That is my biggest problem. the 8/8/8 split that American businesses base their 40 hour work weeks on is heavily flawed because a) work + driving ends up at 9-10 hours a day, b) the 8 hours of...
That is my biggest problem. the 8/8/8 split that American businesses base their 40 hour work weeks on is heavily flawed because a) work + driving ends up at 9-10 hours a day, b) the 8 hours of leisure is cut into by running errands, preparing meals, getting ready for work, hygiene, etc. In the end we really only get around 12 hours to split between leisure and sleep, which means we either spend a meager 4 hours on ourselves a day or sleep less than we should.
Hopefully as time goes on we adapt a more healthy culture around the work/life balance that enables more sleep, but I think it's unlikely.
Exactly. I couldn't have put it better myself. This is just one of the many flaws of the system we live in. We're just too busy to develop ourselves, our tastes, passions and capabilities.
Exactly. I couldn't have put it better myself. This is just one of the many flaws of the system we live in. We're just too busy to develop ourselves, our tastes, passions and capabilities.
Not OP but I usually land about 6-6.5. I started doing this once I had a regular 40-hour work week, so about 2 years now, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I constantly feel like shit,...
Not OP but I usually land about 6-6.5. I started doing this once I had a regular 40-hour work week, so about 2 years now, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I constantly feel like shit, but if I sleep any more I lose out on time to put towards personal goals and projects that keep me sane.
Also not OP, but I've been sleeping for 6-6.5 hours a night for about 20 years. When I was a teenager, I would sleep much more (usually one day a week, I'd sleep around 1600 until I had to get up...
Also not OP, but I've been sleeping for 6-6.5 hours a night for about 20 years. When I was a teenager, I would sleep much more (usually one day a week, I'd sleep around 1600 until I had to get up for school the next day, take naps after basketball practice almost every day).
I'll sleep a bit more when on vacation, but that's about it for me. I'd love to sleep more, but I have never felt lack of energy or ability to concentrate/retain information (in that period, I've switched careers 2 times, learned 2 foreign languages and managed to raise a family).
My wife, however, is completely useless if she sleeps less than 8 hours.
As with everything, you should seriously doubt any solution which is being sold as perfect for all humans.
i've been doing this for probably 4-5 years. worked 30-40 hour weeks while also completing a master's degree. probably got into it during that time and got used to it fairly quickly. now whenever...
i've been doing this for probably 4-5 years. worked 30-40 hour weeks while also completing a master's degree. probably got into it during that time and got used to it fairly quickly.
now whenever it's getting late and i am contemplating bed time, there are just so many other activities that come to mind that i'd rather do with the extra hour or two than put towards sleep.
I never necessarily feel tired, but maybe I'm just used to it. I have a dog and a cat and a SO that gets up 2 hours before me so even if i did try to get a full 8 it would still get split up from random awakenings due to those reasons.
I work nights and don't want to miss out on stuff by sleeping all day so I get 5 to 6 hours a night. Then one day a week, usually on my day off, I will catch up on a few hours and get 8 or 9 a...
I work nights and don't want to miss out on stuff by sleeping all day so I get 5 to 6 hours a night. Then one day a week, usually on my day off, I will catch up on a few hours and get 8 or 9 a night. I can function completely fine like this.
This is also approximately how I live my life. I average 5.75 hours of sleep 6 days per week. The other day, I usually sleep about 12. I don't think it's actually super healthy, but: I have to...
This is also approximately how I live my life. I average 5.75 hours of sleep 6 days per week. The other day, I usually sleep about 12.
I don't think it's actually super healthy, but:
I have to work
I have to be a dad
I have to be a husband
I have to have some time dedicated to myself (hobbies / interests)
I've started to give up on video games, which means that my sleep has increased over the last month to an average of 6.5 hours per night.
Side note: it's awesome to have technology that lets you track this sort of thing. I used to think that I was in the 7.5 hours per night club, but I didn't really account for wind-down and wake-up times.
A good topic but a somewhat disappointing title. Basically just saying it takes time to go to bed so account for that. Otherwise it gives pretty standard sleep advice. Seems like people here might...
