Hours of Sleep

[donjuan]

Lately, I find I just need more and more sleep to function properly.  Like in my first Organic Chemistry Lab a week ago, I didnt get my usual 9 hour sleep.  I had to cool down the Gallenkamp apparatus by blowing air on it, so I accidentily attached a rubber hose to the tube labeled "cold water" instead of "air", and ended up soaking the poor girl who was working in front of me.  The lab instructor was this woman who didnt speak too much english, and was laughing at me in like 3/4 chinese.. ay me that was most embarrasing and humorously costly... I lost marks on a section of the evaluation titled "laboratory etiquette"

so anyway, now I realize how important sleep is.  Do you?  How much sleep do you get?

[Tash]

LOL that's too funny, sorry donjuan i have to laugh! but yes i realise how important sleep is, if i don't get enough i think i manipulate myself into thinking that i can't possibly function for the rest of the day, so i try to get around 7-8hrs. the last time i did anything significant on lack of sleep was a piano playoff thing at my teacher's place and i'd gotten home at 2.30 the night before, went to sleep around 3.30 and woke up at 7.30- my playing was not good!!

[Bob]

I don't get enough sleep.  Sucks.  I can "be present" physically, but my mind just doesn't work.  My body doesn't heal and I can't concentrate on music.  And no emotions -- it's like being a zombie literally.  Over time you can learn to live with this, but it can still be torture cutting back on sleep.

I know people who get very little sleep.  (Darn them!)  They get a lot done, but are on the tense side (probably a heart attack waiting to happen).  I believe you can learn to function with less sleep and could be completely normal after some time.  In the process however... you would have to be sure to put everything back.  If you lost your emotions and lived like that for some time until it became a habit, I imagine you would keep that emotionless habit even when you got more sleep because it's something you learned.  Scary thought.  Those people that function with little sleep seem to be extremely active I've noticed.  Occasionally I get stuck and have to get by with less sleep.  It sucks.  I would like to learn to function with less sleep just to get more stuff done, but I haven't gotten around to torturing myself like that -- dull mind, heavy limbs, no emotion, repetitive thoughts, the aches and pains from the previous day, and then having to really concentrate just to do simple things and having to really focus your attention off the aching feeling... torture. 

Still it seems possible to me and might be an opportunity to change the way you think.  You get less sleep, the next day your brain let habits slip away... sounds like that could be a good thing to use to make some changes maybe.

Oh yes... with little sleep you get the fun of actually staggering around and bumping into things because you're a little off balance.  "The door jamb jumped out at me!  Darn it!"

You can get a lot more work done, but you might not be around to be conscious of that.  "Is it fall already?  2005?!"

Everything I see says sleep is important for your brain to repair and organize itself.  While you're in la-la land, the parts of the brain you use during conscious thought are getting fixed up for the next day.

[rc]

heh heh

 

I agree 100% with what Bob said.

I hadn't actually discovered the stuff that said how important sleep is until a few months ago, before what I'd been taught was "Get your arse to work on time!"... Now I have a new rule: I'd rather sleep in than go through the day tired.

I can get away with this though (self-employed), so long as I get the job done and am not holding anyone up nobody cares what time I wake up at. 

It seems to me I spent all of my highschool years in a zombie-daze... Good thing I wasn't driving at the time - tired driving is dangerous! wow.

I've noticed every once in a while my sleep habits go awry. I may be tired all day, looking forward to getting home and going to bed, but by 9PM I'm suddenly wide-awake and ready to rock. I just go with it, decide it's time for me to be nocturnal and say goodbye to mornings.

Here's a little crackpot theory on those people who don't seem to need more sleep... Maybe they're just more excitable personalities. Think of the last time you were really excited to get up and start the day, didn't seem to matter that you got no sleep. Like kids, always eager to jump out of bed to watch cartoons/run around/see what Santa brought... Yep, a crackpot theory - I'm certified!

[thracozaag]

 Sleep is for wimps.

koji

[Waldszenen]

Sleep is for wimps.

koji

That's hilarious in a very disturbing way. >_>


I sleep on average 7 hours a night, 12am - 7am each day (or earlier if I can resist reading books before I doze off).

