How much sleep do you need to function well?

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I've always been a big sleeper, capable of peeling off a 12- or 13-hour dose of sleep with no problem at all. For the past several years, I've had a huge problem during the workweek, where, by Friday night, I can barely keep my eyes open past about 8:30 or 9:00. During the week I get about 8 to 9 hours a night of sleep, and it just isn't enough. My ideal amount of sleep is probably closer to 10-1/2 or 11 hours a night; combine that with a job and you can see the dilemma I'm in.

I try to go to bed really early (like, 8:30 or 9pm) around Wednesday or Thursday night, and this does help me salvage a bit of Friday night, but for the most part I still am dead to the world.

I suspect this isn't normal.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:17 (twenty years ago) link

i don'ty know anymore

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:19 (twenty years ago) link

about 5-6 hours. not much of a big sleepy kind of guy.

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:20 (twenty years ago) link

More than I'm getting at the moment, that's for sure.

― Super-Kate (kate), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:21 (twenty years ago) link

Up until last year I used to need only about 4 hours of sleep, now I need about 8+ or I get ill.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:21 (twenty years ago) link

I've done it before and I'll probably do it again some time.

― Aja (aja), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:21 (twenty years ago) link

Ideally 7-8 hours minimum. I can function normally on 5 1/2 hours sleep. Any less and I'm a zombie.

― mike a, Friday, 16 April 2004 15:22 (twenty years ago) link

I don't get ill, I just get extremely short-tempered and brittle. So, erm, business as normal, then. Only more-so. It doesn't work when you have to get up at 7am for your dayjob, but your partner wants to stay up past midnight.

― Super-Kate (kate), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:22 (twenty years ago) link

if i'm going to feel truly rested and refreshed, then i need about 9 or 10 hours. i think my record was 18hrs.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:24 (twenty years ago) link

Like Nicole, I used to need significantly less sleep than I do now. 4-6 hours was always sufficient up until maybe 2 or 3 years ago. Now it seems 8 or 9 is in the minimum. I can pull off one or two days getting 6 or 7 but after that I'll start to feel ill or in the very least quite irritable and/or be incredibly tired early in the evening.

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

I need about 8 hours as a minimum, plus a couple of afternoon naps a week.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

7 hours or so for me, sometimes less. Generally depends.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

I sleep way too much. it ruins my life.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

usually 8 hrs but i haven't really slept very much this wk except for last night when the power went out and reset my alarm clock and i slept for 10 hrs.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:27 (twenty years ago) link

oversleeping always makes me headachey.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:27 (twenty years ago) link

sleep is lovely. it bothers me when people act like sleeping a lot is disgusting.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:28 (twenty years ago) link

what if it makes you headachey?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:28 (twenty years ago) link

My wife gets headaches if she sleeps too much, and it ruins her day. I don't get it.

I once slept 21 hours. I had to really work at it, but I was very proud of my achievement.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:31 (twenty years ago) link

Don't never fUnctshun weel.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:32 (twenty years ago) link

I mostly get 6 hours max these days. I have no idea how I am functioning as a result.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:32 (twenty years ago) link

either 5 or 9

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:33 (twenty years ago) link

We really ought to have siestas in Britain. We'd all be happier for it.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:34 (twenty years ago) link

what if it makes you headachey?

you just need to sleep a little bit more, then. seriously. this happened to me last weekend. i woke up at 10, thought it was too early to get up, fell back asleep, then woke up at 11.30 feeling groggy and weird and so went back to sleep until 1. i felt perfect when i eventually got up.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:34 (twenty years ago) link

I get a headache if I take a nap, which is why i don't take them. A regular night's sleep doesn't do that to me.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:36 (twenty years ago) link

sleeping too much is bad, for you, and will shorten your life.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:38 (twenty years ago) link

I only seem to get headaches when I don't eat properly.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:39 (twenty years ago) link

i woke up at 10, thought it was too early to get up, fell back asleep, then woke up at 11.30 feeling groggy and weird and so went back to sleep until 1. i felt perfect when i eventually got up

ties in perfectly with what i meant - i can wake up at 6am after 5 hours sleep and feel much better than when i wake up at 8 after same amount of time slept.

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:41 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, that's what causes my headaches. Not eating, and especially not being hydrated. I suppose if you drool while you nap, that could dehydrate you and give you a headache. ;-)

― Super-Kate (kate), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:41 (twenty years ago) link

5-6 to function, but not very well. i typically get about 7. I also get up at 4:30 am. Sleeping in for me is 6am.

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:42 (twenty years ago) link

I find that I nap a lot on the bus these days. I feel good about that 'cause I used to have to drive to work and Had I napped on my way too/fro work, I'd be all dead and stuff.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:45 (twenty years ago) link

Generally speaking I'm up pretty early in the morning and that's a fine thing -- even if I'm just zoning in bed for a bit it gives me a chance to think and ponder, but also just to enjoy the state of being snug and warm in bed.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 April 2004 15:48 (twenty years ago) link

We really ought to have siestas in Britain

The US needs siestas too.

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:02 (twenty years ago) link

i hate waking up with my mouth open

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:05 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not going to say it. I'm not.

― Super-Kate (kate), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:06 (twenty years ago) link

seriously, you're drifting into consciousness and as your eyes open you realise you've been doing a silent yawn for some time, arggh...bonus points if someone's next to you glancing over with a misture of disdain and quiet gleeful awe.

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:15 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/pearly/homer/h_sleep.gif

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:16 (twenty years ago) link

If someone's close enough to my bed to watch me sleep, I certainly hope they're not watching me with disdain!

― Super-Kate (kate), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:16 (twenty years ago) link

i can sleep 9 hours or 3 (like last night) and i'll be fine. i slept 12 about a week ago and felt completely out of it the whole day. i also find the longer i sleep, the harder it is to get up.

― dyson (dyson), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:33 (twenty years ago) link

6-7 hours on weekdays, up to 10 on weekends. far from ideal, but it works, mostly.

at one point in college, my naps were almost as long as my regular night's sleep, so i was getting 4 hours of sleep twice in every 24 hour period.

― the krza (krza), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:38 (twenty years ago) link

Kate I mean when they're in the bed with you.

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:41 (twenty years ago) link

I usually feel best after 8.5-9 hrs sleep. Lately this has been down to 5 or 6 for some reason. Anything past 10 though and I feel groggy for the rest of the day.

Back high school, I used to sleep around 4 hrs weekdays, and up to 16 on the weekends. I'm not sure how I got it in my head that this was a decent way to live.

― Silas Beauford (Silas Beauford), Friday, 16 April 2004 18:32 (twenty years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

think ive gotten this nailed at last

c. 1.30 thru to c.7.30 is my sweet zone

any earlier i wake up after a few hours without getting back to sleep

any later i seem to rally until stupid o'clock

if i leave getting up til say 8.30 i find it impossible, ill be in bed til 10am which int much good.

― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 13 August 2018 00:12 (five years ago) link

More than I'm gonna get tonight.

― how's life, Monday, 13 August 2018 01:57 (five years ago) link

I tend to get around 6 hours per night, never feels like enough, but I can't manage to sleep longer.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Monday, 13 August 2018 02:42 (five years ago) link

since i dont function well, im goin w 16 hrs

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 13 August 2018 02:48 (five years ago) link

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