7 hours of sleep may be better than 8

[Kaido]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/sleep-experts-close-in-on-the-optimal-nights-sleep-1405984970

"The lowest mortality and morbidity is with seven hours," said Shawn Youngstedt, a professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University Phoenix. "Eight hours or more has consistently been shown to be hazardous," says Dr. Youngstedt, who researches the effects of oversleeping.

...

Daniel F. Kripke, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, tracked over a six-year period data on 1.1 million people who participated in a large cancer study. People who reported they slept 6.5 to 7.4 hours had a lower mortality rate than those with shorter or longer sleep. The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2002, controlled for 32 health factors, including medications.

...

A study in the current issue of Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine seemed to confirm that. Five healthy adults were placed in what the researchers called Stone Age-like conditions in Germany for more than two months—without electricity, clocks or running water. Participants fell asleep about two hours earlier and got on average 1.5 hours more sleep than was estimated in their normal lives, the study said.

Their average amount of sleep per night: 7.2 hours.

This is interesting. My sleep window is around 8:30pm. When I stick to going to bed early consistently, I tend to wake up around 3:30 to 3:45am naturally, which is earlier than my 4:00am wake-up alarm. That's just about 7 hours on the nose. But for me, that depends both on what time I go to sleep & what I eat. If I stay up late, eat late, or consume a lot of sugar the night before, I wake up groggy. If I manage what I eat & when I go to sleep, things line up & I wake up early and feel great.

However, I absolutely hate going to bed early and am terrible about disciplining myself to do it, so there's that :awe:

 

[Terzo]

Other experts caution against studies showing ill effects from too much sleep. Illness may cause someone to sleep or spend more time in bed, these experts say. And studies based on people reporting their own sleep patterns may be inaccurate.

"The problem with these studies is that they give you good information about association but not causation," said Timothy Morgenthaler, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which represents sleep doctors and researchers, and a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine.

"I don't think you can overdose on healthy sleep. When you get enough sleep your body will wake you up," said Safwan Badr, chief of the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.

Based on this I wouldn't really be concerned about it. One of those things where whatever works best for you...is probably best for you.

 

[Sattern]

Every person requires a certain amount of sleep to function to the best of their ability.

I require about 12, but that's just me I normally go to bed at about 9 and sleep through the night with a lot of energy.

I used to be an early riser, but that changed after puberty.

 

[z1ggy]

From the article I gathered that it's not that 7 hours may be better than 8, it's that generally speaking, you need at least 7 hours, but really shouldn't sleep more than 9. It's dependent on a person and their personal needs.

 

[Kaido]

Every person requires a certain amount of sleep to function to the best of their ability.

I require about 12, but that's just me I normally go to bed at about 9 and sleep through the night with a lot of energy.

I used to be an early riser, but that changed after puberty.

Depends on your diet, too. I've been screwing around with a fruitarian diet and you need 10 to 12 hours of sleep on that. I hate having to sleep more, but at the same time, the energy payoff is really high on this diet, so the tradeoff kind of makes it worth it.

 

[Untapped Grit]

when it comes to hours of sleep, i'll take 8 over 7 (and 6 over 5, and 4 over 3) any day.

 

[SP33Demon]

I've found that my hectic powerlifting training makes my body need at least 8, preferably 9 hours to feel fully rested. Got 5-7 hours this week and felt really crappy.

 

[z1ggy]

I've found that my hectic powerlifting training makes my body need at least 8, preferably 9 hours to feel fully rested. Got 5-7 hours this week and felt really crappy.

I agree with you. After I do some heavy squatting or dead lifts... I need major sleep that night and the next. If I don't, I'm sore and feel fatigued for a long time.

 

[alkemyst]

It's interesting too much sleep is actually bad for you.

 

[solsa]

Strange but I always do better with odd number hours of sleep for some reason. I wake up with lots of energy if I sleep three, five or seven hours and I wake up a zombie with four, six or eight...

 

[Arcadio]

After 7 hours of sleep I just can't sleep anymore, even if I try.

 

[smackababy]

I can't even sleep 7 hours. Good for me or not, if I lay down for more than 6 hours, my back is killing me for quite a few hours afterwards. I'd rather not, so I have a short sleep schedule.

 

[Kaido]

I can't even sleep 7 hours. Good for me or not, if I lay down for more than 6 hours, my back is killing me for quite a few hours afterwards. I'd rather not, so I have a short sleep schedule.

Wow, that's a bummer, have you had that looked at?

I have severe sleeping issues until I got my food allergies sorted out - night terrors, acid reflux, all kinds of ridiculous symptoms that prevented me from sleeping properly my entire life. Similar story - my buddy finally got a CPAP and went from zoned out all the time to working full charge 24/7 because he actually has energy all the time. Affect your mood, too. Maybe a different bed would help? Memory foam or sleep number or something?

 

[TallBill]

I've found that my hectic powerlifting training makes my body need at least 8, preferably 9 hours to feel fully rested. Got 5-7 hours this week and felt really crappy.

Ugh, I dream of a world where I can sleep 8-9 hours... and also not do Army PT to mess up my lifts lol.

 

[MongGrel]

Got me, I've been probably running on 5 hours a night 50 years now.

 

[smackababy]

Wow, that's a bummer, have you had that looked at?

