Any 4 hours of sleep/day, work-a-holics here?

[Bob]

Just curious.  Wondering if I would ever be able to do that.  I have met a few people like this and wonder if there's a secret.  I don't seem to recover from practicing or exercise unless I get enough sleep.

[steve jones]

Check 

SJ

[jas]

In my last year at uni I often just didn't bother going to bed at all. I had no time for sleep! My longest stretch of being awake was 56 hours but I started hallucinating and I felt really dodgy, so I don't recommend it...
It's weird, sleep-deprivation didn't really bother me at uni, but when I have to go to work on too little sleep I get a bit depressed. Maybe I should just be an eternal student.

[Bob]

I'm wondering how I can do a full work day and still get a good practice session in.  It seems I will have the time available, but not the energy -- or the energy to recover.  I can force myself to practice after a full day but I don't always recover.  So the next day I wake up more exhausted.  It's definitely a problem.

I took a bit from work and pretty much did nothing.  Wake up, eat, take a nap.  Very relaxed.  Lots of sleep.  Some practicing.  I got back huge results from practicing -- stepped up to the next step in areas.  These were things I had been chipping away at.  It's the rest though that did it.

And of course after doing that -- I want more.  I want that consistently.  I start working more and immediately go back to where I was in practicing.  A lot got taken away.  Sucks bigtime of course.  But it's enough to make me consider lots of things -- making sure a certain number of hours of sleep are reached consistenly... even down to switching jobs so there is less stress and more time for rest. 

It's just a matter of managing fatigue.  I want to figure it out though.  I liked the practicing results.

[ada]

I"ll have around 4 hours sleep four or five days a week and catch up during the rest. The secret is lots of coffee and combining a demanding full time job with a serious piano habit. And rugrats.

Some days though I am so exhausted I could weep.

[johnny-boy]

I average 5 hours of sleep per day (for the last 10 years). Occasionally I'll go crazy and get 8 hours in one clip (maybe once a month).

I have the time available to sleep more but I feel I'm missing "life" when I sleep too long.

Best, John

[bella musica]

I get maybe 4 to 5 1/2 hours of sleep five days a week.  I get up at 5 in order to go to the gym before work and usually don't end up getting to bed until midnight.  I work part-time and go to school full-time (except right now it's summer!  YAY!!!) so I know how hard it is to fit in the music practice...  I've been so tired before that I literally fell asleep on the piano bench... jolted awake realizing that no I was not practicing, but laying with my head on the fallboard!

One interesting thing that I noticed - sometimes I would come home from work completely wiped out and force myself to sit down at the piano and practice.  Usually ended up accomplishing nothing.  Then one day I came home and just fell asleep on the couch for an hour or so, woke up and had a great practice session.  I think because my mind was fresh and alert.  Try it.

[lisztisforkids]

My father used to do this kind of thing... Sleep 6 hours and then work the other 18, I hardly ever saw him... It almost killed him to, the stress finally caught up with him and he had a stroke, very lucky to be alive.

[arbisley]

I average 5 hours of sleep per day (for the last 10 years). Occasionally I'll go crazy and get 8 hours in one clip (maybe once a month).

I have the time available to sleep more but I feel I'm missing "life" when I sleep too long.

Best, John

How do you do it? Does it affect your energy levels or anything? Is there some way to "train" yourself to doing this?
It's a lot of questions, but I'd really like to know to be able to sleep less and do more of the things I want to without crashing at the end of the week!
Cheers,
Anthony

[freakofnature]

Unless you don't want to die far too early, you should try to get a good night sleep, between 8 and 9 hours would be best. If you are constantly sleeping less, your level of stress hormons increases rapidly, which let's you die early. <- proven fact that is...

[nicco]

I read somewhere that by practicing tai chi you can reduce your need for sleep by 40 %. Maybe something to try out?

[johnny-boy]

How do you do it? Does it affect your energy levels or anything? Is there some way to "train" yourself to doing this?
It's a lot of questions, but I'd really like to know to be able to sleep less and do more of the things I want to without crashing at the end of the week!
Cheers,
Anthony

I think the amount of needed sleep varies with everyone. I don’t have any secrets. My energy level is actually better when I get less sleep. If I sleep longer I feel exhausted for a big part of the day (and usually get a headache).

 I’m not sure about more or less sleep being healthier than the other. I’ve read positive and negative studies on both.

I do find that having something to look forward to in the day makes it a lot easier to get up. I have a T.V. program I watch everyday when I wake up after 5 hours. It’s simple but it’s a routine for me. After the hour program is over, I’m ready to go. Don’t ask me what I watch on T.V. (a little embarrassing), but it does get me up every day.

Another thing; just because a person is in bed 8 hours doesn't mean he/she is getting that much sleep.

Best, John

[arbisley]

IAnother thing; just because a person is in bed 8 hours doesn't mean he/she is getting that much sleep.

That's what I was thinking, because I seem to sleep for long periods of time, but I'm always told I move around a lot during the night, so maybe I don't sleep properly!
My roommate at school is the worst, sleeps most part of the day!

[johnny-boy]

I should mention (because it may be a factor in me needing less sleep) that I have Sleep Apnea. I get into such a deep and relaxed sleep that I stop breathing. About once a week I jump out of bed gasping for air. The wife says I have smaller episodes of catching my breath every time I sleep.

John