Sleep : How much you have ?

[BruceVC]

Sup All

 

This weekend with all the work I have been doing I had 4 hours sleep on Friday night and then 2 hours on Saturday and  about 2 hours during the day today. And I feel fine. but  I am not advocating a person should have only 4-5 hours sleep a night as I don't think its sustainable but I know there are nocturnal beasts on these forums who probably only sleep that much every night

 

My ideal amount of sleep is probably 6-7 hours a night, I know some people who claim they cannot function without 8-10 hours a night so my question is how much sleep do you have a night and what is your optimal amount of sleep. If you battle with insomnia what is the reason ?

[Woldan]

I need exactly 7 hours which is 6 hours of night sleep + 1 hour nap after work, that on day with 2 hours of weight lifting or cycling and approx 8 hours of office work. On off days with no exercise nor work I'm happy with 5 hours total.  

Any more sleep than that wreaks havoc on my body, past 6 hours of sleep I start trashing and spinning around which makes me wake up every 20 minutes, 8 or more hours and I'll wake up with severe headache which will follow me for the rest of the day. I'd rather skip sleep altogether for one day than oversleep. 

 

I usually get extreme insomnia when I skip my daily exercise which means restlessness and feeling hyper, skipping exercise makes me feel like I do not need any sleep at all. Same goes for going to bed too early, like 3 hours before my usual nap time, if I do that extreme insomnia is guaranteed. 

Edited April 12, 2015 by Woldan

[BruceVC]

I need exactly 7 hours which is 6 hours of night sleep + 1 hour nap after work, that on day with 2 hours of weight lifting or cycling and approx 8 hours of office work. On off days with no exercise nor work I'm happy with 5 hours total.  

Any more sleep than that wreaks havoc on my body, past 6 hours of sleep I start trashing and spinning around which makes me wake up every 20 minutes, 8 or more hours and I'll wake up with severe headache which will follow me for the rest of the day. I'd rather skip sleep altogether for one day than oversleep. 

 

I usually get extreme insomnia when I skip my daily exercise which means restlessness and feeling hyper, skipping exercise makes me feel like I do not need any sleep at all. Same goes for going to bed too early, like 3 hours before my usual nap time, if I do that extreme insomnia is guaranteed. 

That's interesting, I also find with my cardio training I probably need 7 hours to make me train effectively

 

Also I find I sleep much better after training at gym. And you have raised another relevant point, why does oversleeping make you feel more tired during the day?  So if I sleep lets say 8 hours I am perfectly functional at work and gym but I find I am just more tired during the day. Yet 6-7 hours and I feel fine 

[Woldan]

Oversleeping doesn't make me feel tired, it makes me feel completely terrible, I get a really bad headache from just 1-2 extra hours of sleep, like a bad bout of hammering migraine that lasts for the rest of the day, and I feel sick.  My blood pressure tends to drop a lot when I'm resting, my theory is that it drops to dangerously low levels when I'm sleeping too long and thats why my body tries to wake me up  - low oxygen maybe? Thats probably why it is so hard to wake me up inside those 6 hours of sleep, people alway tell me I sleep like a corpse. 

 

Fortunately thats not a problem, I feel super energetic after I had those 6-7 hours of sleep. 

 

Does eating lots of food just before going to bed have a noticeable effect on your sleep quality?

Edited April 12, 2015 by Woldan

[LadyCrimson]

I need at least 3-4 (if we're talking a longer term basis, not just a one-off) to feel ok and function "all day", but 6 if I'm to function moderately well. As I get older the line starts to extend a little, where I probably function best with 7 or 8 hours but I just get up anyway.

 

If no alarm set, I pretty much "wake up" after 6-7 hours automatically. Meaning I usually get up, because once awake I'm awake. But sometimes I ignore that for whatever reason and will roll over and try to sleep another hour or two.

