How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hours and 7.5 hours a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hours or more, or less than 6.5 hours, they don’t live quite as long. There is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping too short. The big surprise is that long sleep seems to start at 8 hours. Sleeping 8.5 hours might really be a little worse than sleeping five.
[...] Oddly enough, a lot of the problem [of insomnia] is lying in bed awake worrying about it. There have been many controlled studies in the United States, Great Britain and other parts of Europe that show that an insomnia treatment that involves getting out of bed when you’re not sleepy, and restricting your time in bed, actually helps people to sleep more. They get over their fear of the bed. They get over the worry, and they become confident that when they go to bed they will sleep. So spending less time in bed actually makes sleep better. It is in fact a more powerful and effective long-term treatment for insomnia than sleeping pills.
I sleep about 6 to 7 hours during the night and that is my optimal sleep time without me feeling sick to my stomach about the lack of sleep, and without sleeping too much that I can’t function during the day. My sleep mantra is: Sleep if sleep calls you. I usually have books and magazines to read by the bed and I read a little before hitting the sack. Almost always I sleep like a babe until I wake up a minute or seconds ahead of my alarm.
What about you? How many hours do you sleep to function properly?
Generally I get about 7.5 - 8 hours sleep per night, though left to my own devices I drift towards 9 hours sleep, and I find I can’t sleep beyond that unless I’m significantly sleep deprived. I very rarely have trouble getting to sleep unless I’m particularly anxious about something.
I’m doomed - I sleep too much AND I’m left-handed, so according to longevity studies I’m out of luck!
[Reply]
Jen — You’re not doomed. :p I think that as long as you feel good, stick to it. There’s not point in depriving yourself of sleep and you can’t function. :)
[Reply]