Poll: How much sleep do you need?

[mikeymikec]

It takes me a long while to properly wake up after an ideal nights' sleep (by 'properly wake up', I mean that I'm not making dumbass mistakes like nearly putting the pepper in the fridge, and by 'a long while', I mean about three hours - I avoid caffeine for health reasons), but after a non-ideal night's sleep I feel significantly worse during those 'properly waking up' hours and significantly sleepier in the afternoon / evening.

8.5 hrs = ideal for me.

 

[brianmanahan]

i stopped getting enough sleep a few years ago

come to think of it, my muse for writing pomes also left me about the same time

 

[purbeast0]

6 pretty much on the dot if I have to work.

If I'm getting up to do something fun like fishing, I can get like 5 and a half and be okay. But anything below 5 and I feel like ass.

I get between 6-7 pretty much every night, including weekends. When I sleep more than that I feel it's such a waste of time, especially now that I get up earlier. Getting up at like 11am now a days feels like such a fucking waste of time.

 

[SketchMaster]

I'm a misiralbe SOB if I get less than 8hrs.

 

[Muse]

For around 2 weeks when I was around 40 I went for a couple weeks with 5 hours/night, I was OK. Nowadays I get 6-9, average maybe 7.5. I just got back from almost 2 weeks vacation, action packed and since returning almost 4 days ago I'm sleeping more than average, I'm in recovery mode. It was more than worth it, though.

When I sleep only 6 hours I frequently have a nap sometime during the day.

If I'm playing golf in the morning I usually sleep less than usual/preferred. I usually get too excited to sleep solid before a morning round of golf (I try to hit the links around dawn).

 

[Imp]

I manage alright with 7-8 as long as I'm sleeping during "my" sleeping hours. If I'm getting up early, 9-10 hours isn't even enough because I'm a night person.

 

[IGemini]

<3 hours I start considering skipping sleep altogether (unless it's a nap)
3-4 tired but functional
5-6 is okay
6-7 is best
7-9 if the previous day was long, catching up on sleep or light sleeping.
Beyond that it starts getting counterproductive...at the 10-hour mark it feels like I slept only half that.

When my work schedule was slightly different and I had no concerns about sleeping in or needing an alarm, I'd consistently peg at 6-6.5 hours of sleep per night.

Never understood the need of bragging to sleep (in) even when I was a teenager. I'm not a 5AM riser like my dad but nothing appeals to me about sleeping until noon or later. Had a roommate in college who suffered severe insomnia and I would do 48-72 stretches just so he didn't go nuts on his own. It made for a lot of amusing conversation, but even then I had trouble cracking 11 hours of sleep at once. OP is clearly in a different situation.

 

[MidasKnight]

At age 50 this last year I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. For the past 10+ years it really didn't matter how many hours I got. I was always sleepy during the day. My test shows I was stopping breathing 90 times an hour. After I received the CPAP set up, my results showed less than 1 time per hour. It's been 6 months using CPAP and I get about 5 to 6 hours nightly and feel great. No more sleepiness.

 

[Mai72]

6-7 hours a night. 7 optimal. Anything more and it's just a waste of time. Unless you're sick or trying to catch up because you haven't been sleeping, IMO it's a waste of time.

I'll sleep when im dead and gone.

 

[Yakk]

Used to be 9-10, after kids it became 5-6. Can go to 4 in a pinch, can't go over 7 anymore.

 

[DrPizza]

I'm just fine after 4 or 5 hours of sleep, but really start to drag if I do that too many nights in a row. I'll often do that for most of the week, then get close to 8 hours on Fri night and/or Sat night.

I've also found my creativity increases a lot if I've had about 5 hours of sleep, versus 8 hours. If I get less than 4 hours of sleep (at least 2), I find that (teaching physics, calculus, etc. all day) I'll make at least 5 or 6 stupid mistakes during the course of the day. Typically, I average <1 per day.

 

[Captante]

I can function effectively on anything over 4 hours (will be grouchy) and am fine if I get 5.5 - 6. Used to need more but I guess its true you sleep less as you get older.

