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How much do you sleep?

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11:01 / 11.05.06

Inspired by astrojax’s (rhetorical?) question here:

i got glandular fever after a while - dunno why. isn't 3-4hrs sleep a night for two months ok??

Now, I think that is ok. I get between 3 and 5 hours sleep every weeknight and have done for years and years. I’m basically ok. Also, if I do get more sleep, I don’t honestly feel much different for it. If I get 3 hours, I struggle to get up in the morning. If I get 6 hours, I struggle to get up in the morning. I often get a lot more at weekends, which I characterise as catching up with what I missed in the week, although could equally be called ‘lounging around in bed like a bum’.

So, I wonder, how much do you sleep? Are you a big grumpy-box if you don’t get an unbroken 8 hours a night? Do you stay up into the small hours all week and then lunch the weekend? Have you become ill through lack of sleep? Can you ‘sleep too much’? Has anyone tried any unusual sleep regimens?

11:06 / 11.05.06

You don't sleep, you don't eat - you're a robot, Smoothly!

I can do ok on a couple of hours once in a while - I get insomnia so I'm learned to cope. But overall I work best with about 7-8 hours sleep. I sleep a bit more at the weekend, but not masses more. And I never sleep during the day - I did for a while, when I had a job starting at 5.45, but in general I hate to waste a bit of the day asleep. Whereas Loomis likes nothing better than a good snooze on the couch.

11:12 / 11.05.06

Oh, Ariadne, I do sleep, and I do eat, I’m just very flexible about both and I seem to be less sensitive to quantity than most.

I’m between you and Loomis when it comes to sleeping – I think that going to bed after Newsnight and missing all that lovely nighttime is a terrible waste, but I do like a snooze late afternoon, and I can spend all Saturday in bed very happily.

11:19 / 11.05.06

I could sleep at a competitive level. It drives me mad - I can fall asleep anywhere, any time, although I usually manage to resist until some decent point in the evening. I always want to sleep less, but I find it really hard to stay up late(r than about midnight), and could sleep in til any time you care to mention of a morning. Or afternoon.

What with life getting in the way, however, I usually end up getting 7-8 hours a night. Except on weekends, when that could easily be 12. Deary me, I am a lazy bum.

So I get lots and want less. Is coffee the answer?

11:29 / 11.05.06

I average around 6 hours a night I reckon. I actually go to bed reasonably early but it takes me ages to get to sleep and then I often wake up several times during the night. I also like to get up early - often around 6am to go for a run before work. My major problem with sleep is that when I do want to lie in (or when in a strange bed), my back often starts to ache forcing me to think about getting up!

11:31 / 11.05.06

Can you lot keep it down? I'm trying to get a nap in.

11:34 / 11.05.06

I go to sleep around 03.00 and get up at 10.00 - 12.00. Using the alarm clock is useless, because I just turn it off and fall asleep again.

I always want to get up at 08.00, and managed to do so once a couple of days ago for the first time in months. two days later, I even got up at 06.00. It was amazing: the sun shone an orange beam riht through my appartment, like in a movie.

12:03 / 11.05.06

I need at least 7 hours sleep a night if I want to do anything the next day. Usually have a bumper catch up at the weekend, but weeknights is about 7 hours. I don't understand how people can function on less.

12:26 / 11.05.06

Question Sleep
"Both paperback and hardcover editions have Z? on the cover. This logo, which stands for "question sleep", appears frequently throughout Vasquez's work, and relates to insomnia, from which both Johnny and Vasquez have suffered."

12:48 / 11.05.06

I’m between you and Loomis when it comes to sleeping

Saucy. New 101 thread, anyone?

12:49 / 11.05.06

I generally sleep from three until nine, but I think it's a con by the gods- humans don't really need sleep, it's just so they can visit us in dreams and mess with our heads for a laugh.

"Sleep- those little slices of Death, how I loathe them!"

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

12:49 / 11.05.06

I prefer to sleep between 8-10 hours at a stretch. I think my record is 13. And, I will admit, I was pretty damn knackered at that point, and didn't have a whole lot to do that day (that was the infamous "Day I Slept Until 3pm").

