[INFJ] INFJs and sleep

[violaine]

I need almost exactly 9 hours of sleep a night to be at my best. I tend to scrape by on much less and really feel it.

As Lady Pinkington mentioned, I have long suspected that I'm processing whatever I'm preoccupied with and am particularly engaging in emotionally processing events while asleep. I imagine everyone does this, though I am lucid and aware during certain dreams that a difficult thing I've been pondering is being sorted into place. I regularly wake in the morning after a fitful sleep knowing exactly how I feel about a complex situation where surety had previously eluded me.

 

[Sarcasticus]

9 is perfect for me. i'm usually at my sunniest, lightest, most carefree, nicest, most generous, least paranoid, most extraverted, and pretty much feel inspired no matter what. i usually get 7-8 and if i get 6 i turn into a kafka book. it's scary.

I LOL'd

 

[hommefatal]

I am an ENFP and I never want to sleep. I sleep between 7 and 9 hours usually. Some years ago I used to be sleep even longer but it has changed.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

I can sleep for days. Literally. Or not sleep for days. Also literally. Actually I've been doing that for about a year now. Don't do it. Too much static in your head afterwards.

When life's less chaotic and I actually take care of myself, I'm best on 6-7 hours of sleep. 8's pushing it. Beyond that, I tend to feel quite groggy and unmotivated for the rest of the day, and likely go to bed early.

I dunno if it matters or not, in terms of relevance to the OP.. but.. my working memory and longterm memory seem to store more information than many of the people I interact with regularly. People have commented on my ability to accurately recall events/etc, ever since I was a kid. I can't accurately say it's "superior," but I rarely have trouble recalling a vast array of aspects of situations, information, etc. I can memorize entire scripts in about a week, if I'm doing a lot of work within it [either acting in any size role, or doing backstage work, like sound FX, and referring to the script for cues we can all agree on, etc. I'd often help people randomly with their lines throughout the production.. and I could always tell if someone had jumped a line, or it wasn't verbatim.. though usually that part doesn't matter.. I just saw it.] I've creeped out family members by describing flashes of memory from the brief time I lived in CT when I was a over a year old. I described a highchair to my mother, very specifically. Yellow paisely, plastic-like material. The seat was torn on one part and as uncomfortable to have my leg on. Anyway, that highchair was thrown out when we moved, before I turned 2. Other little things like that.
Give me a phone number once and I'll never forget it. Longer sets of numbers, too. Like calling cards, or credit cards.
It always frustrated me, though, that I could recall so many different things, kinds of details.. but for the life of me I couldn't recall formulas for equations in math.. or how to apply them.. Exams rolled around, & I'd mix up several formulas and make some bizarre attempt to complete my test.
Teachers were pretty much like... "wtf? ...I don't even know.. what you did.."

i have a very good memory for numbers. i also remember idiosyncratic details from stories people tell me about themselves as well, like the name of some insignificant little town they are from (that they'd never really expect anyone to remember). but anyway,

about sleep. when i'm mellowly rolling along happy in my life, 6-7 hours is all i need or want. but i'm kinda like you when my life is not peaceful. sometimes i get bored i guess and like to stir my life up a bit. this manifests as being around more people, doing a new activity, or taking on some new life experience of some sort, either mentally or physically. then i will have nearly a week sometimes of insomniac 4 hour sleep nights. i just can't shut my brain down or feel tired. i feel like i'm literally buzzing. finally, i will start calming down or the experience will mellow and i will be able to sleep normally again and will sleep 10 hour nights for a few nights until i'm caught up.

This thread is right on time because I've been noticing how much sleep I need. I've been getting close to 8 hours, and yet still feel tired. I was just about to google "ways to have more energy." I think my long work hours, having to extrovert, be around people, and having to wait for things is killing me.

My brain hurts.

*dead*

i would hate to have to work full-time. i don't know how infjs can do it. it must be hard.

I've been an insomniac from a young age as well! (I was on medication for a long time but luckily a few years ago I found a really good sleep doctor who helped wean me off the meds -- you might want to look into sleep restriction therapy because that's the main thing that helped me; please feel free to contact me if you're interested.)

Anyway, have any other INXJ's out there struggled with long-term insomnia? I've read that INFJs are perhaps the most anxious type and that's definitely been my experience. In addition to the insomnia, when I'm stressed out I get the feeling that I "can't breathe." Doctors have found no physical basis for this so it's apparently in my head. My INTJ cousin is the same way, but I haven't met anyone else who suffers this -- who knows, maybe it's some kind of INXJ connection?

i've had many nights (fairly often when i'm pregnant) when i wake up feeling like i've been holding my breath. i've researched sleep apnea, but it's not me. i basically feel refreshed when i awaken, most of the time, whereas in sleep apnea you still feel tired all day.

i used to have times very often where i felt like i couldn't catch my breath. is that what you mean? because through research and life experience i realized it was due to stress, and not physiological at all. and worrying about it made it much worse. i used to cough a fair amount during that time too, and i realize i don't cough anymore. so i think maybe all that was pychosomatic? are infj more prone to physical manifestations of stress?

 

[Oddly Refined]

i would hate to have to work full-time. i don't know how infjs can do it. it must be hard.

I always loved working full time, but I'm also a total workaholic.

 

[MonkeyGrass]

Interesting! As long as I can remember, 8 hours of sleep leaves me a walking zombie. It has to be at least 9 or 10.

Otherwise, yes:

if i get 6 i turn into a kafka book. it's scary.

So true.

 

[scortia]

In college I lived on 5-6 hours easily. Now I'm in my twenties and if I get anything short of 8 hours I feel so groggy. BUT, I can't sleep more than 9 hours without feeling super groggy either. Naturally, my body likes to stay up past midnight but awake before 8, so it won't let itself get the number of hours that make me feel good.

For under 6 hours and becoming Kafkaesque, lawl, I can run on hardly any sleep for a couple of days and so long as I keep going I'm happy and loopy. Really loopy, but still productive.

 

[the state i am in]

i just often realize (after being completely unawares for quite a while) that the main reason i am getting stuck at times is that i am just being pessimistic and moody. that i am just making certain mental connections more when i am tired that are misfired, incorrect, miscrecognizing the situation. and usually it's bc i have been beating up my body and not processing what i need to process. the feeling of putting everything away putting it where it belongs after a good night's sleep and feeling lighter and more capable of doin what you need to do, not BOGGED down and heavy mentally (which often translates to negative thinking, dread, and moodiness for me).

i wonder if sleep is particularly focused on a person's dominant function. mine feels all Ni to me, it does a lot of integration and localizing of information, putting things away and allowing some Fe cramps to relax and breathe. perhaps Ti is involved as well for the buoyancy eureeka moment, but i often find other thngs stimulate that such more so as writing, contemplation, or the occasional stoned rap.