Hacking your sleep?

[Mai72]

Has anyone tried to hack their sleep? I get about 7 hours of sleep per night, but I'm thinking about deducting 1-2 hours per night so I can get more done in my life.

If you were able to do it how did you feel at the end of the week? Did you feel sleep deprived? Were you able to get more done?

 

[Rakehellion]

This is not hacking.

 

[cbrunny]

You want to deprive yourself of sleep and hope that you are not sleep deprived? You don't really get logic, do you?

 

[Kaido]

Best "sleep hack" I've done is to go to bed early (like 8pm-ish) consistently. Also stack your exercise & diet schedules so you can fall asleep quickly (i.e. if you eat or workout right before bed, you may have a harder time falling asleep quickly).

I dunno why I feel 10x better going to bed early than staying up late, even when I get the same number of hours of sleep, but it is what it is. I think more clearly, I have more energy, and I feel more motivated when I go to sleep early on a regular basis.

 

[purbeast0]

as long as i get 6 hours of sleep i'm good to go. after having a kid, having just 5 or 6 straight ours of sleep feels incredible. feels like i slept for 8 solid hours if i get 5 straight hours.

 

[Mai72]

Best "sleep hack" I've done is to go to bed early (like 8pm-ish) consistently. Also stack your exercise & diet schedules so you can fall asleep quickly (i.e. if you eat or workout right before bed, you may have a harder time falling asleep quickly).

I dunno why I feel 10x better going to bed early than staying up late, even when I get the same number of hours of sleep, but it is what it is. I think more clearly, I have more energy, and I feel more motivated when I go to sleep early on a regular basis.

How many hours of sleep were you getting per night?

 

[Mai72]

as long as i get 6 hours of sleep i'm good to go. after having a kid, having just 5 or 6 straight ours of sleep feels incredible. feels like i slept for 8 solid hours if i get 5 straight hours.

Yea, I'd like to get to that point. I was reading an article on Trump and he mentioned that he averages 4-5 hours of sleep per night.

Supposedly, many successful people wake up between 3-4am.

People say you need 7-8 hours of sleep for optimum health. I wonder if that is a myth, like drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

Donald Trump Quote on Sleep:

I have friends who are successful and sleep ten hours a night, and I ask them, ‘How can you compete against people like me if I sleep only four hours?’ It rarely can be done. No matter how brilliant you are, there’s not enough time in the day.

 

[purbeast0]

Yea, I'd like to get to that point. I was reading an article on Trump and he mentioned that he averages 4-5 hours of sleep per night.

Supposedly, many successful people wake up between 3-4am.

i've been getting up a lot earlier after having the kid. i have to agree with kaido too, i feel a lot more motivated getting up earlier (also going to sleep earlier) than i did before. i used to sleep around 1am every day and get up like 8:15 or so, but now i'm usually in bed between 10:30 and 11 (sometimes later cause it's football season) and up around 6 or little after, usually waking up once in the middle of the night.

i definitely feel more motivated with my new schedule than i do with my old schedule. and it's also a lot nicer to be home so much earlier since i go to work earlier.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Doing something slightly differently does not qualify as a hack.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Liiiiiiiiife hack!!!! Peel a banana backwards!!! Life hack!!

 

[midnight growler]

My sleep gets hacked quite often... the damned cat keeps waking me up at 3am.

 

[Imp]

Why not deduct more?

I know an intellectually disabled genius who only goes to bed two or three times a week for more than 4 hours... Except he falls asleep eating meals, face ends up in bowls of food, falls asleep practically whenever he sits down, he goes to the toilet and slumps over for 2+ hours at a time, literally shits his pants, can't form a coherent sentence, and does it all to feed his gambling addiction.

 

[TheSlamma]

Liiiiiiiiife hack!!!! Peel a banana backwards!!! Life hack!!

Monkey's circa 50,000,000 B.C.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I typically sleep 6 hours on weekdays, and every morning is a stuggle to stay awake and miserable. Usually 2 to 8am.

On weekends, I often sleep less, but, I sleep from like 6am to 11am, and, after 5 hours, I feel very well rested and just magnificent.

On weekdays, it is usually a struggle to fall asleep so early, my body usually does not get tired until sunrise.

