If you don't set an alarm, do you wake up naturally after a normal 8 hours of sleep? Or do you just keep on sleeping?


I am never fully rested, I always feel tired no matter how much sleep I get, but the earlier I get up, the worse I feel, even if I received 8 hours of sleep.

Generally unless I set an alarm, I can and will stay asleep for a good 12 to 14 hours. So I set alarms most nights to go off after 10 hours so I don't sleep the day away.

Doctors have always just said it's related to depression, anxiety and such and not unusual for someone like that. My wife is bipolar and can sleep just as much.


Just got to thinking how many feel rested after a normal 8 hours sleep, and if people can wake up naturally after 8 hours with no alarm set.

What is this 8 hours of sleep you talk about? Is that in one sleep or several naps during the day to total 8 hours?
I have an alarm but rarely does it wake me as Im awake before it goes off.
I wonder how many BE posters set their alarm for 2.30 am and try to get a full 8 hours before it goes off.
Even on days off Im awake very early as my other alarm clock THE CAT wakes me up.

I'm often awake just before the radio comes on. I like listening to the news.

Sometimes I suddenly realise the radio has come on and I missed it. But there's nothing I have to set the alarm for anyway other than when my step daughter is on an early start at work and needs waking at 7.

The darker and colder it is the more likely I want to stay until about 8.

I don't need an alarm clock to wake up. My job, a lot of the time, dictates how much sleep I get. For six weeks this summer I averaged between 2.5 and 3 hrs a night. I was pretty tired come the end of the run to be honest.

From someone who has high anxiety, I'm the opposite. I'll wake up every few hours. I can go to sleep at 9/10pm but I'll wake up at 3am and then am sometimes wide awake 5am

My anxiety is worst in the morning so I can never go back to sleep

I don't sleep, I wait.

When working days/"normal" hours, what ever time I go to sleep, I'll usually wake up (without alarm clock or other external influences [CATS]) between 4-5 am.

I find I function best (=am more sociable/nicer) when I get around 8 straight hours of sleep.

2 x 4 hr sleeps in 24 & I'm a reasonable human being; I can function on 4hrs of sleep, 6 is better.

Very occasionally, my periodic insomnia/weird working hours catch up on me & I'll sleep +10 hours straight. Turns me into a zombie....

I am utterly useless on 4 hours of sleep, can stay awake on 6 hours but mind is cloudy, 10-12 hours and I can fully function.



I can stay asleep once I fall asleep, but getting to sleep can be an issue depending on how anxious my day has been, not unusual for me to be up all night.

One reason why I seek jobs that don't have early starts, I can't risk it as more nights then not I wont end up sleeping until 2-5am.

I think part of the issue at night is there isn't much to do, so more time to think about things increasing anxiety. Winter time is worse because of the extended darkness.

I'm terrible at getting off to sleep and even worse at waking up once I am asleep

When I had a job with regular hours it was a bit easier to wake up but shift work plays havoc with sleep patterns,

My husband can just sleep anytime for example if he needs to get up at 4am he'll go to sleep at 8pm. It's enviable.

Maybe 20 years of shift work has just made me useless as a 9-5 worker... When I have had jobs needing me up at 6 or 7, I would try to go to bed earlier, but I would sit and turn and toss until my usual bed time.

I am also exhausted and not productive when starting work at 9am, but I am wide awake and ready at 11pm or a 2pm start, but all my jobs have been for the most part 11p to 7am or 2pm to 10pm types.

Going to sleep is the *worst* . I have no useful advice.

Being single means I don't disturb anyone else when I get up/ wander around in the middle of the night; I've found - over the years- that not forcing myself to stay in bed trying to fall asleep helps. A good book & the sofa often does the trick.

As I mentioned up thread, I wake up between 4-5 am, WHATEVER time I actually GET to sleep.

Eventually, one learns to live with/compensate for dodgy sleep patterns....

CBC radio one is a help. Very often something worth listening to (even the most unlikely subjects). If it's interesting, I enjoy listening. If not then it sends me back to sleep. I set it to turn itself off after half an hour or so and quite often find I 'renew' it for another 30 minutes because I want to carry on listening.

At best I go back to sleep, at worst it's still restful.

I end up falling asleep on the couch probably a 50% of the time watching TV. My wife once asleep can sleep through just about anything due to her medication, rarely does my lack of sleep wake anyone up, even the dog isn't bothered by it...

I used to take a sleeping pill that was prescribed, but you end up having to take a higher higher dose and it eventually doesn't work, and long term effects are not too good.

Do you?

My wife was on Zolpidem as a 'sleeping pill' and it was very effective, albeit with a tendency to strange (imaginary) conversations just prior to sleep.

We halved her dose after a couple of months because we didn't like that effect. It had two advantages.

A month's supply ($60) lasted two months and the strange conversations stopped. There was no loss of effectiveness.

I reckon she was on them for about 4 years.

In hospital last year they changed the prescription - can't remember the name but it was every bit as effective, without having to be increased, no side effects and unlike the Zolpidem was covered.

The one I tried Zopiclone lost effectiveness after 6-8 months of use, I would take it and would not get drowsy enough to sleep.

Plus that particular drug as well as others in that group could be a carcinogen a prescribed dose, so between that and finding it lose effectiveness, I just stopped taking it after talking to the doctor.

As with all medications, different people experience different results.