Sleep - is too much a waste of time? How much do you get?

[ScoobMaster]

My co-workers (and my wife) are frequently amazed that I average 3.5 to 5 hours of sleep per night and function just fine. I usually get to sleep between 1-2:30am and get up at 6am to eat breakfast and get ready for work. Sometimes I will sleep over 7 hours (on weekends or my days off) but that often results in my feeling tired and "zombie-like" all day (especially if I woke up and then decided to roll over and go back to sleep because I didn't need to get up for work). I hear that "experts" say the 8 hour benchmark is crucial to good health, but My body seems to be tuned for much less.

How about all you ATOTers??? How many hours is your "optimal sleep time"?

O.K. - I just created a poll for this topic (I would have simply changed this thread into a poll, but it appears that I cannot do that or I am too lazy/ignorant to figure out how )

 

[rudeguy]

i sleep max 6 hours a night...except once a month on average i will sleep about ten to make up for it...the doc thinks my lack of sleep is contributing to my heart issues

 

[T2T III]

It sounds like you are fine on the amount you are getting. Are you loading yourself on caffeine during the day?

I used to get by with 6 or so hours when I was in my 20s. Now, in my late-30s, I need 8 hours a night to properly function.

 

[yoda291]

I have a love/hate relationship with sleep. I hate falling asleep but I hate waking up too. It feels like I'm missing something important when I'm falling...then it feels like someone is taking me from a warmer, happier, altogether nice place when I'm waking up.

Sleep sux. I should develop either a xanex or speed addiction...the indecision will prolly keep me drug free tho.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: rudeguy5757
i sleep max 6 hours a night...except once a month on average i will sleep about ten to make up for it...the doc thinks my lack of sleep is contributing to my heart issues

How does only sleeping 6 hours per night and then sleeping 10 for one night make up for the deprivation? I say "deprivation" based on the assumption that your body needs 8 due to some issues with your heart. Is you doctor considering the prescription of a sleep aid in order to get you to sleep 8 hours a night to properly rest your heart?

 

[m2kewl]

i need 8hrs, 12 on weekends

 

[ScoobMaster]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
It sounds like you are fine on the amount you are getting. Are you loading yourself on caffeine during the day?

I used to get by with 6 or so hours when I was in my 20s. Now, in my late-30s, I need 8 hours a night to properly function.

Tiles:

I am an admitted "coffee-addict ", but that has only happened in the last 8 years (I am 33) - my sleep patterns were established long before (when I thought coffee tasted like "liquid ash-tray" )

Perhaps in a few years when the dreaded 40s approach, my body will tell me that more sleep will be necessary.

 

[CChaos]

7 1/2 a night. My body doesn't really let me sleep in on weekends any more either.

 

[Yzzim]

If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat! - Proverbs 20:13

Lately my sleep habits have been absolutely horrid. I've been going to bed at 6am and waking up right before work at 2-3pm. Now I'm trying to get back on a halfway "normal" sleep schedule with actually going to bed at night and waking up in the morning. Hope to get around 8 to 9 hours of sleep.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

Originally posted by: rudeguy5757
i sleep max 6 hours a night...except once a month on average i will sleep about ten to make up for it...the doc thinks my lack of sleep is contributing to my heart issues

How does only sleeping 6 hours per night and then sleeping 10 for one night make up for the deprivation? I say "deprivation" based on the assumption that your body needs 8 due to some issues with your heart. Is you doctor considering the prescription of a sleep aid in order to get you to sleep 8 hours a night to properly rest your heart?

i wont take the pills...and I wont get into that story....the story with the sleep is that for all of my life, I have only gotten average six hours sleep...but I work 12 hour days, have my son, take care of my house, and try to get out...and do that all on my own...so I get pretty stressed...hence the name

 

[Dedpuhl]

Monday through Friday - 5 hours/day

Friday - Sunday - 12-14 hours/day

 

[MikeO]

Between 6 - 8 hours on week days.

 

[crisp82]

Never enough and always too much

 

[StageLeft]

Generally aim for, and get, about 8 hours sleep. Rarely less than 7 and often as much as 9. When I was younger I used to function on 6 but I found I was constantly tired. And come afternoon I'd want to just curl up and die. My body really needs at least 7, preferably 7.5 to function properly. I never get fatigue throughout the day anymore. None.

 

[VBboy]

9 hours

Up to 16 hours as needed, generally following this formula: for every hour that I stay up after 1 am, I need 2 hours of sleep to make up for it.

 

[nightowl]

I sually get between 5 and 8 during the week. On the weekends I sometimes sleep more than 10 and I usually end up feeling more tired during the day than when I get around 5-6 hrs.

 

[CraigRT]

6 hours 7 if i am lucky.
kinda sucks actually :disgust:

 

[Quixfire]

6 hours, I don' even need an alarm clock to get up the morning.

 

[clamum]

about 7 hours on the weekdays, and 10-12 hours on the weekends.

 

[Nightfall]

I usually go to bed at about 11:30pm and wake up at 7:30am on weekdays

Weekends it varies but I typically get about 8 hours or so a night as well. If I slack and get less one night, I make up for it the next night usually or take a nap during the day if I can.

Gotta have my sleep.

 

[nmcglennon]

I run anywhere from 1 to 6 hours of sleep on weekdays (each day). I have a killer schedule, and I hate my wednesdays (today... :frown becuase I am on campus for 20 hours straight from 6am to 2am.

On weekends however I can get anywhere from 5 hours to 10 hours depending on whether I go out to parties or not, and have things to do.

 

[Darien]

6 - 8 hours needed.
10-12 on the weekends

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: ScoobMaster
My co-workers (and my wife) are frequently amazed that I average 3.5 to 5 hours of sleep per night and function just fine.

Chances are that "functioning just fine" really isn't. Not that anyone who's chronically sleep-deprived is really in a position to evaluate their level of efficacy.

Sleep deprivation possibly equivalent to alcohol impairment

 

[sharkeeper]

How about 10 hours/week? Imagine having that schedule! Over the past 14 years, I've been averaging 3.5 hours daily. Probably not good. However, if I expire at 50, I've had as much awake time as someone 100+ years old...

-DAK-

 

[SagaLore]

I think I've commented on this before, but I read an article that people who sleep more die sooner.

Sounds like you just happen to have a very balanced sleep cycle. It's not really how long you sleep, but how many times you fall below REM. Maybe you achieve REM at quicker intervals. When do you go to sleep? When do you wake up? I find that the times you sleep is more important, because your body has a natural clock which is maintained by the melatonin fluctuations in your body, which is influenced by daylight. If you work at a job where you don't see the sun all day, that might have an effect... my wife works inside and doesn't see the sun until she leaves, and she never seems to get enough sleep. But I travel a lot so I often have the sun staring me in the face, and I can live off shorter sleep cycles.