How much sleep do you need?

• regular

  11/23/2009

  gary08 says:

  I'm trying to get by on less sleep each night because there is always so much to do. After a few weeks of trying I'm down to 6 hours.
  
  How much sleep do others need to feel good during the day?
• guru

  11/24/2009

  lynn says:

  I can make it with 8 hours of sleep, but I notice that I'm at my best when I've gotten about 10 hours. My mind is never as alert and at peak efficiency as when I've maximized the amount of sleep I get the night before and, as sleeping is one of my favorite activities, I try not to scrimp on that. I know I'm sort of a weirdo but, as I understand it, people vary with regard to the amount of sleep they need.
• guru

  11/24/2009

  cuong says:

  I'm usually getting about 6 or 7 hours of sleep. I'll usually need a nap if I get 6 hours, but I'm good at about 7 hours.
• regular

  03/04/2010

  smilelots says:

  I need about 10 hours of sleep too. 8 at the min, if I didn't get a good night's sleep, I am tired and grumpy the whole day.
• guru

  05/05/2010

  lynn says:

  Geez, I just read the article below yesterday. It's a large study - a meta- analysis of other studies. Nine to ten hours a night feels so darn good to me though!
  
  From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100504095109.htm
  
  Short Sleep Increases Risk of Death and Over-Long Sleep Can Indicate Serious Illness
  
  ScienceDaily (May 4, 2010) — Research carried out by the University of Warwick in collaboration with the Federico II University Medical School in Naples, Italy, has found that people who sleep for less than 6 hours each night were 12% more likely to die prematurely than those who get the recommended 6-8 hours.
  
  The study, recently published in the journal Sleep, provides unequivocal evidence of the direct link between short duration of sleep (less than 6 hours sleep a night) and an increased chance of dying prematurely.
  
  The research also notes that consistent over long sleeping (over 9 hours a night) can be a cause for concern. While, unlike short sleeping, over long sleeping does not in itself increase the risk of death, it can be a significant marker of an underlying serious and potentially fatal illnesses.
  
  The study looked at the relationship between the level of habitual duration of sleep and mortality by reviewing 16 prospective studies from the UK, USA, European and East Asian countries. The study included more than 1.3 million participants, followed up for up to 25 years, with more than 100,000 deaths recorded.
  
  The study provides unequivocal evidence of the direct link between both short (less than 6 hours sleep a night) and long (9 hours or more) duration of sleep and an increased chance of dying prematurely, compared to those who sleep 6-8 hours a night on average.
  
  Professor Francesco Cappuccio, leader of the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the University of Warwick and Consultant Physician at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said "whilst short sleep may represent a cause of ill-health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill-health."
  
  He said: "Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work. On the other hand, the deterioration of our health status is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time.
  
  "Consistently sleeping 6 to 8 hours per night may be optimal for health. The duration of sleep should be regarded as an additional behavioural risk factor, or risk marker, influenced by the environment and possibly amenable to change through both education and counselling as well as through measures of public health aimed at favourable modifications of the physical and working environments " Professor Cappuccio added.
• regular

  05/06/2010

  perlman says:

  I've heard that as you get older, you need less sleep. For me, that has been very true. In my 20's and 30's I needed 8 hours or more. Now I need about 6 to 7 hours each night before I feel rested and ready to get up.

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