and when I gave up work to care for DH took up a paper round to keep me fit. Gave it up early last year and now tend to go to bed about 10-10.30 because I know I won't sleep anyway. Have hot milk, go up and read till either DH comes up or I drop my book. That tends to be about 3.30 and I then get around 3-3 1/2 hours. Now tend to wake between 7 and 7.30 and feel permanently tired.

My late DH was a snorer. For the last fifteen years of our marriage we had separate bedrooms as I decided enough was enough and my lack of sleep meant everyone not just myself suffered . It was only when DH health issues escalated did any intimacy between us cease.

Love sleep, sleep from about 11, or may choose to read for an hour, up about 8. Very rare to get up in the night. What is worse, I often have a sleep after lunch up on the bed.
Think it is just the luck of the draw, the sleepiness you feel. On the one occasion I tried a herbal sleeping tablet, all the next day I was slowed down, yes even good sleepers have vile worry nights. Milk is good for its natural sedative action. As so many have the need for micturation in the night have at least half a pint during the day. Last drink of the day by six pm. Using alcohol is a mistake, although you will get off to sleep, around 4 am when your liver has cleansed itself you will snap alert. From what I read many correspondents are hyper vigilant, try not to fuss the small stuff.?

9 months ago i changed my diet to low carbs...dropped over 3 stone in weight and now sleep all night , every night, at least 7 hours....

What an interesting thread. We all have so many things in common. My man can sleep eleven hours and still nod off during the day at anytime. He's not poorly and the only medication he takes is Omeprazole for indigestion. Snores, snorts and bounces when he turns over in bed. We've solved the bouncing with a new pocket sprung mattress, I can't feel him turning over now and he can't feel me turning the pages of my book. With regard to getting up for the loo - we had eight here for dinner the other week. All of us aged between 66 and 73 and the conversation turned to this. We found we all got up at least once during the night. The raisin theory was discussed and in the interests of science we all had a handful of raisins at the end of our meal. The next morning texts were sent and not one of us had got up during the night. Very interesting! Sales of raisins to the over 60's must be rocketing.

Seems to be a common problem with age, hormones etc I sleep well mostly but on the odd occasion I don’t, I will read and that helps to nod off. If not, I have downloaded all my favourite “ chill” sounds on my Spotify app and that always sends me off bringing back lovely past memories.

I go to bed about 8pm and am asleep by 8.30. However, I am always up around 2am/3am. You might say that I should go to bed later and wake up later but this doesn't happen, I still wake up between 2 & 3am and then feel even more tired. I have half an hour to an hour at lunch time which helps (sometimes! - because the postman calls any time between noon and 2.30) but can't get the long lovely sleep that I used to years ago. I miss sleeping well.

I turn light out around 12 after a short read but DH watches TV then comes up around that time and reads for at least half an hour. Went into Tiger and bought him a mini reading light which means he can turn off the bedside lamp. I always wake at least once during the night and if my mind becomes active then that is it, will lie awake for hours. If I'm feeling stressed I take Kalms and think that helps to relax me for sleep.

Goodness so many of us. And mostly females. Best not to worry about it though. Occasionally my husband doesnt sleep but its mostly me. And separate rooms is so common which is comforting too. I will occasionally take codeine or paracetamol if I can't sleep. I used to take amitriptyline but it left me groggy. (With fibromyalgia if I dont sleep it gets worse.) I agree with Bathsheba about holidays. Its very stressful when you disturb each other so self catering is the way to go. Also I find that (boringly) I prefer to prepare my own dinner as I can control the sugar fat etc and foreign food doesn't agree with me that much now. Isn't life fun!?

JenniferE our holiday solution is not to book hotels anymore; we always book a 2 bedroom self catering apartment or villa instead. And actually, we prefer it for other reasons too - my health is a bit up and down and there might be the odd day when I prefer/need to just stay in - it's not so easy to do that in a hotel room with maids coming in, nor can I help myself to a cuppa or a snack in a hotel room. All in all I just feel more comfortable in 'a place of our own' rather than a hotel. Yes I know we have to make the beds and do the tidying and so on, but it's a small price to pay for a peaceful night and relaxed living.

I must try raisins xx

I have a theory that men sleep better because women are programmed to wake at any little sound - such as babies waking in the night.
As I've said before, piriton helps to make me sleepy, after waking during the night to go to the toilet.

Now I am 80+ I can sympathise with all these fellow sufferers although, sadly, I no longer have the dear snorer to blame!
It can often be very worrying especially if an important day is looming. How I hate it when I am dressed in my best bib and tucker and someone says "Oh you do look tired"
Well, next time I am lying awake I shall send consoling thoughts to all my fellow sufferers. Meanwhile I am off to buy some raisins and Nytol.

I think men sleep better because all their problems are unburdened on to the wives, and then guess what? The wife worries about the problems and she can't sleep, while he is problem free and sleeps like a baby ?

Day6....whack him haha. I'm tempted to do that with Him Indoors.

I can sum up my sleep with 2 words NOT ENOUGH.

Husband sleeps 9 plus hours, I am unhealthily envious!!!

I'm sleeping like an angel since I was put on
Amitriptyline. (can't spell it, and too lazy to get up and find the packet). It's wonderful. It helps my depression and makes me sleep 8 hours a night. I don't care if I get hooked on it now as I'm over 80. Anything which makes life more bearable is worth it!
I feel very sorry for those of you with snoring husbands.
The best answer is separate rooms, I think.

I'm another one with a snoring husband who apparently 'doesn't sleep'. When I protest that he must have slept because he was snoring so loudly, I am wrong! He is sitting next to me now and I can tell he will shortly drift off and snore.

Separate rooms are definitely the way to go for snorers, non sleepers and fidgeters.
I am much more relaxed now I know I am not disturbing my husband, apparently I am a very noisy page turner.
You are doing exactly the right thing by napping when you can Maybelle Bon courage.

Our solution is separate rooms, but the problems start on holiday, as booking two rooms is so expensive.

I think we may get to that stage though, and maybe just have one holiday a year to allow for the extra cost.

Rachel Johnson (Boris's sister) wrote an article in our paper a few weeks ago about a device she bought for her snoring husband. The company is called Snoreeze, and she bought a device to keep his jaw in the correct position. Apparently it worked!

I must look into it before we go away again.

I go to bed early, read well into the night, listen to the news on the hour, nod off about 3.00am, couple of trips to the toilet, then up at 5.00am, all in all about 4 hours interrupted sleep in total, strange thing is I never feel tired, usually complete my housework/ironing etc., by 8.00am.

goldengirl a little zizz is one of the joys of retirement!
I think all houses make noises so it is a good idea to work out exactly what it is so that it doesn't unsettle you. Until DH was in hospital so much I had never been on my own and it is not nice to start with. Now I always go round and make sure that all is locked up and think positive thoughts about being all tucked up and 'snug as a bug in a rug'.