I have severe sleeping issues until I got my food allergies sorted out - night terrors, acid reflux, all kinds of ridiculous symptoms that prevented me from sleeping properly my entire life. Similar story - my buddy finally got a CPAP and went from zoned out all the time to working full charge 24/7 because he actually has energy all the time. Affect your mood, too. Maybe a different bed would help? Memory foam or sleep number or something?

I've had to look at when I was in the military, and they wouldn't even x-ray it. I am fairly certain it was from an injury when I was around 16 (herniated disc) and no doctor would operate on a minor, so I just rehabbed it for a while and I don't think it ever really healed. I've had quite a few different types of beds over the years and haven't found one that alleviates the issues. I don't mind sleeping less though. More time to actually do stuff. =)

 

[MattHaagMusic]

I generally get 5-6 hours. It was rough at first, but my brain adapted to it after a while. I'm fine most of the time, but once every week or two I have a day where I'm exceptionally tired. When that happens, I go to bed that night, get 5 or 6 hours like usual, and wake up feeling fine the next day.

 

[OverVolt]

Its like a science journal saying people who drink when thirsty are less likely to die of thirst. Wow.

If I'm exhausted all the time I'm not getting enough sleep. I know sleep is important. I don't think shooting for a specific number of hours is all that important I think just listening to your body is best. The culture of "yea I'm getting by on 4 hours of sleep we got a badass over here, and its me!" has got to go because nobody cares how you took a power nap and had 2 coffees only to crash the next day anyway. Get good regular sleep noobs!

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/sleep-as-a-competitive-advantage/
Sleep as a competitive advantage.

I think what that study is hitting on is the type of unhealthy people who sleep too much. You know the type. I'd bet REQUIRING more sleep to function normal can indicate disease states, thus less "healthy."

Something I've noticed in studies is everything is correlated to everything else. Eggs are correlated with bacon, smoking, and eating red meat, so is the egg consumption itself so bad or the fact that the people who do eat eggs typically also eat bacon and are more likely to have a cig for good measure to make sure they never see 60. Ditto with whole wheat. Its not really packed with that much more nutrition, its still bread. I guess the fact that you like the taste of it and can afford it is going to be correlated with eating more vegetables in general and having more money. Higher socioeconomic status means less health problems than people of lower status, none of this should be a surprise to anyone but thats what studies like this do by taking just one variable and jumping to conclusions. It might as well say having a disease that makes you more tired is less healthy.

 

[PricklyPete]

This is very interesting. I had come to this conclusion on my own after trying different hours overtime. I like my sleep, but I like my time better. 7 hours seemed to be the perfect compromise of feeling rested and maximizing "awake" time. 10-5 nearly everyday.

 

[OverVolt]

I was about to rant about it being a correlation study hence the retarded results but I see I already did that.

Anyway the reason for the results is that the average person is sleeping less. *HOWEVER* sleep is still important to function and clear out beta-amyloid proteins so...

Whats going on is the average healthy person is sleeping a bit less, and people who are sleeping longer times (like 10+ hours) probably sit at home all day with chronic conditions and they are skewing the correlation. Of course correlation is not causation and if you are healthy to begin with more sleep = better.

Its not like sleeping 7 hours is healthier than sleeping 8. Its just more typical correlation bullshit. Cause we all know we'll come to the ultimate understanding of human health if we just string enough correlations together.

 

[smackababy]

I wish they would invent some kind of device that lets me do a "super sleep" for like an hour a night. Time slept is time wasted... I got way more than 24 hours worth of stuff I could be doing in any given day.

 

[OverVolt]

I wish they would invent some kind of device that lets me do a "super sleep" for like an hour a night. Time slept is time wasted... I got way more than 24 hours worth of stuff I could be doing in any given day.

While awake, beta-amyloid proteins build up in your brain. When you sleep, your brain actually shrinks and the flow of CSFluid is increased dramatically. They are swept to your liver for processing.

If you want to feel more rested in less time you:

-Don't drink alcohol, and don't take drugs that mess up your liver
-Go to sleep at the same time everyday so you fall asleep faster

Thats all you can do. That feeling you get after building up a large sleep debt and clearing out a ton of beta-amyloid proteins and all of a sudden you can concentrate with lazer focus? Yea thats how everyone who gets good sleep focuses, all the time.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/sleep-as-a-competitive-advantage/?_r=0

Thats a good read, if you have the concentration for it :awe:

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I'm probably screwed as I only get 5-5.5 hours of sleep a night. Sometimes less. Been that way for over 10 years now. I don't seem to need more, however. I wake up with a good amount of energy most days. Every now and then I crash for 12-13 hours, but that is rare. Maybe 1 or 2 times a year. Concentration is pretty solid most days too.

Thought my sleep patterns would get better/longer when I resumed working out regularly a couple months ago, but nope. If anything its gotten worse. I am usually bright awake in the evening. It is almost impossible for me to fall asleep before 11PM, and I wake up on my own at 5:30 to hit the gym at 6.

FWIW I have pretty much stopped drinking alcohol (maybe 1 beer a month now), I haven't had a soda in 2 months, and my diet overall is pretty good now. Worst thing I eat is iced coffee in the morning. That addiction is proving to be quite stubborn.

 

[inachu]

The past 6 months I go to bed at 8:30pm and wake up at 3:00am majority of the time.

 

[EvilYoda]

I love sleep. Love it. At least once every week or two I'll sleep for 10+ hours and it feels great. I can go with 6 hours of sleep for a few days in a row without issue but just...don't like it.