Sleep. Too little, too much.

Can everyone who has noticed an importance/difference in their migraines due to sleeping.
Please can you advise me.

I wake with pain almost every day and have no idea how to gauge how much is too little or too much sleep.
Sorry if that sounds thick, but no one has ever spoken to me about this.

I tend to go to bed late 12.30 ish, and feel ready for sleep by 2am at the worst.
I wake naturally about 8 hours after I went to sleep.

Should I focus on going earlier and rising earlier.....or is it how long?
Is 8 hours too much of to little, how can I tell?

I dont notice any difference but am keen to know I am doing the best I can for myself.
90% of my migraine or other head pain is there when I wake regardless of gong to bed with a better head.
Worth looking at I think.

Thanks all.

Pen,

I do best with 8 hours of sleep. I do okay with 7- things aren't horrible but they aren't great. Any less than 7, I'm in a world of hurt. Nasty headache (not necessarily an M but a nasty HA).

I know I feel best when I can wake on my own without an alarm but I make sure I go to bed early enough to get 8 hours.

If you aren't sure how it affects you and are willing to try having a BAD day, set your alarm for 7 hours and see what happens. If you feel more tired with just 7, then you know that your internal clock is doing okay.

I do best with 8 hours also. 7 hours i'm okay. 6 hours forget it!

Debbie

yes agree 8 hrs best, 7 get away with and 6 am asking for a mig. you need to keep a diary but also if youve ever been to a sleep research clinic they will also bring up about what time you go to bed, you should try to slowly bring it forward bit by bit, if i go later and wake later im asking for a bad head every day!!

Hi Pen,

Speaking for myself, I believe too much sleep can either cause a migraine or at least make matters far worse. I know it is old fashioned but I am best sticking to early to bed early to rise, and 4-6 hours causes far less migraines than 8-10 hours. I always get up as soon as I wake up, if I lay in that will cause a headache for sure, and if I wake with a migraine I try to get up as staying in bed or trying to get more sleep is a sure recipe for a full blown migraine.

So what works best, for me, Bed before 12 midnight, up no later than 4 am, not the answer for everyone, but it may well be worth experimenting Pen with different sleep patterns, good luck.

Peter

Peter,

The only difference here is sex. Men for whatever reason require less sleep than women. My boyfriend, sleeps 4-5 hours if he's lucky. We ladies require more for some reason. I guess I work with my internal clock and it says 8 hours. Now granted if I sleep more than 9, that's a recipe for a migraine as well.

You do have a point with trying to go to bed earlier. If I stay up later and sleep later, I'm also asking for trouble. My bed time is no later than 10:30. Occasionally I stay up later but I don't feel very well the next day. But I know this.

I have been learning a bit more about this off forum.
My problem with going to sleep earlier is.....I cant sleep.
I hav enev rgone to bed early...not my whoile life.

I have had migraine 20 years but not changed my bedtime.
Never got up early, 8am and rush out the door..
No one is an earlier riser here and 9am these days is reasonable

So now I have fibro as well and it is a problem sleeping at all for many of us.
Then waking as if you haven't even been asleep.

If I wake in pain (which I do almost every day) all I want to go is go back to sleep.
But either way I wake still tired. With fibro it can take an hour or so just to get going.

So with the suggestion of going to sleep at 11pm given to me.....that would have me getting up at 7am at latest.
I dont want to start my day that early and would be wrecked.
AND I go to bed 11.30/12 but am still awake 1.30/2am.
How do you sleep if you cant sleep? I'm just not sleepy.
I am hardly expending any energy so not surprising I'm not sleepy.
But waking up is a different story....

Anyone cracked it, how to get off to sleep without drugs....

Pen;

All I can say is go to sleep when you're tired...I wouldn't bother trying to go to sleep before that. All that's going to do is make you aggravated that you can't fall asleep.

For me, the pain doesn't get worse or better with the sleep...but is does increase the tolerate I have for the pain. The more sleep I get increases my tolerance to the pain, and the less sleep I get the lower my tolerance is to the pain.

The only problem is, I usually can't sleep much during a migraine.

Hugs. Dawn

HeelerLady wrote:Peter,

The only difference here is sex.

What? Do you think we need more? I agree. Sorry, couldn't resist the great setup.

Chris

Dawn if i go to sleep when am tired, I will be going to sleep 2/3am....that doesnt sound like what he have been discussing.
I am seldom sleepy or hungry. Bit odd really.

there is an article posted om f.b about the connections between sleep and migraine on help for headaches and migraine site. soory i dont have the know how to copy and paste it here for you!!

I think we are all supposed to need different amounts of sleep. i go to bed before hubby and he gets up before me, so he has at least an hour less than me.

I tend to need at least half an hour of dozing and thinking about silly things - important stuff banned from head before I sleep. I sleep better if I have changed for bed an hour before going to bed.

If I try to sleep in I will get the worst migraine ever.

Fitting in with other people's schedules is difficult. Hubby is working on starting up as an artist, so his workplace is the garage next to the house. No commute means half an hour lie in and my head hurts all morning. When he goes off on a startup course he gets the early train and my head does much better. Then there's me having a migraine in the dark in the bedroom when he needs the computer, which is next to the bed. All those clicking keys as he does the trial runs of the website!!

I can sleep all day when things are bad, and still be tired when it is bedtime, i don't know how I do this.

Is this any use? I think I'm rambling again.

Best wishes

Di

I gotcha Di, thanks....
Last night a migraine was brewing, but Monday night I managed....big drum roll..................
1.30 till 9.30. 8 hours and asleep 30 mins earlier.
Didnt make any difference to my head, but one swallow does not a summer make.

I am now in bed having managed, despite a migraine today, to babysit my son's kids so they could grab an Anniversary curry.
It is 12.30. I am signing off her in a minute and will read and hopefully get to sleep earlier....we shall see,

Thanks for all the comments, it does seem we are all different in our sleep needs, but all sensitive to changes thereof.

Night

Pen,

I find that going to bed around midnight and getting up when the sun shines in the window is plenty of sleep. Trying to get more only causes pain. This ends up being around 7 hours. Not using an alarm clock helps, but keeping the times close to the same every day is important. Less M that way.

Hal

Thanks Hal,

As you and I are similar age, I think maybe your right and the 7 hours is enough.
I cant seem to sleep earlier than about 1.30am.
So then when I wake I doze off again.....BAD!!!
Trying to get to sleep earlier...

P