How much sleep do you get and how do you feel?

[BruceVC]

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-reasons-why-good-sleep-is-important#section7

 

Im asking questions  from people I know to understand how much sleep they get on an average per night , the link above lists several judicious reasons why 7-8 hours sleep is paramount to overall good health

 

At the moment I am in transit and living in Durban as Im about to move to Cape Town in 2 weeks, I wont be working till I get to CPT. So  the last 3 weeks I have been  getting about 5/6.5 hours sleep per night  but Im also back at gym and doing 45 minutes cardio per session  and Im feeling great

 

So how much sleep do you get or feel you need to be productive and or feel healthy? 

Edited April 19, 2019 by BruceVC

[MaxQuest]

I'm usually sleeping 8-9h on sunday and 7h 00m - 8h 40m on other days.

 

By the statistics it looks that I'm feeling best in the morning if I am sleeping from 23:40 till 8:10 or from 23:50 till 8:20.

But still I didn't have a 5/5 star sleep in ages.

Edited April 19, 2019 by MaxQuest

[BruceVC]

I'm usually sleeping 8-9h on sunday and 7h 00m - 8h 40m on other days.

 

By the statistics it looks that I'm feeling best in the morning if I am sleeping from 23:40 till 8:10 or from 23:50 till 8:20.

But still I didn't have a 5/5 star sleep in ages.

At the moment Im also finding I should go to sleep at about 11:30 pm, if I go to sleep earlier I am not tired and just toss and turn. I then wake up at 5-7 am so in fact I am actually getting more sleep than my original post stated, I am getting about 5-7 hours

 

This will change once I start working because I need to wake at 5:30 am so I should be going to sleep at 10 pm 

[MaxQuest]

Btw, I was sleeping for 6.5/7 hours for a few years, and have to note that I didn't feel it at first, but the lack of sleep tended to accumulate. And it took quite a while to recover it.

Edited April 19, 2019 by MaxQuest

[Guard Dog]

Insomnia is a real problem for me. I don't have it all the time but when I do I have in spurts of days and sometimes weeks. Otherwise I sleep pretty well. When I was running my own business it was not unusual to work round the clock. 5-7 hours is normal when I can shut my brain off... or drown it with booze. 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Guard Dog

[BruceVC]

Insomnia is a real problem for me. I don't have it all the time but when I do I have in spurts of days and sometimes weeks. Otherwise I sleep pretty well. When I was running my own business it was not unusual to work round the clock. 5-7 hours is normal when I can shut my brain off... or drown it with booze. 

 

If you suffer from Insomnia what do you find works best to resolve this, also do you sleep with your windows open because living outdoors this may help with fresh air?

 

I am currently staying at my Dads place in a outer house  and I am not suppose to open windows because of the risk of crime. Normally I prefer fresh air but at the moment there is a ceiling fan but I dont think its better than fresh air 

[Vaeliorin]

when I can shut my brain off

This is the problem for me. When I can shut my brain off, I usually get 8-10 hours. But if I get interested in something, I have a terrible time going to sleep, and if I wake up enough to be actually aware, my brain will start running again and I'll never get back to sleep...until I get so sleep deprived I just fall asleep wherever.

 

I used to be fine when I was younger going on little/no sleep (I once stayed up for 72 hours in college...to play Roller Coaster Tycoon), but now that I'm older, if I get less than 7-8 hours I feel like crap.

[Guard Dog]

 

Insomnia is a real problem for me. I don't have it all the time but when I do I have in spurts of days and sometimes weeks. Otherwise I sleep pretty well. When I was running my own business it was not unusual to work round the clock. 5-7 hours is normal when I can shut my brain off... or drown it with booze. 

 

If you suffer from Insomnia what do you find works best to resolve this, also do you sleep with your windows open because living outdoors this may help with fresh air?

