The Sleep and Pee Paradox

As I get older.. the things that end up ruining my sleep are really annoying LOL.

I wonder when I will transition to someone who needs less sleep as I get older. I know that I've heard a lot of people say, some people in my family included, when they are in their 50's or 60's they just sleep less for whatever reason. Is that because they are taking an afternoon nap or something and not adding it to the story? Or is it that they just don't need as much sleep at that age? I am curious indeed!

I've got a few things that really annoy me because it totally jacks my sleep up, and ends up causing me to feel pretty crappy the morning after. One of them is a given - alcohol. I don't drink alcohol very much because it just ruins my damn sleep. I certainly enjoy a drink or two, but at the same time I know that sleep is incredibly important for me in so many ways so I try to limit my alcohol intake these days. The joys of getting older.. haha.

Sort-of related to the alcohol end is getting up in the middle of the night to pee! Damn that one is a real pain in the ass because it's a struggle to stay sufficiently hydrated during a day. Not so much for me lately but some days I try to add in extra hydration, and I've been fine-tuning my evening water intake so that I only drink JUST enough to have a great night sleep and let my body detox the junk it needs to, but don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to pee.

The fine line of just enough water and too much water is a hairy one that's for sure! I'm trying to use a specific glass to drink before bed so that I know how much I can fill it, take my vitamins, and hit the hay so that it won't wake me up. It doesn't always work.. but many times it has worked.

If I drink a beer though, I'm screwed hahaha. I almost always wake up in the middle of the night to pee if I drink a beer and then drink my water with vitamins. I enjoy beer for sure but not that much!

The struggle for me when I get up to pee is that it is such a pain to fall back to sleep! I've gotten a lot better these days at getting to bed in a relatively easy manner, compared to a few years where I had pretty bad insomnia. These days I can fall asleep but the important thing is staying asleep. If I get interrupted, then it's almost a done-deal that I won't sleep the rest of the night which sucks.

It certainly goes back for me to thinking, will I ever be one of those people who just requires less sleep? I don't think so, really. When I was a kid I was always the one who slept in the latest even if I went to bed at a good time. I just love to sleep it seems LOL. It's certainly changed a little bit as a parent, where I am way more aware of my kiddo and if he needs something and will wake up pretty quickly or easily if the need arises, but thankfully those are not very common these days. I'm wondering if another kid, however much unplanned it would be, would really send me for a loop haha.

I had a few days in a row where I made mistakes and drank, and ended up waking up in the middle of the night to pee.. so I seemingly needed to flesh it out in a post!

What about you, have you been pretty aware of your sleeping habits especially when it comes to the ones that cause you to get poor sleep? Let me know in the comments!