How much sleep do you need?

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

My body seems to go in weirdo phases…as in it will wake me up at the weirdest of times.

For about three months straight I got 4-5hours sleep a night, woke up at 4.30 at the latest, and would have to go for a jog, stretch, read, start my day whatever…I was just that buzzed!

Now my body is waking me at about 6.30, with a pretty smooth feeling. Not super buzzed or anything, just OK and nice.

THe thing is, even if I still only get 3-4 hours I can function really a lot better than anyone I know. I just dont find it that bad.

Even on 2-3 I am still sane…probably a side effect of having bizzare and I mean BIZZARE sleeping habits, during my chemically intoxicated years of 18-20.

Below 2-3 hours and it just gets weird.

I could still nap any afternoon you ever give me.

SO how about you?

How much sleep does your body/brain need to start the next day feeling goodly?

#2

Five to six hours on week nights.
Six to seven hours on weekends.
Naps during the 8 o’clock news optional.

#3

Goodly…

as opposed to badly :slight_smile:

#4

About 4 hours a night during the week. I have to do most of my studying after the kids are in bed and house is quiet. It’s pretty much the same on weekends, but I usually grab a nap in the afternoon.

#5

Sleep is something I don’t get much off. My first semester of college I slept usually from 1am-3am went to work came back and slept from 8-10. I got 4 hours of sleep per night and was fine. On the weekends I tend to get about a little bit more like about 7-8 hours, I sleep really weird times though.

#6

I am convinced that an essential element to a good “night’s” sleep is that it is in some multiple of 90 minutes (i.e. what I think is the length of a “sleep cycle”). So, I feel much better with 6 than 7 hours, and even 3 is better than 5.

FWIW, anything over 7 to 7.5 hours leaves me feeling rotten during the day, despite how nice it may feel at the time to drift in and out of sleep while lying in bed all morning.

#7

I need 8 1/2 hours of sleep. I prefer to get 10. I just need a lot of sleep so that I can be nice Tubagirl.

#8

About twice as much sleep as I get.

Wow! Your name becomes capitalized when you sleep? :wink:

#9

I have no idea…Being a college student with a class schedule put together by someone who was obviously completely drunk (I have a 2pm, 2 hour class on Monday, then on Tuesday I have an 8am Psychology class, then a 4 hour break, then a 4 hour class until 6pm…it alternates insanely like this throughout the week), I have no more sleeping pattern. I sleep randomly during the day or night, whenever my body finally collapses and I don’t have any homework left. I average about 2 hours of sleep a night (and I really REALLY want more than that…I’m a zombie 24/7).

Every 2 or 3 weeks of this though, my body gives up and I end up sleeping on the weekend for like 20+hrs straight. Then I can go another 2 or 3 weeks of getting random bits of sleep.

Lately, with the end of the schoolyear approaching and even less sleep time available, I now only REQUIRE 4 hours of sleep max…We have a few days off from classes right now and I can sleep all I want, but I go to sleep and wake up 4 hours later, unable to fall asleep again. It’s so annoying because I’m still a zombie but I can’t fall asleep…I just want to sleep!!

Sigh…Anyway, to answer the OP, I feel wicked if I get any more than 4 hours of sleep…8 hours would be awesome…

  • Tsugumo (at least reading the SDMB passes the time while I’m wishing I was asleep, heh…)
#10

Usually 5 1/2 to 6 hours. The problem is not how much sleep you get, it’s how many hours it’s been since you last slept. When I worked 7pm-7am I actually had to keep track of how many hours I had been up because I never really got sleepy in the afternoon but if I didn’t nap I would be up for 22-24 hours at a time.

I usually get up about 0500 and go to bed at 11 o’clock. Even when I don’t have to work, I usally get up about 0830.

#11

The absolute minimum I require is six hours. Anything under that and I am inhuman. If I only get six hours for more than one night running, I am again inhuman.

Given the choice, I will usually sleep eight to nine hours. Anything more and I get this weird headache that won’t go away all day. But I LOVE sleep. I honestly don’t understand how some people can function on as little as they do. As for me, I think I’m going to bed.

