Segmented Sleep Patterns: It's normal!

My entire life I've slept in two segmented shifts of sleep. Even as a kid, I never slept a full 8 hours of sleep. It's always been broken into two shifts; I will fall asleep without waking for about 3-4 hours. Then suddenly I'll wake up between 2-4 a.m. and won't fall asleep again until 5 a.m. and then wake up around 7 a.m. feeling fully rested. It's so weird.

I went to sleep doctors a few times to ask them why this happened to me (no one else in my family except my sister experiences segmented sleep too). They just pushed sleeping pills at me and told me my sleep was due to psychological issues. Um, no since I've slept like this my entire life! So when I read about segmented sleep online I was relieved to find out that it's completely normal.

Anyone else experience segmented sleep?

Don't worry about getting 8 hours. The whole 8 hours thing is just a myth. (A decent enough guideline but still not always true) Various people feel rested after various amounts of sleep. As long as you wake up feeling fine (and not extremely tired or anything), I wouldn't worry about the amount of sleep or whether you wake during it or not.

I used to sleep in segments. Keep in mind this was when I actually slept well. I'd wake up around 2-3am (now I'm still awake then... as I can hardly ever sleep well any more) and then fall asleep thirty minutes later. Typically, during that thirty minutes I'd do things like use the bathroom and read a chapter in a book.

Maybe this is of some interest?

BBC News - The myth of the eight-hour sleep

I think every one has experienced segmented sleep. You can even dream that you cant get back to sleep.

I've never heard of this but that's what I seem to have now. I used to sleep well and wake up once and go right back to sleep but no more. Now I wake up and immediately start thinking about what my T has done to me. He betrayed me. We had a great relationship, or so I thought, and I relied on him. Tonight I wake up crying because I miss him. I don't do well on 4 hrs of sleep.

Thanks for this thread. Guess there's a name for everything.