Time perception and sleep

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I have not had a normal night's sleep since I was in sixth grade. Let me explain one aspect of it.

Sometimes when I sleep, I keep my perception time active and when I sleep four or five hours, it feels like that amount of time has passed.

And then there are times like last night where I close my eyes and fall asleep at 1am only to seemingly open my eyes right back and see that it's seven am.

Only difference is I don't feel like I've been asleep for six hours, I feel like I've been asleep for six seconds. And then I drag for the entire day becasue my mind is six hours behind my body.

Can anyone else relate.

I have never realy slept well alterating between what you discribe now i take sleep meds but sometimes its worse tonight i slept and hour or so and am awake again that hour felt like 4-5 hours now i dont know what to do tring to sleep isnt easy staying awake just as hard tommows going to suck the meds do help but its like a window of opportuninty if i miss it too bad

yes that's how i've been sleeping for the past few years. I was taking medication but recently stopped taking it and for some reason, I'm sleeping at a "standard perceptive rate" most of the time now. It's hard to describe what it's like to other people. But you feel tired all through out the day. I still feel that way quite often, but it seems to be improving.

Since sixth grade? Why is that?

Generally speaking, if I go to sleep at night and my sleep is fairly undisturbed, I'll dream. If I dream, 15 minutes can seem like hours or even an entire day has gone by. If I dream, I usually feel somewhat refreshed or rested upon waking.

My visual picture of daily time has always shown the sleeping hours-between midnight and 6-7 AM as being much longer than the rest. The picture is a circle graph, and it goes clockwise, like a clock (unlike the picture of a year with its months, which is counterclockwise). Well,this graph has 24 hours; midnight is at the 12:00 position, and 7:00AM is roughly where the 6 would be. In other words, my perception of time is such that the 7 hours of sleep seem as long as or equal to the other 17 day hours! I realize that this is irrational, but it is the only way I picture daily time.

If I sleep during the day, it's another story. I'm almost unable to sleep during the day unless I am sick or truly exhausted or wiped out, for example, right after having a baby. If I do manage to take a nap, I don't usually dream, and when I awaken, I feel all drugged and groggy and half asleep for hours. It's horrible.

Sleep started to obsessivly change for me starting in 4th grade and thus I feel like trash most of the time. Falling asleep at night is loads of fun. Tossing, turning, getting up 20 times a night to use the bathroom (guess its a kidney issue), trying to knock myself out with hard objects (rare but it has happened a number of times), and major frusteration.

Late 90s-2002: Sleep from 8AM-2PM. During school sleep would probably be IN school
2002-2003: 3AM-6:30AM. Got admited to the hospital in January 2003 because of it
2003-2005: 1AM-6AM. Later 1-3 till 9AM

Past week: 10 or 11PM - 2 or 3AM. And 1PM-5PM during the same day. Its 4:29AM CDT and I just got up.

Whenever I sleep in the afternoon I have the problem you do. I close my eyes at 1 and wake up and its suddenly 5-6-7:00 and I feel like I just fell asleep.

So anything sleep related I can probably relate to in one way or the other.

I have never percieved time when I slept the way you do, but I have had sleeping problems my entire life. I was just writing a journal entry about it, actually.

I started taking melatonin when it gets particularly bad, 3mg before I go to bed. This usually helps, but you have to be careful because sometimes it will lessen in its effectiveness over time. It's better to stop taking it for awhile than to increase the dosage.

Up until sixth grade, I would get a normal nights sleep. It took me forever to fall asleep, usually two hours or more, but I would be in bed typically 9pm, asleep by 11pm, and up at 7am.

Then in sixth grade, all went to hell. I would go to bed at the normal time, but sleep only until 2 or 3am and wake up and not be able to get back to sleep. I obsessively use to track how much sleep I got at night so I know these things.

Not much fun being up at that time, I would listen to the radio most of the time. Other times I might get up and do homework. Sometimes I would just lay in bed and stare at the celeing for hours on end.

One thing I do recommend for sleep problems-Melatonin(5mg capsule),
works amazingly well,for getting into a regular normal sleep pattern,it creates a deeper sleep.

I'm just the other way. The day seems to go on forever and the sleep period is waaay to short. I have a hard time getting up, I think because the sleep world is so much more pleasant. I've been able to control my dreams for a while, so I rarely have nightmares. If a dream gets too bad, I just wake up and try again.
My daughter uses melatonin with good results. I plan on trying it the next time I have trouble getting to sleep, but so far that hasn't been a problem (a 4yr old makes short work of a 40yr old's stamina). Now that I'm talking about it I realize I don't remember dreaming lately. Maybe I'm not getting good quality sleep. Might try that melatonin after all.

Bland-When I sleep, I never want to get up. When I do get up, I feel as though Im trying to pull myself out of a drug-induced stupor. Only for brief periods has this annoying factor not been present. My AS son however always goes to bed at 9 and wakes up at 7 like clockwork. Only since puberty (around 10 1 1/2!) has he been grumbly upon awakening.

Time is another matter. I am chronically late and seem to be a poor judge of time and the amout of it that has passed. I fear I will never get it right. This causes many problems because I have 6 children and many meetings and appointments and activities, not to mention my own cleaning jobs. I somehow hold it together but dont get on too well with those who are anal about punctuality!

I obsess about my past. That's why it's true coming from me.

Usually the only times when my sleep pattern becomes unusual (and unbearable) is when I am anxious and/or depressed. Since I have had periods of these on occasion, usually due to life circumstances, my sleep becomes erratic and I often end up sleeping less, maybe waking up at 5am in the morning.

But most of the time, I sleep fairly well (as well as can be on a couch) and don't have too many troubles, life-depending.

When I'm awake at night, I seem to lose all perception of time, which suits me because my worst obsession is productivity in relation to time. At night I feel so much more enagaged with the world.

I'm always anxious about something and have a very hard time turning it off except by occuping my mind with something like working out how things work,doing math in my head before my little sleep helpers kick in

I have no real sleeping pattern. The times I go to sleep and wake up are rather random; I guess there HAS to be a pattern somewhere in there, but I have not managed to find it. Lol.

It's always the opposite for me. If I go to sleep at night and dream, I always wake up dog tired. Unfortunately, I dream almost every night, and I start seeing things the moment I close my eyes. It's as if my visual cortex goes into hyperdrive when trying to get to sleep and in the sleep state. I know its not real dreaming, because I'll go to sleep/nap for like 5 minutes and in that time I fall into these dreams. It's all very disturbing.