In general, though, I function on between 6-7 hours normally, since I'll procrastinate going to bed...and then NEED to get up in the morning. Like today.

My schtick is that if I DO fall asleep its almost impossible to wake me up. Alarm clocks are about the only things that do it for me, and even then they need to be set to maximum volume. I can't nessecarily fall asleep anywhere, but I can doze/trance out in the middle of something without too much trouble if I'm really tired.

I like sleep. And beds. They're comfy. And soft. And warm, especially when its cold out. I barbecrush whoever invented the bed.

12:51 / 11.05.06

Mrs Bed I believe, the infamous mediaeval madame.

13:45 / 11.05.06

I envy cats.

I once slept for 20 hours, which i was rather proud of. But it actually left me feeling very tired and a bit disorientated. I worship sleep somewhat, so am always a little annoyed and confused when it turns out that, in reality, you can sleep too much.

I tend to stay up till about 3-4 and then sleep until at least midday. Between 12 and 2 is a good waking time for me. Before 12 is the fabled 'early'.

That said, I sometimes am woken around 9-10 and end up not going back to sleep. I'm frequently surprised to find out how long the daytime can actually be; by the late afternoon i'm often a little confused and feeling slightly scared that the sun hasn't gone down yet.

God knows how i'll cope when I have to take up full-time work. Have any ex-students ever suffered from heart attacks on joining The Employed?

I have even got up at 7 sometimes. There can be quite a nice feeling to be had from being tired and sleepy before 2am...

So 8-10 hours is best, but I could cope on 6. maybe even 4 at a push.

Though Maggy Thatcher apparently only slept for 4 hours a night, and look how she turned out.

"People who get up early in the mornings start wars..." said someone. I agree.

Oh to be a cat.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

14:06 / 11.05.06

I am currently suffering through a weird phase of quasi-insomnia. I'll fall asleep for about two hours, then wake up, remain awake for about five hours, then get an hour or two more of sleep, then awake again for the rest of the day.

I hate it.

And y'know, I envy my cats, too.

Spyder Todd 2008

14:12 / 11.05.06

I get up between 8:30 and 9 almost every morning. Except on the weekends, where for some reason I always seem to wake up at 8, regardless how hung over I am. It’s rather annoying. Generally I try to go to bed around 2, sometimes 3. And I wake up fairly often in the middle of the night.

I’m not saying it’s healthy, but you get used to it after a few years.

14:16 / 11.05.06

Have any ex-students ever suffered from heart attacks on joining The Employed?

Not literally, but I did really struggle with the transition. University was, for me, one long Sleep Therapy practical, and I basically became nocturnal. Towards the end, the prospect of getting a 9 – 5 job really terrified me as I didn’t believe I was *capable* of getting up at 9am. And it was tough. Now, I only wish I’d pushed myself through that unavoidable transition a little earlier, and forged a semblance of an academic career as I later had to forge a professional one.

There can be quite a nice feeling to be had from being tired and sleepy before 2am...

See, I really enjoy feeling sleepy any time of night. I think part of the reason I stay up late is because I enjoy feeling sleepy (much like, as mentioned in the other thread, I quite enjoy feeling hungry). There’s nothing I like fighting more than sleep.

14:21 / 11.05.06

You truly are made of steel Smoothly. They should clone you and put your DNA in a time capsule for after the next ice age. My body is a lot more sensitive to a lack of things like food and sleep (although it is very good at tolerating overindulgence).

I get 7-8 hours a night during the week, and somewhat similar on weekends due to my body clock making it difficult for me to sleep in too late. If I'm particularly hungover or was out particularly late then I can usually sleep longer, but otherwise I often make up the extra in an afternoon nap. If I get less than 5 hours then I feel like complete shit, something like a massive hangover: headache, fuzzy brain, etc. Likewise with food (to refer to your comments in the other thread), I'm pretty much unable to miss a meal or I get a bad headache, feel faint, etc.

I do love the night time and I would love to stay up later at night but as I need to get up at 7.30 then I just can't go to bed at 2am and still function the next day, regardless of whether I make it up at the weekend. I miss being a student, when I used to sleep from about 3-4 to 11am. That would be my ideal sleep schedule.

