If you have 4 or 5 hours sleep regularly, how well do you function the next day?

[IComeLastInAllTheRaces]

I'm wondering this and trying to work out what is simple tiredness, and what is caused by my chronic illnesses or other stuff. I mean, in one way they are entangled completely but to see what other people are like.

After sleeping from 1am to 6am last night, I did my volunteer shift at a food bank and I've honestly been so wiped out for the rest of the day. It is just 2.5 hours long and making sandwiches, so standing up which I do find difficult so I get that but it feels COMPLETELY pathetic. I stayed an extra 15 mins to finish what I was doing.

My brain is completely blank. I cannot think properly in terms of organising or problem solving or tackling tasks - it's just a stream of consciousness of thoughts floating by. So, it's kind of easy to write this post because it's not mentally taxing, but I can't do anything productive that requires thinking through steps. I know I need to do stuff but it's so overwhelming. I l did lie down for half an hour but didn't sleep, as trying to get to bed at 10.30pm after I take last medication. Hoping to get a longer block of sleep tonight.

How do you feel energy wise if say half your week you are on 4 or 5 hours sleep? I shouldn't be this useless should I?

My ferritin and folate are really low and wondering if this is partly why.

I'm terrible with lack of sleep - if I get 4-5 hours I will be bedbound with a migraine the next day usually (don't get migraines if not sleep deprived). It's to the extent that when I had a baby I bottle fed and split the nights with my partner so I could get 6-8 hours a night minimum.

I can function on that much sleep as long as it doesn’t involve alcohol, but not for multiple days in a row. I then feel like I have jet lag.

When this was common-ish due to work, the problem was compounded as I tended to drink more coffee, over-eat or not eat well and not do enough exercise, so overall felt like crap.

Virtually never get more than 6 hours. More usually 4.5 -5 hours. Yes manage but appreciate the damage it is doing to my body. Awful

Been functioning on that for a while as one of my children sleeps poorly, one's having night terrors, my OH snores (most annoying one of all of them!) and I'm a very light sleeper so it takes me ages to get back to sleep.

I think you get used to it somehow. At first it was hard but now I just seem to get up and go because I don't have a choice. I'd say once every couple of weeks I have a day where it all catches up with me and I cannot do anything other than keep my children alive.

Absorption problems of iron can be a sign of coeliac disease. Please follow this up with the GP

DH has chronic illnesses. Fatigue is a big part of that.
He needs to be in bed by 9PM if he has a long day ahead the next day.
If he has a busy day, he will be extra tired further on in the week.
You need to make sure you are sleeping as much as you can with any form of chronic disease.

I regularly get 4-5 hours sleep and have done for years. I'll go to sleep around 11.00pm, 2.5 hours sleep, go to the loo, back to sleep and wake up at 4.30 and not really get back to sleep. I function perfectly well on it. Ive recently given up drinking my 8-10 cups of tea a day and moved on to either decaffeinated tea or hot chocolate and I am sleeping much better in recent weeks.

I'm lucky if I get 5 hours sleep. I go to.bed but my mind won't switch off. I function fine as I'm used to it. I do like a lie in on a Sunday though, so even if awake I am still resting. I nod off sometimes in the afternoon for 15-20 mins so.e days. I set my phone alarm so i can't go over 30 mins.

I've had a tendency to insomnia all my life, and generally manage to power on through after a bad night. At my worst, when DS1 was a baby, I was able to do everything that needed doing on 1-2 hrs sleep (he was a good sleeper, it was me that was the problem!) With the onset of perimenopause I have found myself less able to do that though, although my sleep is also quite a lot better (down to amitriptyline mostly!)

I would not function very well after 4-5 hours of sleep. My brain would not work, I'd feel queasy, loopy and weird. I need 7 hours.

I need about 8.5-9 hours sleep to function at 100%. I get 7 most nights since having kids and honestly it's killed my ability to think straight, retain any information etc. 4-5 hours a few nights in a row would absolutely destroy me. I could get up and do the very basics but I wouldn't want to drive or be responsible for anything important.

My toddler has been regularly a terrible sleeper so 4/5 hours has been a regular occurrence. I struggle very badly with it and have lots of useless foggy days, struggled with my weight, snacking to keep me going, low mood…That said a lot of the time the 4/5 hours is broken up so maybe that’s worse than having the hours in one stretch

I generally only sleep 4 or 5 hours a night and manage just fine. I think I have just got used to it tbh. ASD ds and dd tag team to keep me awake but even if ds is at their df's and dd is quiet I don't sleep more than five hours.