 

I am currently staying at my Dads place in a outer house  and I am not suppose to open windows because of the risk of crime. Normally I prefer fresh air but at the moment there is a ceiling fan but I dont think its better than fresh air 

 

Right now I keep the windows open all the time. The weather has been beautifully cool. I haven't run my AC since October. Real soon though it will be too hot for that. As for how I deal with it I don't. Not effectively anyway. Meletonin works but you build up a resistance to it pretty quick. Two Benadryl chased by three fingers of good bourbon is also effective. But I'm not a big fan of using whiskey as a sedative. It leads to bad habits. Mostly if I can't sleep I try to use the time productively. 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Guard Dog

[Bartimaeus]

I'm bad at sleeping and I should and do feel bad for being bad at sleeping.

[Hurlshort]

I'm pretty consistent at getting over 7 hours, but typically struggle to sleep more than 8. Since I upped my exercise a ton in the last couple years, I've found my sleep is much higher quality. Like, I wake up feeling the effects of that recovery time, and I'm ready to do stuff. Although a lot of times I fall asleep for an hour and wake up with tightness in the legs, and I'll be covered in sweat. I get up, stretch it out, grab a dry blanket, and fall back to sleep pretty easily. It's weird.

[Gfted1]

I sleep like a log but only about 7 hours a day. And Im up with the roosters without even setting an alarm. Its annoying.

[ShadySands]

I want to sleep but we don't usually get along. We have a complicated relationship.

[majestic]

I want to sleep but we don't usually get along. We have a complicated relationship.

 

Same here. It's been that way ever since I can remember.

 

The absolute worst time was during the final years of my education, which equalled me leaving  home at six in the morning and coming home at eight and then doing project and home work. Which usually meant going to bed at sometime way past midnight (3am not being uncommon) and not being able to sleep much having to process everything. Which ended up a being habit I never could drop.

 

On the bright side I've solved more than a couple of work issues lying in bed.

 

It's also changed a bit during the years. While I slept like a log when I finally fell asleep when I was younger (the neighbours literally tore down the building next to  us with heavy machinery with me sleeping through it) these days I snap wide awake at the slightest sound. Which is also a bit of an issue considering we have some martens and hedgehogs around and they love digging for food and eating right outside my window.

 

Ever heard a hedgehog stuff his face? It's like sitting next to a pig.

Edited April 19, 2019 by majestic

[Keyrock]

I aim for 7 hours. As long as I get 5 I can function, but I'll struggle during parts of the day. If I get 6 I'm mostly good to go. If I get 7 I'm golden. 8 or 9 is the same as 7. Beyond 9 I get into oversleep territory and the extra time starts becoming detrimental.

[Gfted1]

Im the same but with naps. If I take a random 1-2h nap I wake up disorientated and a little grumpy.

[Blarghagh]

Don't nap longer than 30 minutes, it'll mess with your cicardian rhythm and make it harder to sleep at night.

 

Also sleep has roughly 1.5 hour cycles, if you sleep any multitude of that (like 6, 7.5 or 9 hours) you'll probably feel okay regardless of if you got enough sleep. Too little will catch up with you later.

 

I have an overactive mind, AD(H)D and anxiety, so I can take hours before falling asleep and I've had serious problems with unsomnia in the past. But I've got meds now that help me regulate and I've never felt better. It's allowed me to generally get 7.5 hours on weekdays and 9 hours on weekends.

[Boeroer]

I sleep like a stone once my head connects to the pillow. I will lay there like a dead man and not much does wake me up.

 

I also fall asleep asap in plains, trains and other vehicles (if I'm not steering). I did 30-min-naps during lunch break when I was still employed (and not self-employed like nowadays). Just lay my head on the table: *snore*

 

I drink a lot of coffee. Like... maybe more than 2 liters a day. I just love that stuff. I can drink coffee 5 min. before gong to bed - the only negative effect for my sleep is that I most likely have to get up in order to use the bathroom.

 

Maybe that's why I seldomly sleep more than 5 hours a night. I go to bed at 1:00 am or so and will wake up at 6:30 - don't need an alarm clock.