 

I can't take "naps" (more than a 20 minute eyes-closed rest, I mean) because once I fall asleep, I am asleep and it's at least 2-3 hours before I'll wake. Sleeping only an hour I will feel much worse (the whole rest of the day) than if I didn't nap at all. I think it's something to do with the "stages" of sleep and how I cycle through and/or react to being disturbed while within any of them. Waking during REM (a dream) is fine, Stage 1 and 2 is tolerable, but waking up at Stage 3 is a no-go. Sirens could be going off outside my bedroom window and I would not be aware.

[BruceVC]

Oversleeping doesn't make me feel tired, it makes me feel completely terrible, I get a really bad headache from just 1-2 extra hours of sleep, like a bad bout of hammering migraine that lasts for the rest of the day, and I feel sick.  My blood pressure tends to drop a lot when I'm resting, my theory is that it drops to dangerously low levels when I'm sleeping too long and thats why my body tries to wake me up  - low oxygen maybe?

 

Fortunately thats not a problem, I feel super energetic after I had those 6-7 hours of sleep. 

 

Does eating lots of food just before going to bed have a noticeable effect on your sleep quality?

 

I try very hard to not eat anything 1-2 hours before I go sleep which is quite easy to do as I normally eat dinner at about 7 pm and I am normally go to  sleep at 11-12 pm. But I am really lucky, before I go to sleep I normally read for about 20 minutes and I fall asleep within 5 minutes

 

So going back to your food question I find eating too much food before I sleep makes me tired but my sleep is more restless and of course it depends on what I eat...if I am gorging  on high-sugar food then I am more restless 

 

What seems to keep me awake the most is mental restlessness...so if I am thinking too much about something. I find I just don't seem to be tired or need to sleep. So when I am working like this weekend I get  on this weird natural high.

[BruceVC]

I need at least 3-4 (if we're talking a longer term basis, not just a one-off) to feel ok and function "all day", but 6 if I'm to function moderately well. As I get older the line starts to extend a little, where I probably function best with 7 or 8 hours but I just get up anyway.

 

If no alarm set, I pretty much "wake up" after 6-7 hours automatically. Meaning I usually get up, because once awake I'm awake. But sometimes I ignore that for whatever reason and will roll over and try to sleep another hour or two.

 

I can't take "naps" (more than a 20 minute eyes-closed rest, I mean) because once I fall asleep, I am asleep and it's at least 2-3 hours before I'll wake. Sleeping only an hour I will feel much worse (the whole rest of the day) than if I didn't nap at all. I think it's something to do with the "stages" of sleep and how I cycle through and/or react to being disturbed while within any of them. Waking during REM (a dream) is fine, Stage 1 and 2 is tolerable, but waking up at Stage 3 is a no-go. Sirens could be going off outside my bedroom window and I would not be aware.

 

Its interesting but all out sleep patterns seem similar, 6-7 hours 

Yet have you noticed that when people reach a certain age, older than 65 they just seem to need less sleep...I know from that radio talk show I listen there are large number of older people who are always awake at 4 am or so and phone in to comment about issues 

[LadyCrimson]

I'm not convinced it's that they need a lot less sleep - it's that they can't stay asleep. My mother definitely needs her afternoon/evening naps, even if she does wake up at 5am.

 

Also...they tend to go to bed earlier and earlier.

[213374U]

This is the philosophy I live by:

 

 

 

 

I get absolutely as much sleep as I possibly can. And then some more. Natural sleep for me is ~10 hours, regardless of activity, fatigue, stress, etc. I'm at my best with a bit over 7 hours. Better focusing, more energy, better mood. Problem is that I really need to muster all of my willpower to get up, unless I have an appointment, class, work, etc.

 

Back when I was in the army, I'd have to pull all-nighters during exercises, which seriously wrecked me. It wasn't hunger, cold or stress that got me, it was lack of sleep. One of the very few things I'm honestly jealous of is the ability to function on 4-5 hours of sleep daily.

