How many hours do you sleep?

haha My sleep patterns depend on my activity. I can go days with only a few hours sleep a night if I'm intensely into a project. This is usually followed by a good 10-12 hour catch up sleep then back to the night owl routine.

Cool topic! I only sleep because I have to, but I consider it a waste of time! lol

I typically sleep about five or six hours a night. It is rare that I sleep longer, and I would gladly give it up if there was a healthy, safe way to do it. Unfortunately, our chemistry is such that we need to turn off regularly or our systems start to fail.

I have thought about this often: what exactly IS it that sleep does for us? What is it that regenerates when we sleep? If we could determine THAT answer, we might discover a new source of accessible energy!

Arthur C. Clarke (back in the early 60s) talked about a "new" scientific process that would allow people to get a full, restful night's sleep in just a couple of hours. From what I can tell, it never became commercially available and I don't know if it is still being studied or used, or not.

GT

I generally get any approximation from 4-7 hours. However, contrary to you I try to get as much as possible. I know it sounds cheesy but I really do find myself much more productive if I am well-rested as opposed to operating on a mere 4 hours. I can think better, analyze better, and get some of my best ideas when I have a clear head as opposed to one that's only thinking of when the next cup of coffee will be done!

Oh, and as for the second part of your question.. I don't know what I would do if scientists were to develop a way for us not to sleep. But I don't think I have to worry about that decision considering I don't think it's possible. I mean, you can hear all the stories you want about people doing these great accomplishments when operating on no sleep in days or whatever... but you certainly don't hear follow up stories. Why? Because I think it's just a human instinct that we need to shut down and rest just like everything else.

Right now I'm sleeping 5-6 hours a night.

However it depends...

If I need to stay awake I can go for a few days on 1-2 hours of sleep total.

If I have something important to do and I can schedule it for the early morning I will. I rarely go back to sleep after waking up early... however if I don't have something on until afternoon then I will sleep later.

It varies, but I like to get between 7 and 11 hours, with 8-9 being my most usual. I usually go with about 6-7 though. That is, until I can go independent, full-time.

6-8. Although sleep feels good and reenergizes the body, talk about a time-waster.

I heard somewhere that kanye west only sleeps 90 min intervals when he feels tired and he goes on days without a full nights sleep. I get around 6-7, but there was a time during undergrad that i used to sleep for 4 and i did pretty well hahah so maybe im sleeping too much...

Sleep? What's that?! lol. Since I work what it feels to be 24/7 I usually get in 6-7 hours a sleep in a day. My day is pretty nuts, Wake up, work 8-5, gym, supper, more work, sleep. That's pretty much my life.

5-6 hours on a workday and 9-10 on weekends.

Ideally I like to get 8-10 hours of quality sleep to feel recharged for the next day.

My sleeping pattern is pretty constant -- I stopped using an alarm clock a long time ago and now I always wake up after 6 hours of rest.

@abugah lets look at another important bodily function; going to the toilet - if you consider the average wee takes 30 seconds and ill say average about 5 times a day you are looking at around 15hours a year. Having a poo average 3 minutes twice a day, you are looking at 36 hours. So all in all you are doing both over 51 hours in a year.

try holding all that in...unlikely which is exactly the same as sleep because it is a bodily requirement and the more you try to fight a natural human need the more you will lose;
- sleep deprived; your brain will (after a while) make you sleep.
- Try to suffocate yourself; after you pass out your body will start breathing again
- Stop eating and your body will start consuming its internal organs

Now sleep has many functions, with the most basic being rejuvinate you. Our days are made up of a series of decisions and those decisions can be influenced by our level of tiredness, as is our level of attention and focus.

WHO HERE WOULD BOARD A PLANE IF YOU DISCOVERED THE PILOT HAS NOT SLEPT IN 5 DAYS

Recent studies have found the optimal time for sleep is between 6-8 hours; any more or less than that and certain physiological (blood pressure, hormonal changes like ghrelin levels) and psychological changes occur. There is room for hacking this and for this you can look at polyphasic & uberman sleep patterns, but one requires you to be highly anti social or a very understanding other half, while the other requires you to have power naps during the day. But look at what happens if you miss a sleep in both cycles; it fu#ks you up for weeks, so it is still respecting the power of sleep.

During sleep we enter into what is known as REM patterns at certain times of our sleep. Stick you in an MRI scanner and you see that while the frontal cortex (area for reasoning and language) is quiet, other areas of your brain are working very well; one being the brain region associated with LEARNING. And i know how everyone likes to learn on this forum. The other benefit though is that during sleep your mind is putting issues (problems, scenarios from the day) into a more sensory representation so people often report feeling better about a problem after sleep and come up with solutions.

