Sleeping.
 

Sleeping for 10-12 hours a night...good or bad?

I'm taking an anti-depressant called Mirtazapine. It has incredible sedative effects and has helped me sleep wonderfully (for the most part). Just curious if I'm getting a little too much sleep?

When your body sleeps more than it normally does....it probably means you needed it. I had days where i would sleep 15 hours sometimes.... my doctor said it was a sign that i was exhausting myself when i was awake, which was true. Trust in your body. The best Healing happens during sleep.

I agree. Right now, as much sleep as your body wants is the right amount. And, on the bright side, if you're sleeping, you're not bored :)

Okay, thanks guys.

Yes, I LOVE sleep. One of my favorite things to do. I just don't like how I feel when I wake up sometimes...I've been having morning or times I wake up from a nap disoriented. It's been getting better. Super scary stuff though...waking up thinking it's December when it's February...not knowing your name...yeah.

Yikes!

Before the accident, I slept 6-8 hours a night, but 8 was ideal for me and I always shot for 8.

In the beginning of having the injury, I was sleeping about 10-12 hours a night for months and sometimes longer. But I remember at one point speaking about it with a speech therapist and my first neurologist.

It must have decreased over time though because when I first started working a year later I ended up sleeping about ten hours a night and thinking it had increased from eight. But after working 12 hours a week for four months it gradually went back down to 8 hours a night.

Then I started working 20 hours a week on Dec 1 and I started sleeping 10-11 hours a night again. I've been working 20 hours a week for a couple of months now and I'm sleeping about 9 hours a night.

I suspect it will continue to decrease until I'm sleeping 8 hours a night.

I plan to increase my work week hours on April 1 at the latest and I wonder if I'll end up sleeping longer again each night.

I wish. I sleep an average 16 hours a day, every day.

For what it's worth, Jill Bolte Taylor (author of My Stroke of Insight, which I recommend) said she slept 11 hours/night for a number of years (6, 7, 8, 9?) after her stroke. After that period of recovery, she found she needed only 9 hours/night. "Honor the healing power of sleep" is one of her central tenets re stroke recovery, and I would argue it applies equally to PCS recovery.

I have been getting 9 to 11 (or more) hours of sleep at night, and there are days when I still need to take a nap. It's one of the things that make me think I need neuropsychological testing. It does help to get the amount of sleep my system grabs because I wake up feeling wide awake and alert. Still, it doesn't seem normal, at least compared to my previous life when I got by with 7 to 8 hours and still manage to put in a full day's work.

I know I don't have a blurb about my background. I forgot what buttons to click to be able to input the information. That's the forgetful part of me, BTW. ;)

hohn,

Click on the User CP in the upper left in the blue bar.

Your weakened brain needs more sleep now that it did pre-injury. It is carrying the same work load with less available resources so that load causes more fatigue.

It is not much different than how older people often need more sleep than younger people. I say that I have an 85 year old brain in a 57 year old body.