Do you get sleepy when you read?

[Shuram Gudatetris]

I was just curious if anybody else gets drowsy when they read. When I was younger (ages 13-20 maybe) I could read for hours and hours without stop. I remember the first time I read the 1st Chrons, I stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning to finish The Power That Preserves. I remember one time when I was 18, I was having a bad week and one day I got up and went to the library to disappear from the world, I read Mordant's Need from morning till evening.

I am not sure when it happened, or what has happened, but for some time now, when I start reading, I get drowsy within fifteen or twenty minutes. After a half hour, I either have to stop and try hard to wake back up, or I must take a nap.

It kind of sucks. I have had my satellite shut off to save money and to promote reading, but its not working out the way I imagined. It is making me feel lazy because I am tired all the time and want to nap all the time.

[aliantha]

Dunno how old you are, Shuram, but I started having that problem when I got bifocals. Seemed like I spent so much time looking down to see out of the reading lenses that my eyes would just naturally slam shut after 15 or 20 minutes.

That was one of the reasons I decided to try the contacts/reading glasses combo. It worked, but then the contacts got to be too much of a hassle so I quit using them.

[Menolly]

I never associated it with my bifocals, but yeah, I've pretty much stopped reading, or read very slowly when I do, because of only being able to read about twenty minutes at a time. And I also used to read for hours on end. I have also been told I have slow-growing cataracts forming and had attributed the tiredness when reading to that. But maybe the bifocals are playing a part as well...

[Vader]

I get sleepy as well - especially when reading in the bath tub.

[High Lord Tolkien]

reading makes me sleepy at night. Which is the only time I have to read. lol
Give me a beach or a park or an airport and I'm good all day.

[Blackhawk]

A while back i read something mentioning that when you read a book and come across a word that you do not know the meaning, it will actually make you sleepy, had something to do with the brain not letting go of the information it didnt understand. I dont know if it is true or not but I also get sleepy while reading.. whether i understand the word or not, so it may be depending on what kind of work your doing, and if it requires you to focus with your eyes for extended periods of time.. looking at computer screens also make me sleepy if it is prolonged, unless im playing an exiting game or something.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

If you are consistently getting sleepy after 20mins of reading, that isn't a sign that you don't like reading as much any more, or too old to read now. Yeah, sure, there might be a slight fatigue thing that is age-associated... but it is that consistent, then you must be operating in a near-constant sleep deficit.
Get more and more regular sleep, if possible. Then your reading capacity should go up a lot.
I know people that have developed so many habits around pre-sleep, reading among them, that when they engage in them out of context, it still brings on the sleep.
*Especially* if the rest of the day you are overstimulated, where you are getting multiple media feeds, answering telephone, watching TV, talking to others, and doing email while working with off-line paperwork. Attention deficit has a hidden toll, such that now when you have only one thing to do, it is such a relief that you are physiologically bored to sleep.

dw

[lorin]

Giant problem for me. I am sleep deprived and cannot stay awake very long to read. It is very frustrating.

not much I can do about it except retire, quit or find a job as a night guard.

[Menolly]

A while back i read something mentioning that when you read a book and come across a word that you do not know the meaning, it will actually make you sleepy, had something to do with the brain not letting go of the information it didnt understand.

From what I recall of my reading it long, long ago, I am pretty sure that is a base concept of Dianectics, perhaps even first proposed there. I'm skeptical of most of what I have read in Dianetics, but will admit reading the chrons with a good dictionary was definitely helpful.

I tend to think dw's assessment is pretty accurate as well though. I know I have been accused of not getting enough sleep on a fairly consistent basis...

[aliantha]

Yeah, sure, there might be a slight fatigue thing that is age-associated... but it is that consistent, then you must be operating in a near-constant sleep deficit.

[dANdeLION]

At this age, even naps make me sleepy.......

[Shuram Gudatetris]

Well, I do believe I am getting enough sleep. 7.5 to 9 hours regularly. I work 2 pm to 12am, so I have a pretty wide open sleep schedule. generally, I sleep from about 1:30 to 9:30/10:00am. But sometimes I find myself staying up till 4 or 5 am, often getting stuck in a search loop on the internet, and in those cases, i sleep till noon or later.


But the glasses theory is interesting. I am near-sighted, so I do not require reading glasses or bi-focals, but over the years, my eyes have gotten progressively worse. When I was younger (by the way, I am 28 . . . when I say younger, i mean 13 to 18 or so) I always took my glasses off to read. But now, my astigmatism and near-sightedness have gotten so bad, that I almost have to touch my nose to the page to see the text clearly without my glasses. So I almost always read with my glasses. Not quite the same principle as reading glasses or bifocals, but I AM looking through lenses unnatural to my body. Maybe there's something there.

But, well, anyway, the fact is that I love reading. It is far and away my preferred form of entertainment. It makes me sad that I can't read for very long period anymore.....Dunno, maybe my brain muscle has atrophied. Maybe if I work at it, I can build my endurance up. Is that a crazy idea?

[Avatar]

Never been a problem for me. In fact, I have the opposite...reading keeps me awake. When I read in bed, I have to force myself to put the book down, otherwise I'd be up all night.

--A

[Cagliostro]

I know I'm sleep deprived. I can barely ever stay awake reading for very long. And lately, reading out loud to my wife makes me sleepy as well, which is a very recent twist on this read-->sleep thing.

[StevieG]

Yep, I'm a read --> sleep person. 20 minutes max at night and I'm off. I have a friend like Avatar, who will read for ever unless he forces himself to put it down.

Incidentally, movies do that to me a bit as well (although that's usually after heaps of booze...)

[Avatar]

Computers do it to me too...no matter how tired I am, if I sit down at the PC I can keep going for hours still.

--A

[DukkhaWaynhim]

Computers do it to me too...no matter how tired I am, if I sit down at the PC I can keep going for hours still.

--A

Well that explains a lot.

[Avatar]

--A

[JazFusion]

Never been a problem for me. In fact, I have the opposite...reading keeps me awake. When I read in bed, I have to force myself to put the book down, otherwise I'd be up all night.

--A

Same here.

Although I consume massive amounts of reading a day; something around 200-300 pages a day. Not counting the internet or schoolwork.

I read so much I gave myself severe myopia in 4th grade.

[Revan]

I only get sleepy when i'm reading GRRM's "Not a Blog". Right after i get angry.