#12

for me, seven hours is ideal, and it’s nice to squeeze in an extra hour or two on weekends…my sleep schedule is pretty regular. i need my sleep time. oh well, there’s my two cents…later

#13

…usually 10 more minutes…

(5-6 during week, grab 8-9 on w/e)

#14

Count me in as another college student with a wacky sleep schedule. I’ve lately gotten in the habit of afternoon naps. Naps rock. Naps kick ass. Right now I seem to function best with 3-5 hours of sleep at night, and then a little dozing in the afternoon, in which I may or may not actually fall asleep, but will lie in bed for about an hour. Weekends I usually get 8-10 hours of sleep at night, but I feel kinda icky, and I still get the urge to lay down in the afternoon. I need my little siesta more than I need one huge block of sleep at night.

#15

I’m a sleepy person. I need at least six hours a day to function properly and at least eight if I hope to stay awake through all my classes. On weekends, I regularly sleep twelve to sixteen hours if possible. In fact, last Friday night (1 week + 2 days) ago, I slept 20 hours. :eek:

I once was up until 4:30 in the morning working on an English paper (to be fair, I was assigned it several weeks before and put it off until around 1:30 a.m.) and fell asleep while leaning over to put my backpack in the trunk of the car the next morning.

#16

Yay college student sleep schedule!

First of all, I’ve got one of those bizarre class schedules where you swing back and forth from day to day - MWF I’ve got 8am, 9am, noon, and 1pm classes, plus a 2pm on Fridays. This leaves me with no class at all on TTh (though I TA lab all of Thursday afternoons). So for the 8am mornings, the goal is generally 6 hours of sleep, but generally more like 5. For the rest, I go to bed later, and end up sleeping much much later. I have to be asleep for 9 or 10 hours before my internal clock will wake me up - getting up in the morning is never plesant, and doesn’t particularly get easier, even with a regular schedule (over the summer I was up at 6 every weekday morning, and was in bed by 10).

However, regardless of how hard it is for me to get up, I do really really well on very little sleep. It generally involves crashing over the weekend, but weeks where I’ve averaged 3 hrs a night are not that odd, and don’t completely rob me of functionality.

#17

In order to feel decent, I’ve got to get at least 8. But I usually get 7 on weekdays. Weekends, I can usually sleep as much as I want to, and end up with about 10.

I think my internal clock doesn’t match the external. When I have no obligations, I tend to be awake and alert for about 17 hours, sleep for about 10. This advances my daily schedule by 3 hours a day, so every 4 days or so, I’m completely reversed day/night wise.

#18

In order to be productive, I need at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. The ‘uninterrupted’ part is vitally important; if I get woken up during the night for any appreciable amount of time, it doesn’t matter how much more sleep I get, I know I’m going to be completely uncreative during the day. Unlike other people, too much sleep doesn’t effect me one way or the other, but I’m rarely able to sleep more than 8 or 9 hours at the absolute most.

#19

It used to be anything less than 7 and I was a grouch to everyone I meet. But lately I’ve been staying up quite a bit later and getting MUCH less sleep (I think over the last week, I’ve managed on average 2-3 hours a night… some night getting a full 8, many night not sleeping at all and doing the up for 36 thing… Damn these people who are so interesting to talk to until all hours of the night! :smiley: ) I don’t really get too grumpy with this little amount of sleep. I just have to be REALLY careful when driving home from work or parts North… I-75 is REALLY a boring highway, and it’s tough to find something to keep your eyes open! :slight_smile:

#20

I have interrupted sleep cycles.

I work 3am to 9am, and I go to bed the night before at about 11pm. So that’s about 3 hours of sleep. Then, when I get home at 9:30am, I’d like to sleep, but I’m still hyped up from working, so I usually don’t fall asleep again until 3pm.

Then, I have night classes to go to from 6:30 to 9:30. So, I wake up from my nap at about 5:30, then head off to school at 6. So, that’s about 2½ hours right there. All in all, I get about 6 to 7 hours during the week, but of course, it’s in broken cycles.