[hamster-bamster]

Sleep is the most critical issue for me now, the most important risk factor, I would say, for my not being able to cope with work and going into disability instead. I fall asleep at work. This past week I was getting from 8 to 9.5 hours of sleep at night and it was not enough. Yesterday I simply booked myself a conference room on a floor different from the one I and my new team sit on, put my cheek on the table and dozed off for 40 minutes or so. But it was Friday, no meetings, I cannot do it every day. I lose it in meetings. People look at me. Black tea does not help (my preferred drink). Coffee helps but I am afraid to drink too much (anxiety?). I will try to sleep 10 hours at night and see what happens. My p-doc said that such high sleep requirements are consistent with my medications. Only a month ago when I was still depressed I slept 14-16 hours.

A related question: how do you go about determining what amount of coffee is safe for you?

[Trippin2.0]

During normal phase, I sleep 4 hrs, hypomania, not sure, if I don't force myself, I don't sleep as I'm never sleepy, even when I'm tired. Depression, I sleep every hour I don't need to be awake. I'm working now, and in normal phase, a 19hr day can NOT be good, for me, so I'm doing my best to sleep atleast 6.5hrs

[BipolaRNurse]

Normal phase is right around 7 hours for me. Depressed, I'm like Trippin and will sleep at any time that I positively, absolutely am not needed for anything. Hypo/manic, 4-5 hours is plenty and I begrudge myself even that---who's got time for sleep when there's computer stuff to be done and journaling to do and late-night TV to watch?

[PiperLeigh]

Normal, 10-11 hrs (I know- a lot; that has been my "normal" since childhood)
Depressed state, 16-18 hrs, as much as I can get away with :- /
Manic, try to sleep for at least 4 hrs.

I don't drink coffee, but I try to not have more than one coke zero each day.

[bluemountains]

HB, When I was taking abilify I had a terrible time staying awake. The pdoc changed my meds and now I am much better. Could your pdoc make some changes to help you with your sleep needs?
Bluemountains

[cocoabeans]

Depression? Anywhere from none, if I'm in that crazy too much energy feel like death state to 17 hours.

Normal? Between 5 and 9.

Up? 0-3 with an odd solid 8 here and there. That random full nights sleep used to be my argument, see I'm not bipolar! I'm not manic, manic people don't sleep! I slept once this week!!! Haha, riiiight.

I don't worry about coffee. I drink a lot of energy drinks. Sometimes I can't sleep but, I don't really care about it. Sleeping well and enough has always been a problem for me, mania? Eh, not so much. I like it!

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by cocoabeans

I drink a lot of energy drinks.

Like how many? In a 8-hr work period?

[Secretum]

Sometimes I sleep normally while hypomanic; other times I only get 3 hrs. Normally, I need between 8-10 hrs to feel anywhere near rested. Depressed, I can sleep for 12-15 hrs, but again, my sleep doesn't always change with my mood.

It's interesting that everyone seems to sleep more during depression. Hypersomnia during depression is considered a nonmanic marker of bipolar; unipolar depressives tend to suffer from insomnia. We seem to be proof of that!

[Trippin2.0]

Ooh ooh forgot to add. If I sleep longer than 7hrs, I wake up groggy and hungover, like sleep meds that I don't even take haven't warn off. I only sleep longer hours maybe 1 or 2 days a month when my body needs to reboot.

[nacht]

Normally, about 8 or 9 hours, give or take. Sometimes 10, if left to my own devices.
Depressed, at least 12-14, sometimes longer. Mostly what you'll catch me doing is napping at every opportunity even when I've slept for 11-12 hours but those little catnaps add up.
Mania, uhh... we don't need no stinkin' sleep! Seriously though, this one varies. On average, 3 or 4 hours. Sometimes less, sometimes more, very rarely more than 6 though. And I wake up feeling completely refreshed, whereas when I'm not manic/hypomanic, if I get less than 7 hours I'm groggy and exhausted the rest of the day.

[BlackPup]

normally about 8 hours, if I'm depressed as much as I can, if I'm manic as little as possible!!!!!
I try to keep my sleep to about 8 hours even if I'm depressed or manic as having a good sleep routine can help fight against mood swings.
that said, when I was on lithium I needed to sleep about 10 hours a day

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by bluemountains

HB, When I was taking abilify I had a terrible time staying awake. The pdoc changed my meds and now I am much better. Could your pdoc make some changes to help you with your sleep needs?
Bluemountains

I will do so this week. Otherwise I am pretty much doomed - this morning I spelt through 10 minutes of alarm ringing and woke up, eventually, on my own, having logged 13 hours of sleep. If that is my requirement, no wonder I fall asleep at work after 9 hours of sleep.

[FireBird]

Normal (rare for me to be normal) 7-10
Depressed (my normal state) 12- 14 + sometimes the entire day if not leaving the house
Manic sometimes none- 10 because of my pills I am tired even while manic. But this (and psychotic breaks) is where I get more of the insomnia attacks in which I can't sleep and I just stay up all night watching movies or going on forums. I also feel like calling my friends at 3 AM but I have enough control where I can stop myself from doing it. The thing is most of my pills make me extremely tired so I mostly sleep the day away in especially the normal and depressed modes. I am rarely manic. 99% of the time in my life I have no energy unless manic then I get huge bursts of energy. That is literally the only time I have any amount of energy.

[RobertDark]

Sleep isn't something I have a massive issue with, I sleep with a CPAP since I have apnea and I think that helps a TON.

Normal - 7 or 8 hours

Depressed - 7 or 8 hours at night but I am much more likely to sleep during the day or a late night nap. So I'll sleep anywhere from 10 to 15 hours (if I can) on days when I am depressed.

Hypomanic - 4 tp 6 hours. The big issue when I am HM is that I can fall asleep fine, but I always wake up a few hours later and fell absolutely wired! I will wake up and instantly have racing thoughts about this, that and the other thing and I usually spend a few hours awake in the middle of the night.

Note I am not currently on any meds, but might be very shortly.

[Miss Laura]

I need at least 10 hours sleep a night. If I am depressed I can sleep anything from 10-18 hours and when I am manic I can sleep under 4 or not at all. At the moment I am cycling between 2-10 hours sleepp I can't win at the moment. Ironically I spoke to my Psych today and asked for my sleeping med to be upped or something and he declined doing this and said I am stable............. argh!!! I am shattered and am wasting my days sleeping but hey ho!

[faerie_moon_x]

When normal (when is that?) then 8 hours and I feel rested. Otherwise, whether depressed or manic I can't sleep. Even when I'm sleeping I'm not resting. I can sleep for 8 hours and wake up feeling like I haven't slept for five seconds.

The difference between manic and depressed is that when I'm manic I am not sleepy. When I'm depressed I am sleepy. Either way, I have horrible insomnia or sleep without rest. I can't fall asleep if there is sunlight, (I can sleep in the day only if it was dark when I fell asleep.) I've been this way for so long. I feel like I'm floating along through the day in a half-dream a lot, because I'm so tired. I lay down and sleep and wake up exhausted.