14:31 / 11.05.06

Towards the end, the prospect of getting a 9 – 5 job really terrified me as I didn’t believe I was *capable* of getting up at 9am.

I was exactly the same. Fortunately I hit upon the brilliant idea of going overseas as I figured working in another country would soften the blow. Once I had scrambled myself with jetlag and reassembled myself at UK time then I was fine from then on in. I don’t know how I would have managed otherwise.

I can’t quite believe that I now get up at 7.30am every weekday. Mind you I still loathe it and will never be a morning person, but as Smoothly said upthread getting up at any time is shitty so changing your sleeping habits doesn’t really have much of an impact on that.

14:47 / 11.05.06

getting up at any time is shitty so changing your sleeping habits doesn’t really have much of an impact on that.

Exactly. I know people who get home from work, have dinner and go to bed, get up, go to work, have dinner, go to bed… They feel a bit dopey in the mornings like I do. But when I leave work, I’m barely halfway through my day. I’ve got another 9 or so hours in which to please myself. Even if I do feel a bit more tired than people with 10 o’clock bedtimes, I reckon it’s worth it.

You truly are made of steel Smoothly.

Actually, it’s been suggested to me that, if you are what you eat, I am largely made of sugar. I consume an awful lot of it (4 sugars in my tea, for example, and about 8 cups of that a day). I wonder if my slightly fucked up sleeping/eating patterns are skewed by that. I say I don’t always eat much, but I’m probably running on quite a rich mixture in terms of raw calories.

19:12 / 11.05.06

If I could I would go to bed at 3am or 4am and get up 11am or midday, but unfortunately I can't. I'm a jewellery designer so I work from home and theoretically could manage my own hours to suit but I also have a child who has to be at school for 8.50am so sleeping in is out the window.

I try to go to bed early because I need lots of sleep (at least 8 hours) and because I am a lucid dreamer and am fascinated by dreaming bed for me is not just about sleep to rejuvinate. I never manage to go to bed early though and ususally end up having around 6 hours.

6 hours is supremely unhelpful for feeling good. A 4 hour sleep period encompasses all phases of sleep and should be rejuvinating, which is why people like Maggie survive very well on it. Interestingly, a longer period of sleep but one which does not encompass another entire sleep cycle (lasting 5 or 6 hours) makes quite a lot of people feel more tired because they are waking in the middle of a deep sleep phase instead at the end of a whole sleep cycle.

19:24 / 11.05.06

7.30? 8.00? Pah.

Since the Bosun's been with us I've been getting up at around 6 EVERY SINGLE DAY.
I reckon I get between 4 and 6 hours sleep most nights, but I'm absolutely amazed at my ability to function on what I once would have considered to be a crippling lack of shuteye.

Spyder Todd 2008

19:36 / 11.05.06

A 4 hour sleep period encompasses all phases of sleep and should be rejuvinating (which is why people like Maggie survive very well on it). Interestingly, a longer period of sleep but one which does not encompass another entire sleep cycle (lasting 5 or 6 hours) makes quite a lot of people feel more tired because they are waking in the middle of a deep sleep phase instead at the end of a whole sleep cycle.

So what you're saying is I need to either star getting up at 6 or start going to bed around 4:30? Awesome.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

19:52 / 11.05.06

I hit the hay at about 4 or 5 AM and wake up around 12 or 1 PM. I despise the morning and make a conscious effort to exclude it from my life. Nine hours of sleep is my ideal. Any more makes me groggy, but too much less makes me cranky and irritable.

20:31 / 11.05.06

I tend to get about 6 hours a night during the week and then about 8 or so at the weekends. I always feel fine on this much and seem to function without any problems.
Getting up at 6:30am for work completely sucks though. Less so now that it's heading into Summer and the mornings are lighter. I really hate having to get up when it's still dark outside.
I did read in a magazine article once (can't remember which magazine it was but certainly, nothing scientific - Radio Times or something probably) that us humans are a lot more healthy and well rested for arranging our sleep patterns so that it's light when we wake up. Apparently the more sleep we get in daylight hours the better.
I've no idea why that is but the article had a picture of some bloke in a white lab coat printed near it so it must be true.
Oh yes.

21:03 / 11.05.06

Then I must be really healthy with my five hours of daylight sleep everyday!