 

[Matthiasa]

Better hack is to do short naps and not get all your sleep in one setting. 10-30 minutes of sleep in one go is as helpful as 90 minutes of sleep. basically the idea is to not be forced awake from deep sleep.
So it is sleep approximately 10-30 minutes, 90 minutes, 180 minutes 270 minutes, etc until totaling more than 5-6 hours.

 

[Imp]

I typically sleep 6 hours on weekdays, and every morning is a stuggle to stay awake and miserable. Usually 2 to 8am.

On weekends, I often sleep less, but, I sleep from like 6am to 11am, and, after 5 hours, I feel very well rested and just magnificent.

On weekdays, it is usually a struggle to fall asleep so early, my body usually does not get tired until sunrise.

Look up Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.

I'm similar. I can barely fall asleep for work between 11 pm to 1 am. Even if I sleep at 9 pm and go all the way to 7 am, I still feel like crap -- 10 hours. On the other hand, if it's the weekend, I sleep around 3 am or 4 am, wake up around 11 am feeling great. That's just the way it's been my entire life, my body likes to sleep late and wake up late. I had 20 years of school and work to get used to sleeping early and waking early, never stuck.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Look up Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.

I'm similar. I can barely fall asleep for work between 11 pm to 1 am. Even if I sleep at 9 pm and go all the way to 7 am, I still feel like crap -- 10 hours. On the other hand, if it's the weekend, I sleep around 3 am or 4 am, wake up around 11 am feeling great. That's just the way it's been my entire life, my body likes to sleep late and wake up late. I had 20 years of school and work to get used to sleeping early and waking early, never stuck.

Yes, I have Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, usually I take 4-8mg of melatonin on most weekdays, then, over the weekend, I go to bed naturally. I know UV treatment is supposed to help, but, I survive OK as long as I am not pulled into early meetings before 9am (if they need me before 9am for anything, I'll conference in from home).

 

[MarkXIX]

Best "sleep hack" I've done is to go to bed early (like 8pm-ish) consistently. Also stack your exercise & diet schedules so you can fall asleep quickly (i.e. if you eat or workout right before bed, you may have a harder time falling asleep quickly).

I dunno why I feel 10x better going to bed early than staying up late, even when I get the same number of hours of sleep, but it is what it is. I think more clearly, I have more energy, and I feel more motivated when I go to sleep early on a regular basis.

I'm a bit of a night owl. Not excessively so, but I rarely fall asleep before 11pm nightly.

Those times that I do manage to fall asleep before that though, I find myself waking up fully refreshed and before the alarm ever goes off and I find my day much more pleasurable for some reason. What's odd is I usually end up getting the same number of hours of sleep.

I blame the Army for my sleep issues. I was programmed at age 19 to "react" to sleep instead of planning for it if that makes sense.

 

[angminas]

My sleep gets hacked quite often... the damned cat keeps waking me up at 3am.

Door technology. So hot right now

 

[Imp]

Yes, I have Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, usually I take 4-8mg of melatonin on most weekdays, then, over the weekend, I go to bed naturally. I know UV treatment is supposed to help, but, I survive OK as long as I am not pulled into early meetings before 9am (if they need me before 9am for anything, I'll conference in from home).

I'm in the "no drugs unless absolutely necessary" so avoid pills -- it's been bad enough that I looked into melatonin but the side effects didn't seem so fun.

It sucks because it's not really a "syndrome" or illness at all. The problem is just that my body is wired to function at hours that society says are not "normal."

 

[BurnItDwn]

I'm in the "no drugs unless absolutely necessary" so avoid pills -- it's been bad enough that I looked into melatonin but the side effects didn't seem so fun.

It sucks because it's not really a "syndrome" or illness at all. The problem is just that my body is wired to function at hours that society says are not "normal."

I worked nights for a number of years, and loved the hours, but, when I moved to a full time development type job, it was mostly daylight hours, and lots of meetings, with ocassional evening support. Anyhow, I've been working days for like 10 years or so, so i more or less am on a good comfortable schedule.

I have not noticed any significant side effects to the melatonin, I know some people get depression, or, have amplifcation to their depression symptoms, but, mostly, it just helps me to sleep so I can wake up in the morning and feel like myself instead of a zombie. Doctor said sleep study and all kninds of other stuff would be the next option if needed, but, melatonin is a great "crutch" for me.