When I had a head injury and post concussion syndrome 8 years ago, I was just really ill and all the dreadful symptoms gave me horrendous anxiety to the point where I was literally stuck in fight or flight constantly.

Consequently I ended up having very severe insomnia and didn't sleep at all for nearly a week. I had the most awful breakdown as a result and then got given all sorts of dreadful psychotropic meds, one of which was an off label antipsychotic. It wasn't good and I got a horrible neurological involuntary movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia that is permanent.

So yes... sleeping well is very important 😳😱

I’m regularly on this little sleep thanks to my toddler. I cope fine for a day or two, feel a tad more sluggish but overall nothing that affects me much. After that though I really struggle. Work becomes unbearably exhausting, my anxiety shoots through the roof, I lose my appetite... Sleep deprivation is the worst.

When I was in my 20s though, I’d regularly be on this little sleep due to my career (often worked 8am - 10pm 6 days a week with quite a commute). I functioned absolutely fine then (as long as I had coffee). Now I’m in my 30s and look back on that and have no idea how I did it

My two are terrible sleepers and I live on coffee. I have a job that involves being active and so I need the caffeine to help me.

I can function fine doing day to day stuff with eg 5 hours every now and again but if I have to do anything where my thinking is tested like solve a problem, memorise something, then I'm slower and make mistakes. Then I realise I'm not managing as well as I thought! I couldn't do that kind of sleep regularly.

Ever since my DC was born my sleep has been rubbish. He sleeps through but I can't seem to. End uo going to bed around 11, then randomly wake up about 4ish. Struggle to go back to sleep, then usually fall asleep and get woken by DC around 7. Feel like shit all the time. Try to sleep in one day in the weekend, but I think that's actually made it worse (think waking up at the same time every day was actually better for me)

I get 3-4 hours sleep per night.
I've always had sleep issues (I'm guessing my ADHD is pertinent to this) and I am always fatigued.
Since having twins 5 years ago, I've had a steady decline in extant chronic pain conditions and worsened insomnia. Tried everything.
Most days, I feel irritable, knackered and far older than my 43 years.
Lack of sleep has probably aged me prematurely and definitely taken its toll on my emotional well-being (or lack thereof).

@IComeLastInAllTheRaces are you mid forties type age?

Not enough sleep when the DC are young is hard. Not enough sleep as we enter menopause is harder.

5 I am absolutely fine, I'd class it as a reasonable night. 4 and I usually need a shut eye in the afternoon if i can get one. Pregnancy means in up multiple times a night for the loo, probably every 90minutes or so.
I have ME and really messed up sleep patterns, so years of practice.

I get 5-6 on a work night. However, when I go to bed on a Friday night and can sleep until I wake (with a typical break for putting the cats out and having a wee about 6am) I will then go back to sleep till 3/4pm, so probably 15 hours or so.

Having had low ferritin and low folate, both cause the symptoms you describe. Can't get up the stairs tired, awful brain fog, breathlessness etc etc etc.

What are you taking to address these? I found low folate fairly easy to address - 5 mg (this us the recommended dose is you are deficient) of methylfolate a day sorted it in a few weeks.

I've been taking iron supplement for years and it's still not where it should be so that one seems more stubborn to treat.

I'm okay on 4-5 for one day, don't notice a massive difference, but if I only get 5 hours three nights in a row, I get a migraine that lasts 48-72 hours and requires lots of sleep to cope with. This only started at about age 40, I was fine on no sleep for the decade before that.

I survived on 4-5 hours or less (woken up every hour) for almost 5 years when dcs were young. They were terrible sleepers <shudder>. I was younger then (mid/late 30s) and could be functional the next day without napping.

Nowadays, I get unbroken sleep and can still function on 6 hours sleep a day but cognitive powers will wan during the early night. I did that recently for a couple of months when work was busy (mid-50s now). I was still functional but feel it during weekends when I get a chance to catch up on sleep. Long lie ins. Dcs are now teenagers so they sleep even more than me.

I inherited the sleep gene from my dad who was a doctor. He was on call a lot and could sleep anywhere and everywhere he needed to and then get on with things. I know I can bank sleep i.e. sleep loads and then go for stretches on very little and then replenish the bank later. It is one of my few superpowers and allows me to take on demanding jobs when I was starting out in the workforce that required overnighters (lawyer).