# How much sleep do you need? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833 "2007-11-17T15:18:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/21 "2007-11-17T21:13:42Z")
During the week, I average 6 or 7 a night, and I’m fine. I sleep a lot on the weekends, though…in the morning until 10 or 11, a 2 or 3 hour nap whenever possible. Every now and then I’ll go to bed at 7pm on a weekday. Helps with what perceive to be my deficit. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/22 "2007-11-17T21:22:04Z")
Until very recently the answer was “as much as I can get [and then some]”. It wasn’t uncommon for me to sleep 14 hours if I didn’t set the alarm clocks (plural- I’ve had as many as 5). For well over 20 years (the problem began when I was a teenager) I thought I was just undisciplined. Two years ago (on my 39th birthday, in fact) I was diagnosed as narcoleptic. Essentially, the proteins that catalyze the “wake up” chemical reactions in my brain existed in such small numbers that I could sleep through alarm after alarm after alarm, cognizant that they’re going off but too sleepy to do anything about it (almost all of my sleep is REM sleep, incidentally). I tried several prescription drugs that worked somewhat to not-at-all, including Adderall, but coming from a family where men die of heart attacks when they’re not much older than I am I was a bit turned off by some of the literature on long term effects of amphetamines (a fear begun and fueled by my sister, who’s a pharmacist, but I don’t think it was unreasonable). Now I’m back on a much higher dosage of Provigil (a non-amphetamine/non-stimulant medication that works on that low protein) and it’s working well; while it doesn’t give the almost immediate pep of Adderall, what it does is allows me to wake up normally after 7-9 hours. So, short answer long, currently I sleep 7-9 hours. As long as I go to bed at a reasonable time, there’s a very good chance I’ll wake up before the alarm clock sounds, and that’s never happened before. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/23 "2007-11-17T21:57:27Z")
I seem to average about 6-7 hours sleep, but I find that eventually my bod will shut down for an 8 hour catch up. I seem to have highs and lows energy-wise, so I just basically do what the bod tells me. If I wake up and still feel shattered, I go back to bed for a couple of hours more. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/24 "2007-11-18T02:46:40Z")
At least 7, preferably 8 to 9. I can do okay on less for a couple of nights, but then I turn eeeeeevil. I can’t sleep through to an alarm, weirdly. If I know an alarm is set, I always wake up anywhere from half an hour to an hour before it’s due to go off. So on work nights I have to allow time for that. My grandma told me just a few weeks ago that she doesn’t sleep well if an alarm is set either. I guess my weirdness is hereditary. You’d think I’d sleep _better_ with one, but I think my brain hates being jolted awake or something. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/25 "2007-11-18T03:05:32Z")
I used to sleep 6 hours a night, tops, and liked that just fine for like 30+ years. Then, the last couple of years, I’ve started getting insomnia, and getting medicated to treat it. Now I’m really damned jealous of my sleep. I take my pill around 10 and sleep until 7am-ish. And, like **essell** , I can’t go back to sleep if I get woken up early. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/26 "2007-11-18T03:33:06Z")
8-9 hours means I’m not tired at all during the day. I’m generally fine on 6-8, borderline on 5 and barely functional (but functional nonetheless) on 2-4. I can’t really do less than 7 a night for more than a week without getting cranky, and less than 5 for more than one night in a row makes me cranky too. I love sleeping in the day, but it doesn’t happen too often. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/27 "2007-11-18T03:53:41Z")
I can get by fine on four hours, but any less than that is worse than nothing at all. I learned in residency that if I couldn’t guarantee four hours of uninterrupted sleep, I was better off with a 15-30 minute “power nap” that 2-3 hours of sleep. 6-7 is ideal. Any more than that and I feel draggy all day. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/28 "2007-11-18T04:16:35Z")
I can get by on 6-6.5 hours M-F but end up sleeping 8-10 on the weekends. If I were brighter when bedtime approaches I’d be in bed at least an hour sooner weeknights, but I’m never good a remembering how tired I’ll be the next day when it hits midnight and I’m still up. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/29 "2007-11-18T05:01:50Z")
In normal circumstances, usually about 6 hours a night, plus a short (~15 minutes) nap after the big meal of the day, usually dinner. Lately, though, I’m unemployed, so I pretty much sleep whenever I feel like it. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/30 "2007-11-18T20:46:17Z")
I need six hours a night to be functional in a “good at my job and not actively unpleasant to my coworkers” sort of way. If you want me to be a fun person to hang out with, well, I better have had eight or nine hours minimum the night before (and have awakened at a civilized time, which means 9-10 am or later in my book). Which is why I’ve taken to staying to myself on Fridays and getting my fun in on Saturdays. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/31 "2007-11-18T22:22:51Z")
I am at a loss to understand how the f- does anyone can function having been unconscious for 8 or 10 solid hours! Even as a young child I didn’t sleep much and now at the age of 48 usually manage anywhere between 4 and 6 hours a night, if I am lucky. I am quite used to it and therefore rarely feel tired during the day. I desperately want to sleep for longer than I do - without recourse to drugs, please - but cannot imagine how that’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833/32 "2007-11-18T23:41:30Z")
I usually get 5-6 hours of sleep a night. On weekends, maybe 7. Maybe once or twice a week I’ll have an after-supper nap for an hour or so. I should probably get more sleep. But I’m a night owl, and can’t get to sleep before 1-2 AM. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-sleep-do-you-need/426833.md?page=1)