As I post, I’m sitting here thinking that I will only be getting five hours of sleep before having to wake up for a meeting this afternoon. Damned if every time I’m just about ready to log off I don’t see another thread that sparks my interest. Since I’m working a night shift I tend to sleep during the day in case the timing of this didn’t make sense. In becoming so tired it got me wondering how many hours of sleep the average doper enjoys. Me…I’m refreshed after your typical eight hours, passable on seven, lethargic on nine.
I usually go to bed at around midnight and I get up at 6:30. It usually takes me a half hour to get to sleep. Even on weekends I’ll still get up at about 7:00 AM. I’m not one for sleeping in as I always have a lot of things to do. Typically I only sleep about 6 hours a night.
At least 8 hours. Although I find that I no longer sleep as soundly as I did when I was younger. I suspect that if I really slept soundly, I would sleep less.
I probably need 8-10 hrs a night, but lately I tend to get to bed at 3am at the earliest, lie there for ages WAITING to fall asleep, only to have to get up early the next day.
No wonder my brain hasn’t been functioning this year… :rolleyes:
god that sukc, night shift.
I used to do it, 4 years in a row, never a dayshift in between.
I found that I needed more sleep when I was doing nightshift, and countless other things influence the length of my sleep, but normally, I’d be happy with about 8-10 hours sleep a day.
This is during the week when working.
I do need more sleep than other people, I know.
This levels off if I have nothing to do. I need less sleep when I’m on holidays
I’m happy with six hours most nights, but prefer to get eight when I can and can function on four when I have to, but not for more than two or three nights in a row. For me the ultimate luxury isn’t sleeping a whole bunch of extra hours but to sleep until I just wake up. Ahh to slowly and peacfully drift into conciousness, without the hateful wailing of the alarm clock, that’s bliss.
Minimum 6–less than that and I get really bleary. Usually I get 6 or 7. 8 or 9 is how much I sleep on weekends. Anything more than that and I wake up pretty groggy.
I can get by on 4 hours, but I’m an extremely grumpy Saint with that little sleep. My optimum amount seems to be 9 hours. My mother says that as an infant I’d sleep 23 out of 24 hours. It was a big deal for my sibs when I’d move. Mind you, when she was carrying me, my mother had 4 kids under the age of 6 and she had uterine cancer. This was in the '60’s, and when she told the doctor the she was (understandably) tire, he gave her stuff to pep her up. I was coming down off a 6 month high, I bet.
I’m a pretty poor sleeper…usually I wake up around 2 AM, and lie awke for several hours before falling asleep. What has always fascinated me…many “driven” men appear to have had little need for sleep. For example, Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor , appeared to have gotten along with only 3 hours of sleep a night-he lived into his 80’s, so apparently it didn’t harm him. The other one…Napoleon Bonaparte,he slept only 2-3 hours a night as well.
How is it that such beings are able to conquer the world on less than 8 hours a night??
Six a night does me just fine. I can get by on four hours a night, but after a few nights it catches up with me. Less than three hours, and I might as well not get any at all.
I like Phyre have newborn(s). I think the body undergoes a chemical change when you become a parent. Getting 5.5 hours of (interrupted) sleep a night isn’t sucking as bad as I thought it would.
That said, I’d prefer more. I’m afraid that when I get the chance to HAVE more sleep that I won’t be able to, that I’ve been broken in some way.
I aim at 8 hours from stepping into bed and closing my eyes until the alarm clock rings. I may lie awake for half an hour or so. I can go with 6-7 hours for a couple of nights, provided I’ve rested well before that. Once a year I have a period of 1-2 weeks where I can do continously with 6-7 hours, but that always ends for some mysterious reason.
Lately I’ve found I do with a little less sleep (approx 7-7.5 hours), since I’ve stopped watching TV and instead started heavily posting and reading SDMB.
What I forgot to add: I once read about an Italian renaissance painter (Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci) who never went to bed for a long time. His method was that he quickly slept for fifteen minutes every two (or was it four?) hours. That would make for three hours in total per day. I’ve always wanted to try that, but unfortunately normal work and life rhythm intervenes.
Possibly modern times are more strenuous then the times of yore. What with all the TV and 'net and stuff. Wouldn’t a simpler life allow a person to do with less sleep?
I seem to do fine with about 6 on weekdays, but usually get about 7 on weekends (I’m a morning person).
BTW, I read in Scientific American (sorry, no cite) about a study that suggested that people who sleep 8 or more hours a night tend to have shorter life spans than those that get less than 8 hours. It also said that 6.5 hours is supposed to be enough for most people.
Since I’m working a night shift I tend to sleep during the day in case the timing of this didn’t make sense. In becoming so tired it got me wondering how many hours of sleep the average doper enjoys. Me…I’m refreshed after your typical eight hours, passable on seven, lethargic on nine.