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How much sleep do we need?

jimtron

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jimtron
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
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Location
Los Angeles, California
I've found conflicting advice about this. How much sleep do we need? Does it vary significantly from person to person? What's the optimal amount, for best functioning and good health?
 
What do you mean by "need"? Enough to survive? Enough to operate at maximum potential? Enough so you don't feel tired all the time?
 
I suspect that if you don't suffer from insomnia, hypersomnia or other sleep-related disorders, then you need so much that you wake up by yourself and not because of the daylight or the alarm. For most people 6-9 hours is ok, depending on your activities and your disposition. It is possible that you can lead a normal life for a long time with somewhat less than the optimal sleep. Older people seem to need less sleep.

Personally I need 6-9 hours depending on my activities. During heavy weight training that stresses the nervous system I need about 8-9 hours. There have been certain weekends that I was very exhausted and I had been sleeping for more than 12 hours/day but such occasions are rare.

My record is 23 hours :D
 
El Greco said:
IPersonally I need 6-9 hours depending on my activities. During heavy weight training that stresses the nervous system I need about 8-9 hours.
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Same here. I need about seven hours if I'm on vacation and not lifting, ten hours under normal circumstances. And by "need", I mean enough to not feel sleepy during the day. My work requires a lot of concentration and being tired kills my productivity, so it is pointless for me to try to skip sleep to get more work done, as some people do.

My record is 23 hours :D
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You got me beat. 18 is my best, after being awake for about 60 hours. Every time I read about a sleep study where they keep people up for several days, they always end by noting that everyone felt fine after nine hours sleep. Doesn't work for me.
 
I've been averaging 4 hours per night. Occasionally I'll get 6 or 7 on one weekend day. Tiredness isn't a problem, but if I had a boring job or home life it would be. Keeping busy gives my mind energy, and I enjoy every waking minute.

I'll be a long time dead, sleep is a waste of precious time in the here and now. If I could get by on one hour a night, I would.
 
jimtron said:
I've found conflicting advice about this. How much sleep do we need? Does it vary significantly from person to person? What's the optimal amount, for best functioning and good health?
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As others have said it varies from person to person and despite modern life one of the keys is to do it so that you wake up at the same time everyday.

Part of sleep is a series of homonal shifts and cycles, and part of the health benefits comes from that.

As a side note if you are sleepy all the time and fall asleep whne you shouldn't, seek competent medical advice. Same for frequent insomnia, although 'sleep hygience' helps.
 
Vic Vega said:
Just the thought of not sleeping late on weekends is depressing...
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I didn't really mean that. It is just that the circadian cycle gets set by the wake up time, so if one is not taking finals or doing rotating shift work or intermittant call work; a regular wake up time helps a lot. If it is five days a week that will help a lot.
There is some variation to our schedules, and yes weekends are a blessing. But some people never establish a routine wakeup time, which is just part of 'sleep hygiene'.
 
I suffer seriously from jet lag, and would really appreciate some info/advice.

I have to make occasional business trips to the US (from UK) and have managed to cope so far by taking an extra day on arrival and sleeping as much as possible at (US) night with the aid of sleeping pills (Zopiclone). I’ve never managed to get into any kind of sleep pattern for the few days I’m there, and I do feel that the lack of sleep impairs my performance.

On return I’m totally out of action for at least two days (and a few more till I’m back to normal), and I really can’t afford the time.

Help?
 
One possible thing you can do is refuse to recognize local time. Keep to the US time. Tell everyone you will turn up six hours (or how many hours it is) late to any meeting because of this, so you need to be told get there early.

That way the biggest sleeping problem is going to bed early afternoon and getting up 3am or so. Make sure all meetings are on in the morning and finish lunch time.

Not sure how practical it is.
 
I spent three months with a couple of friends on the road, and we camped nearly every night at primitive sites, and even with a good fire, we were all tired enough to go to sleep a couple of hours after nightfall. Nine PM was late by our standards, and we always woke up before eight AM.
It's only anecdotal, but the conditions probably approximated the sort of conditions humans evolved with.
When we spent the night with more lighting, we reverted to staying up really late, but still woke up early.
 
Lucky said:
I suffer seriously from jet lag, and would really appreciate some info/advice.

I have to make occasional business trips to the US (from UK) and have managed to cope so far by taking an extra day on arrival and sleeping as much as possible at (US) night with the aid of sleeping pills (Zopiclone). I’ve never managed to get into any kind of sleep pattern for the few days I’m there, and I do feel that the lack of sleep impairs my performance.

On return I’m totally out of action for at least two days (and a few more till I’m back to normal), and I really can’t afford the time.

Help?
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I can't help you much with jet lag caused by travelling from the UK to US, but on the way home I force myself to stay awake on the plane and the rest of the day in the UK (except for maybe an hour of sleep in the taxi), then go to bed around 10pm. I usually sleep for about 10-12 hours, and feel fine the next day.

Note: Only try this if you do *not* have to drive before you get some proper sleep.
 
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