how much sleep do you really need?

[C(-)ris]

Naturally? I would stay up till about 3am and fall asleep almost immediately and not get up until 11am or noon. So that is about 8 hours. Unfortunately, I have to get up around 7am which means going to bed at 11pm, which always takes a while to actually fall asleep. Even after getting up at 7am in the morning all week.

[bazookaman]

C(-)ris wrote:
Naturally? I would stay up till about 3am and fall asleep almost immediately and not get up until 11am or noon. So that is about 8 hours. Unfortunately, I have to get up around 7am which means going to bed at 11pm, which always takes a while to actually fall asleep. Even after getting up at 7am in the morning all week.

Heh. I was thinking the same thing. I WISH I had the luxury of getting up when I felt like it.

[rgG]

I would like to be able to self regulate, but I have to kitteh regulate. Someone wants to be fed between 6:00-6:30 AM every damn day. You would think the cat would learn to sleep in on weekends.

I do cheat and go back to bed after I feed her though.

Ideally I need about 8 hours, with maybe an afternoon nap thrown in for good measure.

I have always tried to get an afternoon nap in, even did this in high school. What can I say, I need to recharge with a nap.

[Buck]

Depending on your job, you can always sleep extra during meetings.

[Done]

For years I was fine on around 6 hours but in the last year I have notice if I don't get 7 1/2 to 8 hour my body just doesn't feel good. I don't know if it's a age thing or just because I'm getting a little more sleep now and the 6 hours just won't cut it. But I can't sleep over 8, I think it's I'm just so used to getting up early.

My daughter can sleep for 12 hours, I wish I could do that ever once in a while just to catch up.

[mrbigstuff]

C(-)ris wrote:
Naturally? I would stay up till about 3am and fall asleep almost immediately and not get up until 11am or noon. So that is about 8 hours. Unfortunately, I have to get up around 7am which means going to bed at 11pm, which always takes a while to actually fall asleep. Even after getting up at 7am in the morning all week.

the exact situation in my life, too. something about 3am whenever I have more than a few days off in a row; I think I developed this habit in college, as I was sort of a morning person up to that point in my life.

for the OP's question, this is a HUGE topic of interest in the research world, with some theories showing that the modern construct of sleeping 8 hours in a row is not "natural" and that humans may have been meant to sleep twice per day and not all at once.

[davester]

rgG wrote:
I would like to be able to self regulate, but I have to kitteh regulate. Someone wants to be fed between 6:00-6:30 AM every damn day. You would think the cat would learn to sleep in on weekends.

You need to learn how to regulate the kitten. My cat knows that if he awakens me too early I will get up and instead of grabbing the cat food I will grab the kitten and deposit him outside in the cold.

[rgG]

davester wrote:
[quote=rgG]
I would like to be able to self regulate, but I have to kitteh regulate. Someone wants to be fed between 6:00-6:30 AM every damn day. You would think the cat would learn to sleep in on weekends.

You need to learn how to regulate the kitten. My cat knows that if he awakens me too early I will get up and instead of grabbing the cat food I will grab the kitten and deposit him outside in the cold.
I know, but I can't do that. Kitteh is older and spoiled. It is my own fault, so now I am paying the high price

[gabester]

I used to have a lot of trouble falling asleep.

So I just got myself into such a sleep-deprived state that it was no longer difficult.
Maybe I also managed to induce some apnea-based oxygen deprivation to induce the initial loss of consciousness.

Anyway, I finally fell into a schedule that seemed to work well enough where I usually cycle through 8, 6, and 4 hour sleeps on successive nights. These days it's a bit more regular than that but probably not much more than 7 on average.

I still like to do a periodic reset where I stay up all night or most of the night.

[decay]

I'll sleep when I'm dead.