A good topic but a somewhat disappointing title. Basically just saying it takes time to go to bed so account for that. Otherwise it gives pretty standard sleep advice. Seems like people here might have some sleep issues, and I do as well but that's due to my bad practices. A couple things to keep in mind along with the article.
You fall somewhere on a spectrum requiring 7-9 hours of sleep and this becomes shorter as you get older.
Alcohol has interesting effects on sleep. It initially can make you more sleepy, but will have the opposite effect later in the night decreasing your sleep quality. You shouldn't sleep before bed.
It's been shown caffeine can disrupt your sleep if it's been consumed up to 12 hours before sleep. This kind of sucks, so if you're a caffeine drinker you might need to make the call.
I agree with a lot of the comments already made in this thread; I actually have nothing terribly useful to add to that part of the discussion. I only wanted to comment on my "whut" reaction when...
I agree with a lot of the comments already made in this thread; I actually have nothing terribly useful to add to that part of the discussion.
I only wanted to comment on my "whut" reaction when the article first loaded up and the giant banner across the top was of a girl "sleeping" with a headband on. This is obviously a staged photo, but my first thought was "that doesn't look comfortable. Has no one ever tried sleeping with a headband on? This should be added to that list of ridiculous stock photos that are horrendously inaccurate. It adds nothing to the actual article."
tl;dr: Kind of getting tired of the really silly banners/stock photos that go with articles these days. Sorry, kind of cranky today at all the sleep I didn't get.
I sleep with a blindfold on every night, have for 5 years. My blindfold is just two bandanas (one folded over the eyes, one rolled up and tied over it - it works much better for me than the...
I sleep with a blindfold on every night, have for 5 years. My blindfold is just two bandanas (one folded over the eyes, one rolled up and tied over it - it works much better for me than the eyemask type thing).
Net result for me was that it was much easier to get to sleep despite having insomnia: being in total darkness really does put you to sleep, no matter how you feel! I also sleep better in the morning when the sun comes up.
I wonder if you'd benefit from those blackout curtains that many hotels have in their rooms. They make me sleep for forever when I have them. edit: I would hope that your blindfold solution is way...
I wonder if you'd benefit from those blackout curtains that many hotels have in their rooms. They make me sleep for forever when I have them.
edit: I would hope that your blindfold solution is way more comfortable than a decorative fashion headband. Good on you for figuring out that it works well for you.
The scientific community is pretty split on this still. I've seen scientists try to archetype humans into categories of sleepers, scientists that argue it's personal, scientists that argue we...
The scientific community is pretty split on this still. I've seen scientists try to archetype humans into categories of sleepers, scientists that argue it's personal, scientists that argue we sleep too much and scientists that argue we don't sleep enough.
There's too many factors to "know" what you should do without some experimentation. I think if you are unsatisfied with your sleep you should try to sleep more, sleep less, sleep earlier and sleep later. Give each try a good 2-4 weeks to really set in and see how you feel. Keep daily journals. In the end, you should figure out what works "best" for you. Unfortunately what is best for you might not be possible with your work or life schedule and you may have to compromise sleep for the realities of life.
I hate the feeling of missing out on things because of the need to sleep, but also feel like garbage if I don't sleep enough.
That is my biggest problem. the 8/8/8 split that American businesses base their 40 hour work weeks on is heavily flawed because a) work + driving ends up at 9-10 hours a day, b) the 8 hours of leisure is cut into by running errands, preparing meals, getting ready for work, hygiene, etc. In the end we really only get around 12 hours to split between leisure and sleep, which means we either spend a meager 4 hours on ourselves a day or sleep less than we should.
Hopefully as time goes on we adapt a more healthy culture around the work/life balance that enables more sleep, but I think it's unlikely.
Exactly. I couldn't have put it better myself. This is just one of the many flaws of the system we live in. We're just too busy to develop ourselves, our tastes, passions and capabilities.
There is no such thing as "enough hours of sleep"
i probably average around 6.5-7
How long have you been doing this and how long did it take for you to get used to it?
Not OP but I usually land about 6-6.5. I started doing this once I had a regular 40-hour work week, so about 2 years now, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I constantly feel like shit, but if I sleep any more I lose out on time to put towards personal goals and projects that keep me sane.
