I often work for 30 hours straight with my home business. My nutrition stays pretty good throughout, as I always have access to food. The problem I’m having is after these super long work benders I have a super sleep to match. I can sleep anywhere from 15 to 24 hours straight. I pound back cottage cheese and fiber pills before going down, but when I wake up I feel depleted.
Should I wake up and have a few bites of cottage cheese every 8 hours if I know a long slumber is coming? I’ve also picked up some trib and ZMA to throw into the mix.
I’m thinking sleeping this long is kind of wacky? Has anyone find themselves sleeping this long?
I’ve done the same thing many times to meet deadlines (graphic design). It’s one of the reasons I’m getting out of that business. It never seems to matter how well I eat, after an all nighter and the following long sleep, I feel like shit.
I’ve tried getting up after 6 hours to re-orient myself and eat, but then I can’t sleep anymore and just end up tired.
Hope it works for you, how often do you have to pull a bender like that?
I don’t know if your body adapts after an abnormally long period of sleep, but in normal cases sleeping over 9-10 hours will make hormone levels get affected negatively. So that might be another good reason to wake up and spend an hour awake while eating, then going to sleep again.
I’m no expert in this though, maybe someone else can fill in some info.
I’d guess 10 hours would be a bad moment. Try to wake up at the end of a sleep cycle, that would mean after 7-9 hours (most people have 3,5-4,5 hour sleep cycles).
[quote]pinkponyz wrote:
I’d guess 10 hours would be a bad moment. Try to wake up at the end of a sleep cycle, that would mean after 7-9 hours (most people have 3,5-4,5 hour sleep cycles).[/quote]
After I got out of the Service I started working evenings/overnights at a production plant for a year or so then I switched to mornings, since then I have big trouble going to sleep before 12 or 1 AM and I wake up almost religiously at 4 or 4:30ish I have tried to reset my sleep patterns but… and it has been almost 8 years since I have had that schedule.
I take 3mg of melatonin and a dose of ZMA or Z-12 at Approx 9:30 or 10 and still nothing. I do however sleep like a rock, almost a comatose state.
[quote]pinkponyz wrote:
I don’t know if your body adapts after an abnormally long period of sleep, but in normal cases sleeping over 9-10 hours will make hormone levels get affected negatively. So that might be another good reason to wake up and spend an hour awake while eating, then going to sleep again.
I’m no expert in this though, maybe someone else can fill in some info.[/quote]
Do you have any sources on this (over sleeping affect hormone levels)? I find that really interesting, and have always thought that to be true. Mainly because when I sleep over 9 hours my libido the next day can be pretty low, whereas a day I get like 6 hours of sleep I’m the complete opposite.
[quote]etaco wrote:
Do you feel like hell if you set an alarm to wake up after ten hours?[/quote]
Luckily I feel fine half way through. Today was a day I was setup for a long sleep, and I forced myself up after 8 hours to eat a bowl of turkey. I ended up staying up, but I’ll make it a habit to get a 100 grams of protein in my belly and do whatever for an hour. If I fall back asleep, I fall back asleep.
I’m quite certain the negative hormone call is spot on. Mentally I feel fine, but physically I just feel like a panzy.
-i sleep for 7 hours regularly i feel like crap
-i sleep for 8 hours regularly i feel refreshed and focused
-i sleep for 9 hours regularly it takes forever for me to warmup mentally and physically in the day
[quote]RyanBrown0311 wrote:
pinkponyz wrote:
I’d guess 10 hours would be a bad moment. Try to wake up at the end of a sleep cycle, that would mean after 7-9 hours (most people have 3,5-4,5 hour sleep cycles).
After I got out of the Service I started working evenings/overnights at a production plant for a year or so then I switched to mornings, since then I have big trouble going to sleep before 12 or 1 AM and I wake up almost religiously at 4 or 4:30ish I have tried to reset my sleep patterns but… and it has been almost 8 years since I have had that schedule.
I take 3mg of melatonin and a dose of ZMA or Z-12 at Approx 9:30 or 10 and still nothing. I do however sleep like a rock, almost a comatose state.
[/quote]
You hit the nail on the head without realizing it. The melatonin should be taken each night at 5:00pm and you should lay down as soon as you feel like it but no later than 10:00. The melatonin will help with the internal sleep cycles which will help you over time. Taking it at 10:00 has set your sleep cycles for just that and you are waking up early out of habit and the cycle. New research backs this up.
5:00pm every night. This information is from a neurologist.
The problem with sleeping that long and not having a meal is that you are starving your muscles. During sleep is when your muscles repair themselves and if they do not have the proper amino acids they will break down muscle tissue and that is where catabolism will occur.
Id reccommened drinking a 60 gram shake of casein protein and intaking alot of water so you wake up at some point in the night to go to the bathroom. Then go to the fridge and put down another shake and head back to bed. Sleeping that long without nutrition is hurting you more then helping you.
The other day I woke up after 12 hours, and went for some cottage cheese. I sat on the couch and ate about half a cup, and fell back asleep while sitting there for another 8 hours.