[pianistimo]

i said 7-8, but in actuality it might be 5-7.  lately i've had this strange phenomenon of waking up at 3 or 4 am and just liking the quiet.  so i go on computer or read.  then, at 6 am when everyone is running around, i just roll over.  about five minutes before my kids have to go to school - i run in the bathroom, brush my teeth, comb/brush my hair and run out the door (they seem to rely on me more than the schoolbus- or to get them to the schoolbus).

eight hours of sleep is very nice.  nine is better.

[026497]

2-5 hours. 3:00-6:00 am

[thalbergmad]

I do get enough sleep, but not all at once.

I am in the habit of taking a few hours after evening meal and then staying up till early morning.

During the weekend, i like to stay up all night and sleep during the day.

I must be turning into dracula.

[leahcim]

7-8.

The problem is my days are longer than 24 hours. So, eventually it's 7-8 hours during the day, and  more often than not  have to stop up a day and a half to get back into sync.

[ted]

Sleep is very important for my physical and mental health. I am very fussy about nightly routine, the state of the bed and so on, using earplugs if necessary. I am especially fond of dreaming, which occurs near the conclusion of every ninety minute cycle, increasing in lucidity with each cycle throughout the night. I didn't believe this when I read about it but have since found it to be true, practically to the precise minute. I have found my ideal to be four or five cycles a night with the occasional night of six cycles, depending on waking mental and physical activity.

I am capable of temporarily tolerating reduced sleep but sooner or later the debt has to be repaid or negative effects will ensue.

[pianistimo]

i cannot sleep without warmth, quietness and darkness.  i have never been one of those people who could sleep through a tornado (although i once slightly slept through an earthquake as i thought i was dreaming it).

my husband, on the other hand, likes to have the radio and tv on simultaneously, the drapes open, the window open - a breeze of cold air.  therefore, when i want to get a really good nights sleep - i try to be the first one to go to bed.  if i'm already sleeping, he wont turn on the radio/tv.  and, i hold onto the blankets during the night, just in case he tries to rip them off or kick them down to the end of the bed. 

[donjuan]

my husband, on the other hand, likes to have the radio and tv on simultaneously, the drapes open, the window open - a breeze of cold air.  therefore, when i want to get a really good nights sleep - i try to be the first one to go to bed.  if i'm already sleeping, he wont turn on the radio/tv.  and, i hold onto the blankets during the night, just in case he tries to rip them off or kick them down to the end of the bed. 

yeeeah, thats why my parents sleep in separate rooms. There it is-Problem Solved!

[stevie]

sleep feels SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good

[Waldszenen]

sleep feels SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good

in this society hearing comments like that is quite uncommon

But sleep eventually makes me feel terrible after too long

[ted]

Yes it is uncommon, and I think lack of adequate rest is the reason so many people are unhappy and riddled with neuroses. I don't know about your countries, but for the last twenty years New Zealanders have been fed a philosophical con-job about it. Phrases such as "work ethic" have been promulgated in the public eye, the subtle message being that work and stressful striving are always good and rest and serenity bad. The reason behind this was ostensibly economic but looking around me now I see that the ordinary man is no better off at all; he's just pushing and shoving a lot more so five percent of the population can lead a life of Riley.

Being the sort of person I am I could see through all this rubbish, just ignored it and did whatever I wanted to do. It may mean I have a bit less money but looking at the sad state of the health, life and marriages of many people of my age I'm pretty thankful I'm built that way.

Rest, sleep and idleness are very important to my health and, dare I say it, probably biologically essential, in reasonable quantities, to human health generally.

[llamaman]

8-9. I go to sleep around 10-11 and wake up at 7.

[Torp]

Somewhere between 3-9, usually in the 4-6 range.  I function better at around 6 a night and become less productive and mentally acute at ranges above or below that number.

[dolcejen]

I sleep eight hours for the sake of those living with me.   

[Bouter Boogie]

Between 7 and 8 hours. I actually should get some more sleep, though, but I'm a busy person

- BB