Also not OP, but I've been sleeping for 6-6.5 hours a night for about 20 years. When I was a teenager, I would sleep much more (usually one day a week, I'd sleep around 1600 until I had to get up for school the next day, take naps after basketball practice almost every day).
I'll sleep a bit more when on vacation, but that's about it for me. I'd love to sleep more, but I have never felt lack of energy or ability to concentrate/retain information (in that period, I've switched careers 2 times, learned 2 foreign languages and managed to raise a family).
My wife, however, is completely useless if she sleeps less than 8 hours.
As with everything, you should seriously doubt any solution which is being sold as perfect for all humans.
i've been doing this for probably 4-5 years. worked 30-40 hour weeks while also completing a master's degree. probably got into it during that time and got used to it fairly quickly.
now whenever it's getting late and i am contemplating bed time, there are just so many other activities that come to mind that i'd rather do with the extra hour or two than put towards sleep.
I never necessarily feel tired, but maybe I'm just used to it. I have a dog and a cat and a SO that gets up 2 hours before me so even if i did try to get a full 8 it would still get split up from random awakenings due to those reasons.
I work nights and don't want to miss out on stuff by sleeping all day so I get 5 to 6 hours a night. Then one day a week, usually on my day off, I will catch up on a few hours and get 8 or 9 a night. I can function completely fine like this.
This is also approximately how I live my life. I average 5.75 hours of sleep 6 days per week. The other day, I usually sleep about 12.
I don't think it's actually super healthy, but:
I've started to give up on video games, which means that my sleep has increased over the last month to an average of 6.5 hours per night.
Side note: it's awesome to have technology that lets you track this sort of thing. I used to think that I was in the 7.5 hours per night club, but I didn't really account for wind-down and wake-up times.
A good topic but a somewhat disappointing title. Basically just saying it takes time to go to bed so account for that. Otherwise it gives pretty standard sleep advice. Seems like people here might have some sleep issues, and I do as well but that's due to my bad practices. A couple things to keep in mind along with the article.
You fall somewhere on a spectrum requiring 7-9 hours of sleep and this becomes shorter as you get older.
Alcohol has interesting effects on sleep. It initially can make you more sleepy, but will have the opposite effect later in the night decreasing your sleep quality. You shouldn't sleep before bed.
It's been shown caffeine can disrupt your sleep if it's been consumed up to 12 hours before sleep. This kind of sucks, so if you're a caffeine drinker you might need to make the call.
maybe you should have slept more before bed last night :)
There's too much to do to get more than 8 hours. I wish I could sleep more.
I agree with a lot of the comments already made in this thread; I actually have nothing terribly useful to add to that part of the discussion.
I only wanted to comment on my "whut" reaction when the article first loaded up and the giant banner across the top was of a girl "sleeping" with a headband on. This is obviously a staged photo, but my first thought was "that doesn't look comfortable. Has no one ever tried sleeping with a headband on? This should be added to that list of ridiculous stock photos that are horrendously inaccurate. It adds nothing to the actual article."
tl;dr: Kind of getting tired of the really silly banners/stock photos that go with articles these days. Sorry, kind of cranky today at all the sleep I didn't get.
I sleep with a blindfold on every night, have for 5 years. My blindfold is just two bandanas (one folded over the eyes, one rolled up and tied over it - it works much better for me than the eyemask type thing).
Net result for me was that it was much easier to get to sleep despite having insomnia: being in total darkness really does put you to sleep, no matter how you feel! I also sleep better in the morning when the sun comes up.
I wonder if you'd benefit from those blackout curtains that many hotels have in their rooms. They make me sleep for forever when I have them.
edit: I would hope that your blindfold solution is way more comfortable than a decorative fashion headband. Good on you for figuring out that it works well for you.
The scientific community is pretty split on this still. I've seen scientists try to archetype humans into categories of sleepers, scientists that argue it's personal, scientists that argue we sleep too much and scientists that argue we don't sleep enough.
There's too many factors to "know" what you should do without some experimentation. I think if you are unsatisfied with your sleep you should try to sleep more, sleep less, sleep earlier and sleep later. Give each try a good 2-4 weeks to really set in and see how you feel. Keep daily journals. In the end, you should figure out what works "best" for you. Unfortunately what is best for you might not be possible with your work or life schedule and you may have to compromise sleep for the realities of life.