How much sleep do you need?

[XmisterIS]

For me, it's usually between 8 and 9 hours, depending on whether or not I have had an intellectually challenging day (if I have to spend all day doing maths and programming, then I need 9 hours, otherwise 8).

And that begs the further question, why do some people need radically less than others?

For example, I used to work with a guy who had an astonishingly accurate an encyclopaedic memory, he needed about 5 hours sleep a night (his estimate) and was always incredibly awake and alert. On the flipside of that, he had all the personality and empathic ability of one of the Borg Collective ...

Anyway, on 5 hours per night I would be a wreck!

 

[Fnaar]

usually about 5-6 hrs. But I'm often tired

 

[Kestevan]

I can function quite happily on 4 hours a night..... but it has to be continuous uninterupted sleep (i have small children so this is not a given).

Having said that I much prefer 5 hours given the chance, any more than this and I'm bouncing off the walls in a morning.

 

[swee'pea99]

Time was I could get by on 6, now any less than 7 and it all goes a bit fuzzy...

 

[bauldbairn]

Always been about 5/6.
Have a snooze for an hour after cycle/tea! Then five hours in bed - but can just about survive on four.
Just started working shifts - so sleep pattern effected just now.(Yawn!)

 

[hackbike 666]

Work is so tiring so I probably need 8 but I don't usually manage to sleep that long or as deeply as I want.

Less when im not working.

 

[Bay Runner]

7-8 Hours for me.
Surprisingly I find shifts easier to cope with as get older. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I have taken a more relaxed approach to the job and focus more on my home and social life.
Oh and increased my personal fitness programme!

 

[marinyork]

Long term average for me 4-5 although it varies. Some people need more than 8hrs, some less. People vary a lot on this.

 

[Shaun]

It's about 5 for me too on average.

 

[Keith Oates]

Not really sure what I need but I seem to vary between 5 to 8 hours per night. The more stress at work or even socially and the sleep time comes down but I still seem to function OK. However when I go on leave or have a good 8 hours sleep I always feel much better the next day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Globalti]

Just back from a week in a hotel from hell, where we feel we didn't sleep AT ALL. The room was tiny, dingy and filthy, grossly overheated reaching 31 degrees every night, it was impossible to sleep with the window open because you could lean out and touch the roofs of passing trucks and buses, this was on a French RN, a major inter-departement road. At 04:00 the snow clearing operation started with the snow ploughs clearing all the narrow streets around the hotel then piling the snow up outside our window, from where it was scraped along the road to be loaded in a truck. Truly our worst ever ski holiday; we feel knackered today and not at all ready to return to work.

 

[gbb]

Probably average 6 hours a night, but i always feel jaded.
I always think i should get more sleep, but my internal clock will not allow me to sleep much beyond 6 am, and i'm a night owl so rarely go to bed before 11pm.

I'd love 8 hours...

 

[hackbike 666]

Not to bad today slept quite well as I was quite tired....been working all weekend.In a long stretch so always tend to sleep wellish.

Almost 8hrs I think it was.

 

[rich p]

8.5

 

[MrVandal]

I need 7 hours unbroken sleep a night. Although this is very hard when you have 3 little ones.