 

So far I'm quite healthy at an age of 42. I did lots of sports (Basketball and Volleyball mainly and also a lot of weight training) when I was younger. I completely stopped with ball sports after my last sports injury which was a severe disc prolapse in 2009. That was one year after a meniscal and cross band surgery. So I though "Screw this!". My blood values and stuff were always nice (and still are until today). Funny thing is that I feel a lot better ever since I stopped with those ball sports.

Edited April 19, 2019 by Boeroer

[LittleArmadillo0]

I typically get 7 hours of sleep. Sometimes my blood sugars have been dipping and then rising in night. On those nights I only get 3 to 4 an a massive migraine.

[Malcador]

4-5 hours. This will lead to my early death.

[LadyCrimson]

When I was younger, 6-7 hours most days, sometimes 8-10 hours on weekends. I felt fine/wide awake all the time. Could pull the occasional 36+ hour benders if I wanted etc.

By the time I hit mid-40's, usually 7-8 hours. Still felt fine.

Currently - well, it varies quite wildly and I have a tendency to be unable to sleep for more than 3-4 hours at a time so I find myself nodding off a few times a day but I'd say it's 7-9 hours per day that makes me feel "ok' in long term, whether it's all in one shot or piecemeal. Trying to survive on something like 5 every 24 hours, after a week I'd be zombie brained or something.

 

Like others have stated, I've always had falling asleep issues even when I was a few years old (according to mom), am a night person, joke I'm still on Korean time, have a very difficult time turning off my brain if I get interested in anything, am a total unmoving log when I am asleep, and typically my brain immediately jumps to "fully awake, leap out of bed almost automatically" when I wake up whether it's been 2 hrs or 8 hours asleep. There's no going back to sleep until I just nod off naturally again.

 

Edit: oh, and I also think there just some unconscious psychological issues re: having a hard time falling asleep. Sometimes even if I'm dog tired I resist going to bed/sleep for hours, without any rational, work/project reason. I decided once it's probable it's from being abandoned (then later adopted), where I fear something will be changed when I wake up.

Edited April 20, 2019 by LadyCrimson

[Arcsurvivor]

I get around 8 hours a day on weekdays. I feel refreshed and ready to go to work.

I am unable to function if I get less than 7 hours.

[Azdeus]

I usually sleep between 5-6 hours each day, but I lie in bed for a couple of hours before going to sleep, so you could say I get 7 or 8 hours of rest, but only 5-6 hours of sleep. This has become alot worse with medicines aswell, since I need pretty massive amounts of potassium sparing diuretics.

 

 

[teknoman2]

i sleep about 6 hours each night and no naps during the day... but i sleep like a log

[InsaneCommander]

On 4/19/2019 at 6:24 PM, TrueNeutral said:

Also sleep has roughly 1.5 hour cycles, if you sleep any multitude of that (like 6, 7.5 or 9 hours) you'll probably feel okay regardless of if you got enough sleep. Too little will catch up with you later.

This. When I'm lucky I sleep 6 or 7.5 hours. If I wake up after 6 hours and I can sleep more, I automatically start another cycle and then I sleep pretty well. But if something wakes me up before that time, it ruins my day, because I can't really get back to sleep or maybe I start another cycle and it doesn't finish again. I'm not sure.

 

I suffer from insomnia, but I have flexible work hours, so I can usually adjust it and that makes those lucky days. However, when I have an early appointment I end up sleeping 4-4.5 hours because I can't fall asleep soon enough. Sometimes it's 4.5 and and don't have much problem, so long as I can sleep well the next night.

 

Recently I discovered that at least part of my insomnia, the one when I wake up in the middle of the night, is not really that bad, because of this:

Insomnia: Why your brain may sleep without even knowing it

[joels344]

I normally get about 6-7 hours per night but anything over that, I’m usually feeling sluggish the next morning. I often feel more energized when I get 5 hours of sleep for some reason.