But how does my body know, those are daylight hours, when the curtains are drawn?

21:22 / 11.05.06

If you have blackout curtains then it won't. That's why hotel rooms make you sleep weirdly.

But if you have ordinary curtains then you can sense the light, however dim. There is a beautiful alarm for deaf people which flashes a light on and off. It starts off with brief gentle low level light and progressively the light stays on for longer and more brightly. It shows the human body reacts positively to light and 'wakes up'.

21:27 / 11.05.06

Aha, that sounds good. My curtains let light through, and I get light from two other rooms, too.

Light doesn´t wake me up. I slept for months with no curtains drawn, because I thought it would help me get up sooner. But I slept until noon anyway.

Tryphena Absent

21:46 / 11.05.06

I sleep in a room with shutters that keep it incredibly dark, they only have small gaps at the edges. At first it was very disconcerting but as time has gone on my eyes have adapted and I can clearly tell the difference between night and day time when they're shut. I think that's a good example of how sensitive the body is to changes in light and its adaptability.

22:12 / 11.05.06

Lula and Anna de L are right. You wake up earlier in summer for example, and if you think about it that's the reason they invented curtains.

I'm fascinated by the four hour cycle, and circadian rythms generally. Did you know that if you live in a cave with no clocks you naturally assume a 25 hour day? I like to think that's why I never want to go to bed and never want to get up, but I suspect it's just mental inertia. Here I am at midnight on a schoolnight posting when I should be brushing my teeth.

23:55 / 11.05.06

i can get by a while with 4-5 hrs, but that's prob'ly 'cause i need about 6 or so, with a night every week with 8.

but have been having poor sleep patterns last couple of years and now i am in disarray. but homing in on a better pattern. mental health is a boon to healthy sleep...

00:22 / 12.05.06

Right, I'm definitely going to bed now.
Aaaaany moment.

Here I go. G'night!

I'll just get my book and google 'Badger gestation' before I go.

Night then. *climbs wooden hill*

*lies staring at ceiling for a while*

So Who's going to win the World Cup?

04:25 / 12.05.06

sweet dreams quantum - dream about brasil, wake up in seven weeks asnd it will all be true...

nighty night now...

16:45 / 12.05.06

I can go a couple of days on 6 hours but I need 8 and I no longer try to deny myself that. There's just no need, and I'm much happier and more functional when I'm rested.

I used to be a devout night owl. I viewed an early bedtime and early rise as basically the death of the soul or some such romantic notion... alas, as every adolescent must, I grew up and became what I used to hate.

Not really. What happened was I grew up and started working hard at a physically demanding job that makes me *actually* tired at the end of an evening. I've never felt better! There's such a huge difference between being hungry because you've digested your last meal, and being hungry because you've used up the calories from your last meal. Similarly there's a huge difference between getting sleepy because you've been awake for 18 hours, and getting tired because you've worked hard that day. I used to despise going to bed and have to stay up to the brink of passing out in order to fall asleep at all... now I enjoy going to bed. I can't describe how great that is, when before this career I have always struggled mightily to sleep.

This summer my boyfriend's going to school in the mornings and has to get up at 5.30 every morning. Even though I don't have to get up until about 8 or 8.30 I've been getting up with him. Partly out of solidarity and partly so we'll be able to go to bed together at night. As a former morning-hater I'm surprised by how much I like the mornings now. They're so quiet and still. I just sit in bed with a cup of coffee and read for an hour with the dog curled up against me. I take my time stretching, showering, eating breakfast. It's lovely. Much nicer than what I'd be doing if I took those 2-3 hours at night instead (watching TV mostly).

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:11 / 12.05.06

I work nights, so I can get pretty obsessive about adding up the hours I've slept on a working week. I tend to sleep when I get in in the morning until Sheena (the dog) needs to go out... depending when that is I then go back to sleep at a point in the early evening that'll make it add up to about 8 hours. So if I'm in bed by 8 am, and Sheena wakes me up at midday, then I have to be back in bed by 5:30. (Never works; I always fudge it and probably get about five hours in total on a day when I've been working).

The biggest annoyance is constantly looking at the clock and doing sums in my head.

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