So in summary, there are many benefits to sleeping and would be best to incorporate it into your path to success, rather than work out ways to avoid it!

Hope this helps

Aaron Morton

aaronmorton.co.uk - The place where mindsets are built

I feel good and function very well with 6 hours sleep. I've tried to sleep longer and always feel worse with more sleep than this (unless feeling under the weather or drinking too much red wine - then a bit more sleep helps me).

I do 4 hours or less. Depends on the workload and pending deadlines.

Why does nobody sleep around here?

I get a good 8 hours of sleep a night.

I'm turning into such an insomniac. It's so difficult to shut off your brain when you have a bunch of ideas that you want to work on. It catches up to you eventually, though.

I typically sleep 4-5 hours a night during the week and try to sleep in a little on weekends.

One thing I don't do is get 7 hours of sleep a night, lol. My body hates me when I get 7 hours! 6 and 8 are fine, but 7 is no bueno!

Usually I sleep for 5 to 6 hours. I rarely have a 7-8 hours of sleep. Maybe because of my body clock.

nice topic...for me i think 5-8 hrs.

I sleep 8 hours per day and 10-12 hours during the weekend. If I work just before going to bed (I always fall asleep immediately) I will work during the time I sleep at least some of it. I'm just going thru the next day's tasks in my mind and do problem solving so to me it is not a waste of time.

Il like sleep very much.I sleep about 8 hours on weekdays and more than 10 hours during weekends.

Good topic!!! i am sleeping 8-10 hours a night.

I sleep 6-8 hours every day. It really Depend up on the works.

Great discussion and insight! Goes to show that different people have different needs and that what works for one person may not be so effective for another.

I think the key is finding the "sleep zone" that works best for us. We absolutely need sleep, but if we can determine the right number of hours and the best time of night (or day) to get that sleep, we will do fine.

GT

I am a long time member of a meditation group, which teaches (among other things) that 1 hour of perfect meditation, is equivalent to 4 hours of sleep. In other words, if you meditate successfully, you need much less sleep, in a 1:4 proportion. The key of course is meditating perfectly, which is a bit of a challenge. One's mind does tend to wander, and reining the mind in, and learning to concentrate is the eventual achievement after long time practice. Meditation is really perfect concentration, and in the meditative state, our brain produces theta waves, which is a deep state where healing occurs. I suspect this is how the many famous (and also us more anonymous) people who needed little sleep did it.

@abugah I have no personal experience with these guys so can only go on accounts from historical biographies.

What I will say is this; ultimately the best measure is whether low amounts of sleep works for you. So self-experiment; set out a criteria that will let you know whether the experiment was a success, something tangible that you can see a before and after. Give yourself a 4-6 week period and confine yourself to 3-4 hours sleep a day.

Document your experiences and after the 6 weeks, test and see whether the reduction in sleep made an effect. If it did, great and decide whether this is something you would like to continue. If you found your working performance diminish, discover what tweaks you can make and that might involve getting more sleep.

I would be interested in your results.

Aaron Morton

How can they/you sleep for 2 hours daily?
I get dizzy if I sleep less than 8 hours.

I am sleeping 6-8 hours at night.. by the way cool topic.

I need my 8 hours of sleep and do not think one has to sleep like 2 hours to live a really long time or achieve a lot in life. Nevertheless, there is an argument for 5-6 hours of sleep giving you a lot more time to get things done, read and edify yourself.

Between 7-9 hours...No I wouldnt give up sleeping are you kidding? I love it! lol

Not enough.

These days I'm going to bed around 1AM and I'm up at 6AM. That waking time is enforced by hungry hungry hippos I mean cats and dogs.

They've trained me well...

you must get enough rest then you brain can work more efficient.. More time not always more productive..

hahaha call me a pig, but i can slp 12 hours a day (of course NOT everyday) without much problem.. Huge waste of time.. but really felt energized after i woke up!

I like to get 8 hours but more often than not I get 4-6 hours of sleep.