 

[utahraptor]

These are the known ways to hack your sleep:

I would say very few people are tying this and even less are succeeding.

 

[Mayne]

I'm 46 years old and still haven't figured out how to get a good night's sleep. It's always a bonus if I wake up without my eyes feeling full of sand.

 

[TwiceOver]

I'm far more productive in the morning so if I go to sleep early and get up early I am able to get more done simply because my early AM hours are more productive.

 

[Kaido]

How many hours of sleep were you getting per night?

If I go to bed early, consistently, then I only need about 7 solid hours of sleep - not 8 or 9. It's different for everybody. You need to find out 2 things to begin:

1. When your sleep window is
2. How many hours of sleep you require if you hit your sleep window

"Sleep window" is simply the term for that time when you get tired at night. For me, that's around 8:30pm. Really it's maybe 20 minutes where I get drowsy...like between 8:20 to 8:40pm. I'm usually on the computer or watching TV, my eyes start to droop, but I ward it off and get my second wind. If you can go to sleep during your sleep window, it makes it a LOT easier to fall asleep, stay asleep, and feel well-rested when you wake up.

The difficulty is that you can't begin your bedtime routine during your sleep window, because then you'll miss it. You need to brush your teeth, get into your jammies, plug in your phone, and then hop into bed. One other trick I learned from my doctor is to not use any flickering screens an hour before bed (TV, computer, mobile device, etc.). So unplug at 7:00pm, do my bedtime routine (dishes, cleanup, brush teeth, etc.), then hop in bed at like 7:45pm. I can usually fall asleep within 15 minutes if I haven't doped myself up with a sugary dessert or done a workout within a couple of hours of bed. Everyone's different...some people need like a protein snack before bed to sleep well. Just have to find out what works for you.

So to start out with, start tracking that time when you get tired. It's usually pretty consistent. For me, it's like 8:30pm or around 2:00am. I usually go to bed at 11:00pm out of habit & feel semi-crummy when I wake up. I wake up groggy instead of energetic. If I fall asleep within my sleep window, I wake up feeling awesome. Diet has a lot to do with it too...I get acid reflux, so I can't eat stuff, especially acidic stuff, within a few hours of bed. Exercising at night also pumps me up & wakes me up, so I try to do it in the morning.

It took me a long time to figure out how to sleep properly. I had really bad insomnia for a long time...couldn't fall asleep, couldn't stay asleep, never felt well-rested, always tired. For whatever reason, going to bed earlier makes me feel better. I don't know how that translates out with daylight savings time or anything, I just adjust with the time change.

After you find your sleep window, start going to bed during it for a week or two. If you don't have to wake up for school or work or kids in the morning, let yourself sleep in for a few days and catch up/normalize on sleep, and then start seeing what time you naturally wake up. I wake up around 3:30 to 4:00am when I fall asleep at 8:30pm, no alarm clock required. The interesting thing is that I don't feel groggy and actually feel motivated & energetic. I don't know why it has such a strong effect, but the combination of hitting my sleep window & getting the natural number of hours my body needs makes me feel ridiculously awesome. Better than exercising, better than eating clean. Of course, that's the holy trifecta of health - eat well, sleep well, exercise. Then you turn into one of those over-motivated nuts who runs around happy all the time

In a nutshell, sleep is a lot more complicated than most people think. And everybody is different. Some really driven people only need 4 to 6 hours of sleep. After about 3 days, I'm a useless mess if I deprive myself like that. Even if I go to bed at midnight and get like 8 hours of sleep, it's just not nearly as good as going to bed early and only getting 7 hours of sleep. I don't know why; that's just how it is for me. And I wish I was better at it...I stay up late alllllll the time haha.

Anyway, if you want to get more stuff done, then figure out what your body's requirements are: when it wants to go to bed (your sleep window) and how many hours of sleep you require when you listen to your body and go to sleep at that time. It will really take two or three weeks to adjust because it's a huge change for your body's clock and your habits, but once you get in the groove, it's awesome. Listening to your body is just a hard thing to do sometimes though, but at least if you spend some time figuring out what your body needs, you'll be ahead of the game.