 

[pete6032]

Damn, some of you people are magical. If I could get by with 6 or 7 hours of sleep I could get a lot of stuff done.

Threads like these generally turn into backhand brag threads. I would add +1 to everyone's response.

 

[DrPizza]

Threads like these generally turn into backhand brag threads. I would add +1 to everyone's response.

It's 8 minutes until 2 in the morning on a Sunday night. I'm still sitting in my classroom at school - been here since I got done with dinner and the farm chores. Wrote a 32 page workbook tonight. Heading home in about 10 minutes; I might drink a beer when I get home. My alarm goes off at 7am. At the most, I hit snooze twice (14 minutes). You're welcome to look back at my posting pattern to see how late I post. I'm eastern time, and at work by 8am.

 

[Jaepheth]

Just 30 more minutes

 

[Svnla]

Sleeping well is a growing problem for me. I need to sleep more but things are not going well. I rarely able to go to bed before midnight. I was able to sleep late (until noon) on weekends but no longer able to do so.

Right now, I get about 5-6 hours per night. Hopefully, cooler weather will help a little.

I did everything I could to sleep better but nothing is working and I do not want to take sleeping pills.

 

[bradly1101]

I know you guys will think I'm crazy, but I sleep better and longer when my Wifi is off. There was a Danish study I saw a long time ago that placed people close to wifi and wireless radio (cell) signals and compared it to a control group, and the ones close to the signals most commonly reported insomnia.

I told my brother about this and it worked for him. Even his older cat that would wake them up in the middle of the night yowling no longer does that and sleeps through the night too.

Try it, what have you got to lose? Many wifi routers let you schedule on/off times in their interfaces.

https://books.google.com/books?id=y...age&q=denmark wireless study insomnia&f=false

https://www.defendershield.com/10-facts-health-dangers-wifi/

 

[bradly1101]

i stopped getting enough sleep a few years ago

come to think of it, my muse for writing pomes also left me about the same time

Manahan says, "Sleep I can!"
But dreamland eludes
Wake/sleep feuds
Give us this night's sleep
Not more counting sheep!
Like all things perhaps temporary is this
Solutions abound, try not to miss
For sleep is essential
You have the potential

 

[brianmanahan]

Manahan says, "Sleep I can!"
But dreamland eludes
Wake/sleep feuds
Give us this night's sleep
Not more counting sheep!
Like all things perhaps temporary is this
Solutions abound, try not to miss
For sleep is essential
You have the potential

i'm gonna quote this pome until i fall asleep tonight!

 

[ewwink]

7-8 I think ideal for me

 

[bradly1101]

Also try not keeping your phone in the same room while sleeping.

 

[Rumpltzer]

4 hours or less, and I'm functional but not all there; fuzzy. Anything 6 or better, and I'm fine; perfectly normal.

 

[Kaido]

Sleep window & number of hours slept is a combination that I need.

My sleep window (the time at night when I get sleepy) is about 20 minutes between 8:20pm to 8:40pm. I need to be in bed about 20 minutes before that so that when I get sleepy, I'm already wound down & can just zonk off. So my preferred bedtime routine starts at 7:45pm...brush my teeth etc. & then get into bed & turn out the lights. It stinks that it's that early, but that's just how it is for my body.

Then I only need roughly 7 hours of sleep. Latest I wake up naturally (no alarm) is typically by 4am. I feel AWESOME if I nail those two things: hit my target bedtime & get 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Lately I've had a highly variable evening schedule tho

 

[teejee]

7h is perfect for me.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[BurnItDwn]

in the later half of my 30's, I need 7 hours to wake up and be useful these days.
Back in my 20's I typically slept 5-6 hours. I would often pull all nighters. Spent some time working overnights, and screwed up my internal clock and would sleep 12-20 hours once every 3 days. (I drank a LOT of coffee, and smoked a lot of cigs, but never used any other drugs)
when I was 16-18 I would usually sleep 2-4 hours on weekdays due to working late at night, and then waking up for swim practice or weightlifting before school.