It varies, but I get between 5 and 7 hours, any less I'm drowzy all day, and more I'm drowzy all day

Alberto

depriving yourself of what your body needs ..will always catch up to you..

how much sleep you need really depends on.. everything else you are doing to maintain you physical body ..and everything you do to support you mental health.

it is like diet .. if you are plugging away working at a computer all day your diet should be a lot different than if your out doing physically intense work .

sleep is mainly to shut your mind of so your body can repair itself.. but if your not eating right and your overly stressed out .. and you don't pay attention to having the proper sleeping environment .. then you will probably need a lot more sleep ..

one of the things i have always done is have some motivational stuff playing while i am asleep..i notice a difference when i don't have that ..

i hardly sleep for 4 hours in work days and on weekends i sleep for 6 hours , nothing more than that .

Sleeping time depends on my activities.I feel good and function very well with 6 hours sleep.When i have lot of work,then i sleep 4 hour.

The biggest mistake you can do, is never sleep enough. I use to sleep at least 7 hours a day. Because if i sleep less(4-6 hours), i feel much less productive and creative.. Internet Marketing needs a clear mind, a creative mind all day long!

If there was a way not to sleep at all and still feel fresh and with a clear mind, i would do it!But unfortunately there is not!So, let's take a rest!

Cheers

Dimitris

I try to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep

In the beginning I was barely getting 4 hours a night. Now, I try to get at least 6.5 so I can operate during the day with energy and efficiency. When I was going below 6 hours I needed too much coffee or other energy boosting things during the day. Now, just pure adrenaline makes it work.

it depends on which stage you are in your business,
when i was a newbie i was sleeping good 10 hours a day!
when i got serious about making more $$ than my peers i was sleeping 4 ~ 5 hours a day!
and then i became drop dead zombie,.... i ensured to sleep 7 hours.

now i know how to make money effectively, i sleep good 9 hours a day,
and i still make more than i made sleeping 5 hours a day!!!

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

Do you want to know how much sleep I get when I'm asleep or how much sleep do I get when I'm awake?

They are probably about equal......

I often thought about if I sleep with my left eye closed then my right brain can rest then about 8hrs later switching and sleeping with my right eye closed thus allowing my left brain to rest. Doing this would allow me to keep working 24 hrs. a day.

They say we only use 10-20% of our brain anyway so with 50% of my brain sleeping at any one time it shouldn't slow me down too much.

When I talked to my doctor about this.....he called me a "Half-Wit!"

Am I supposed to be insulted?

:confused:ld Dog

9 hours only. Because I start the work as a freelancer immediately.

A healthy sleep pattern is very important. Not sleeping properly diminishes our ability to think and function. It's equivalent to getting drunk, as a sleep scientist once told me. You may save time, but if you can't function efficiently, the quality of all the time you have suffers.

Allen

While we are still on this subject, perhaps this article may help debunk some myths about sleeping...
BBC News - The myth of the eight-hour sleep

I only sleep for almost 4 hours a day.. I think I will die young. lol

I sleep 8 hours. If I don't, I can't concentrate and I'm not very productive.

I sleep 6 to 8 hours a night. I hate to say I used to think like you and I slept 3 to 4 hours a day and an hour nap in the afternoon, but I'm probably much younger, so that used to stuff probably doesn't stand up well. I was always worn down, but I was very productive, I was writing a book every three months (a 300 to 500 page book), nonetheless I was feeling out of it often. I find personally--and I don't know if this is the case with anyone else--when you do a time audit of your day, you'll find a lot of holes in your peak performance hours that if you filled with activity would actually make you more productive and take less time. I organize events now, I'm managing a business, and I'm trying to learn this entire internet marketing thing from scratch (dedicating four hours or more a day to study and application)... I'm reading 2 to 5 books a week, I watch 1 to 2 hours television a day, I spend 3 to 5 hours with family and friends, and then I sleep for 8 hours, it's a fun and full life where no one is left out.

However, if you do feel like you want to cut back on your sleep even more, and you have a job that lets you, there's a protocol where you can sleep for twenty minutes every few hours and have the same energy as several hours.

I have a normal sleep for about 4-5 daily. But during weekends i normally had 5-7 hours of sleep.

The amount of sleep you need depends on various factors, especially your age. The average adult functions best with 7-8 hours of sleep a night. The number of hours needed to sleep is a matter of the biological clock function which regulates our sleep-wake cycles.

Since I have new tasks now, I sleep 5-6 hours daily.

I generally sleep for about 7 hours... so just the average.

Always have so much trouble getting to sleep unless i'm super tired because of the amount of things running through my head that i can't switch off.
Never have any trouble sleeping in though

Crazy to read about those famous names only sleeping 2 - 4 hours a night!

Actually it depends on my daily tasks. 4-6 hours of sleep is enough for me.