 

If you can do it, I seriously recommend power naps. Big cup of coffee immediately followed by 20 mins of sleep. You'll wake up good as new. For a few hours anyway...

[WDeranged]

I've had some terrible sleeping patterns.  The worst example is when I was broke and living in a ****ty building full of nutcases, I'd go to sleep at 4pm and wake up at 12am just to avoid having to speak to anyone, this went on for a year or more...the weird thing is I sometimes feel nostalgic about it 

 

Nowadays I tend to get 6-7 hours a night but I think 8 is my sweet spot, beyond 10 hours and I wake up feeling pretty awful.  My biggest sin is staying up too late and sleeping til lunchtime, I do that whenever possible.

[BruceVC]

This is the philosophy I live by:

 

 

 

 

I get absolutely as much sleep as I possibly can. And then some more. Natural sleep for me is ~10 hours, regardless of activity, fatigue, stress, etc. I'm at my best with a bit over 7 hours. Better focusing, more energy, better mood. Problem is that I really need to muster all of my willpower to get up, unless I have an appointment, class, work, etc.

 

Back when I was in the army, I'd have to pull all-nighters during exercises, which seriously wrecked me. It wasn't hunger, cold or stress that got me, it was lack of sleep. One of the very few things I'm honestly jealous of is the ability to function on 4-5 hours of sleep daily.

 

If you can do it, I seriously recommend power naps. Big cup of coffee immediately followed by 20 mins of sleep. You'll wake up good as new. For a few hours anyway...

 

Good point about power naps, I meant to add that. I can easily have a 20 minute power nap and I feel great which raises another question...why physiologically does such a little amount of sleep make you feel so good?

 

Edit :  Oh wait, I see you posted an interesting link around this 

Edited April 12, 2015 by BruceVC

[Rosbjerg]

I've found that I can function normally for about 2 weeks on 4 hours of sleep, but I work best with ~6-7.. In my early to mid twenties I needed about 10 though, so I guess it's an age thing.

[BruceVC]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_nap

 

I have to give this link that 2133 posted  the much respected BruceVC " guys this this an excellent link..everyone should read it " comment 

 

Its succinct but address many questions I have been pondering about sleep  

[Malcador]

I get about 5 a night. Not enough but eh.

[BruceVC]

I get about 5 a night. Not enough but eh.

 

Wowzers...not enough if its consistently that much I imagine

 

How do you feel  during the day on that much sleep ?

[Meshugger]

Back when I was in the army, I'd have to pull all-nighters during exercises, which seriously wrecked me. It wasn't hunger, cold or stress that got me, it was lack of sleep. One of the very few things I'm honestly jealous of is the ability to function on 4-5 hours of sleep daily.

 

 

Oh, i know that feeling. You can eat, walk and carry, but your mind isn't really there and you end up with that thousand yard-stare. All the senses feel slightly numb and you cannot really think of anything. Yuck.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I sleep maybe 3 to 4 hours a night.

[BruceVC]

I sleep maybe 3 to 4 hours a night.

 

Geez KP...thats less than Malc. 

 

How do you feel during the day on that much sleep ?

[Woldan]

I sleep maybe 3 to 4 hours a night.

 

Alcohol tends to screw up your sense of time. 

[obyknven]

4 hours in previous times - it's cause serious health problems. 8-10 hours of sleep in day now.

[HoonDing]

3 hrs a week or so

[BruceVC]

3 hrs a week or so

   

 

"3 hours a week " 

[Sarex]

Less and less as time goes by... Though I can usually get 7 hours of sleep, as long as I go to bed early enough. I need to start exercising, I'm pretty sure that would fix things, but yeah I'm lazy...

[Proodle]

I don't sleep. My vigil is eternnnftdgehhhhhhhhhhhhhzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Hurlshort]

7.  Because I need my sleep if I'm going to deal with 180 freaking middle schoolers.