I can't hardly sleep when I have so much to do. But I at least 4 to 5 hours to recharge.

If I'm getting quality sleep then 6-8 hours recharges me. If my sleep is broken, restless, etc then I need 8-10 hours. I try to be up between 5-8am each morning. That means going to sleep between 10pm and 12am.

FYI sleep is not a waste of time when you learn good dream recall. At my peak, it was like I was living another life. Absolutely fascinating.

BTW, how do I thank someone here???

i sleep after i finished my task of the day

I will maintain my sleep hour at least 12 hour, sleeping is the best thing to do to get rest.

6-8 hours a day. My concentration and focus were affected when I did not get enough sleep.

I sleep near about 12 hrs a day.

Depends on the day for me...If it was a hard jiu jitsu class that night after a long day of work, I'll need 8+ hours. Light day at the gym and a light work day, I might need 6, if that.

If I have nothing to do the next day and I'm exhausted, I can knock out 10+ hours with out much problem--

There is definitely A fine line between not enough and too much sleep, though...If I don't get enough, I'm dozing throughout the day, If I get to much sleep, I find that I never really wake up--so there is that goldylocks zone for me, certainly

I like to get 6 hours a night, but I'm never consistent. I'm definitely a night owl.

I like to sleep, but yeah, it IS a waste of time!! I have heard that there is acondition where the person doesn't sleep..AT ALL?? Sounds perfect LOL!

OMG.. Im just sleeping everyday for 4-5 hours... Im thinking I die soon in doing online jobs.

I'll sleep when I'm dead! Seriously though, by the looks of all the answers here I'm getting way too much sleep: currently averaging 8 hours. I feel like I'm missing out on something. Actually, I do wake up after around 7 - 7.5 hours but I really love a good lie-in.

I am lucky when I can sleep for 4 hours. I feel like I am wasting time. But I have noticed that the more I sleep, the more productive I am the next day.

So I need to start changing my sleeping pattern without worrying about wasting time. I can afford to waste 6 hours, I just wish my mind could understand that. Lol

Generally 8 hours. My girlfriend is a Polysomnographic Technologist and conducts sleep studies on patients, so if anyone has any sleep related questions about disorders and such feel free to ask.

I am a pig, i like to sleep. I know sleeping really wasted a lot of my time but whenever I sleep less than 8 hours I can't concentrate and my mind not working quick enough. Sigh!

Great share!
I actually sleep 6-8 hours If you're getting less than eight hours of sleep each night, chances are you're sleep deprived. What's more, you probably have no idea just how much lack of sleep is affecting you. How is it possible to be sleep deprived without knowing it? Most of the signs of sleep deprivation are much more subtle than falling face first into your dinner plate. Furthermore, if you've made a habit of skimping on sleep, you may not even remember what it feels like to be wide-awake, fully alert, and firing on all cylinders. It feels normal to get sleepy when you're in a boring meeting, struggle through the afternoon slump, or doze off after dinner.

I Sleep about 4 to 6 hours
for some reason everytime i wake up i feel like i never slept

My take on this - if you don't have a regular pattern of 6-8 hours a day, it will not be healthy for you. And it is definitely related to how you work, what you eat, and your other activities, including keeping fit and relationship with close people, especially family.

I guess it really depends on people. For me, i also sleep for 7 to 8 hours per day. I don't mind it as long as i wake up feeling recharged & energized for the new day ahead. ^^

If i get any less of those hours of sleep, i'll definitely be in a grumpy mood.

Well, there is as such no particular time frame and schedule for my sleep, the time I'm done with my stuff, I get sleep. Though, today is weekend, so no chance to fall asleep before 3am

I got only around 5 hours per day. I always excited to wake up and start working early

But to be honest I don't find sleep to be a waste of time at all. It really depends on how productive you are through out your day.

So if you set out 1 hour to get nothing but work done and eliminate distractions you'll find that you get WAY more done

I've been playing around with my sleep schedule for the better part of a year now. Sometimes I'll do the 7-8 hour schedule, just because it has a certain comfort and familiarity to it. Earlier this year I was doing the Uberman sleep schedule, but had too much left over time to make it useful. I'm now doing a variation of that, which gives me four hours of sleep total instead of 2. It works well for my purposes for now.

I sleep between 10 pm - 5 am, pretty 7 hours! But I wish to cut that to 6 hours soon. Probably, 11 - 5 am.

Usually I get about 7 hours or so. I get headaches if I get really tired so I find I work better when I'm well rested. Wish I didn't have to sleep though!

I sleep 7.5-8.5 hours a day, I function the best that way, I don't know how some of you can live off 4 hours of sleep, I would be a zombie by now.

Hello!

Well, I usually lack rest and sleep cause I have many activities both day and night time. But sleeping is usually based on my activities. I usually have at least 5 hours of sleep if I can sleep properly. And if ever scientists finds out we can do without sleep, well surely I would change my sleeping pattern.

I used to sleep between 4-6 hours.
But i've noticed a better productivity if i give myself just a bit more sleep!

I don't know why I don't like sleeping a lot at all, If I get around 5-6 hours I sleep I can do fine.

Does anyone else think it's odd that a two month old thread is responded to?

I tend to work late, so about 8 hours on a good day. Ah, the bliss of being an IMer

I think I did watch a documentary that said that sleep is a necessary bodily function, or the combination of physical and mental rest. Six hours a day does it for me, and keeps my thoughts in order.

Am I the only one who enjoys sleeping? I have pretty wild dreams, though, so maybe that's why I like it. I do a lot of things that others would consider a waste of time, though, like spending time with my family, taking walks, etc. Life isn't all about money - money is just a tool I use to support myself and others.

I sleep around 4-6 hours.

but, it is healthy to sleep good night's

I experimented with this a lot and from what I found, you really don't need that much sleep. The stuff that's being sold to us that we need at least 8 hours of sleep a day is not completely right...We need to move away from this business of sleeping and start getting into LIVING MORE...there are factors that will make your body need less sleep and some of these are:

- eating lighter, healthier foods. I'm a raw vegan myself and ever since I made that change I started needing a lot less sleep. Not only that but I don't feel like a building has fell down on me when I wake up as I used to feel like before...The #1 thing that takes up energy from your body is digestion. So the more you eat, especially if it's unhealthy or heavy foods, the more energy you will expend and the more you'll have to sleep and the less energy you'll have to pursue your life purpose. I would recommend a clean diet. Read Mark Hyman's book The Ultramind Solution to learn more about this as forum post won't do justice to this topic.
- Cutting out refined sugar, alcohol, and smoking...Your body has to work overtime to deal with these objects and detoxify them...Cut them out and the energy will be used in other more useful activities.
- avoid excessive masturbation if you're a male.

You did a great computations. But I spent regular hours of sleep, you don't have to weary yourself, get somebody to work for you.

Regardless what hour I'm sleeping I always on 8 hours. I want to gain weight and better sleep, so my bf recommends me to drink milk prior to sleep. Duoh, my throat is so choked of mucus since then that I can't even do my favorite thing : singing.

I try to eat lighter too but I cant sleep on hungry and rumbling stomach begging to feed on, LOL.

I hear over and over again, from a health standpoint, that eight hours is by far best. I myself probably average 6 1/2 per night and that works just fine.

I seem to get by especially in the summer 5.30 /6 hours what ever time i go to bed,
even at the week end when i would like a bit of a lye-in.

I get about 5 hours at night and I try for good 2 hours during the day. I know alot can be done in two months but a lot can also be enjoyed. If scientists could eliminate sleep safely I would spend the time with family and friends. I am all for being productive but finding time to work has never been an issue but creating time for loved ones is.

i go to bed at 2am and wake up at 9am, my day job is a 2-10pm shift so I usually stay up a while longer!

I always aim to get 8 hours of sleep at night. Sleep might feel like a waste of time but it helps you stay focused longer when working.

Well, it helps me anyway...

When I know I'm too busy to get my 8 hours, I have a short nap the following day - right after lunch. This is one of my least productive times anyway.

That short nap usually boosts my productivity for the afternoon.

How much to I sleep? Right now? About 3 hours a day, trying to get it down to two hours a day soon. Polyphasic sleep; a new lifestyle design experiment in progress at my blog.

I try to get 8 hours, but that doesn't usually work out too well. Also, I am a natural night owl, so some things are made difficult by my normal patterns.

I aim for about 8 hours. Sometimes this is enough and other times I feel like I need more. It all depends on how well I sleep. If I have a lot going on and am worried or stressed I find the quality of my sleep isn't as good and I need to sleep longer.

Another thing affecting my sleep is when I go to bed. I tend to be more productive after midnight but if I work through my feelings of tiredness I don't sleep as well. So for me it's always a balancing act of getting enough work done without messing up my sleep.

My optimum is either 6 or 9 hours. Anything in between and I`m cranky all day long

At least 8 hours every night... or else I won't function the next day. I LOVE sleep!