how many hours of sleep do you need?

[azalea]

don't want to be a party pooper but everyone saying that they only need four or five hours is kinda wrong; sleep is a big factor in developing neurodegenerative diseases later in life* and also sleeping that little impacts your cognition instantly so y'all should definitely try getting 7-8 hours a day :3

i mean, 7-8 hours of sleep is ideal, sure, but not everyone can get 7-8 hours of sleep. i don't think i've really hit 8 hours of sleep in my whole life (i've hit MAYBE 7 on a really good night if i'm really tired?), but for the most part, i can make do with 5-6 on average, 4 if i'm pushing it.

the amount of exact hours of sleep for optimal rest various by individual, anyway. the NSF seems to back this up. meanwhile, NIOSH does state that most people who sleep less are at risk for obesity and chronic illnesses. there's an interesting read here that states that sleep QUALITY matters than exact numbers.

i don't say these things to be That Person or anything, but while there is a recommended number by sleep experts for optimal health, the exact "optimal" amount varies from person to person. i'm never going to get more than 6 or 7 hours no matter how hard i try and i never have. meanwhile you have people that sleep 11-12 hours and need that amount of rest to function normally.

[slm]

keeping a sleep schedule has been a almost decade long project for me, like i only started getting 7-8 hours a few years ago. its rough! all the screen exposure over the last few decades absolutely does not help, but i still manage 6 hours minimum despite loving my free time whilst its dark. to compensate i get up super early and mess around online before i have to go to work. (like right now  )

in terms of oddities in sleeping i've had, i once slept almost 24 hours due to a quite stressful week, and have only pulled an all nighter once. to binge all of the second half of gurren lagann in one sitting!

[musicobsessed107]

I try to get at least 7 - 8 hours of sleep, though I can function with less and often have nights where I'm only getting about 6 hours of sleep. In fact, there are times where I actually feel somewhat more energetic when I'm sleep deprived compared to when I get a normal amount of sleep, though I still try to get at least 7 hours because I know sleep deprivation isn't very good for the brain long term.

I should mention that I've had episodes of insomnia on and off since I was a child, though now, it mostly looks like procrastination and my night owl tendencies not being as suppressed as they once were in my younger years as opposed to spontaneously waking up in the middle of the night (though it still does happen from time to time).

[BagelCake]

I feel like I generally feel best on days where I get 6-7 hours. if I sleep less/more I feel super tired the next day.

used to, I'd stay up til like 2am, wake up at 6am, then go to school when I was a Runescape-addicted kid. don't think I can do that anymore and I don't think I'd want to lol

[axolotls_]

If I get less than 6 hours and 30 minutes of sleep I just can't function (I get pale and shaky, can't get my brain to do tasks, etc) and ideally I'd probably be getting 9 hours. I don't know how people can get less than 5 hours of sleep a night without feeling completely miserable (maybe they do and can deal with it). But realistically I'm probably getting about 7 hours of sleep because I procrastinate going to bed all the time.

I do wonder if my life would be different at all if I was getting 8+ hours of sleep a day. I imagine things would just be 10-20% easier all the time, which sounds nice, but somehow isn't enough motivation. 

[LISSY]

i SHOULD be sleeping for 8 hours..as they say.. but lately ive been running on 3-4 hours and it's so draining i literally passed out yesterday. disappointed in myself lowkey, AM I WEAK?! get your sleep guys trust me you need it. well your body does anyway UNFORTUNATELY.

and i actually do love sleeping yk.. i love my bed but i get fomo. there's just so much for me to do and i can't do it all if im sleepinggggggg

[Capybara]

I naturally sleep for 7 hours. Even if my alarm is set for exactly 8 or more hours later, I sometimes wake up early. (Ex., go to sleep at 10PM, wake up at 5AM.) Sometimes I sleep more on days off, or less on days I'm irresponsible with caffeine or melatonin use.

[noahie]

I have obstructive sleep apnea due to being obese, so I struggle to breathe most of the night and typically have fractured and poor sleep. I can get 8 hours, but function like it was just 3 or 4. So with that, I'll accrue sleep debt even when I go to bed on time. Lovely. I also don't like sleeping because I get vivid dreams and nightmares basically every night. When I was younger, I was afraid of falling asleep. These days, I've just been through enough trauma to where the horrible dreams don't make a dent in my psyche anymore. Maybe I'll lose the weight and reverse the sleep apnea one day, but I'm not sure yet. Only time will tell, I suppose.

[cartweel]

first post!

my sleep schedule was really very bad for a long time and I infrequently got enough sleep. I stopped drinking a little over a year ago and that has definitely helped my sleep improve, and although I want to keep pushing this over time, right now my protocol is to be in bed at midnight and try to be asleep at 1am! But I don't always get that done right (like last night I stayed up reading until 3am) but it's a big improvement over what it used to be. The biggest factor has been leaving a really stressful job though!

[sloth_army1]

I feel like I only feel well rested if I get like 9 or more hours of sleep. If I am free to sleep whenever for a long time, my schedule will shift until I'm regularly sleeping 10-12 hours. Of course, most of the time the constraints of life force me to sleep about 7 or 8 hours per night.

[Semper]

I usually get by fine on 6 hours of sleep. The ideal for a rejuvenating rest is 7.5 to mayyyybe 8 hours. Anything over 8 though and I swing right back around to feeling groggy the whole day. I have been able to function on 5 and sometimes 4 hours of sleep, but I'm not feeling good.

[Offline]

Nine hours. I absolutely hate that I need so much sleep to feel normal during the day. I'm jealous of people who only need six hours. If I get even an hour less I start to get ridiculously sleepy later in the day and start yawning like crazy. I use to only need eight but that changed years ago.

[Melooon]

I am an 11 hour person  There is a very rapid degradation in my mood, mental state and general ability to cope with the world with less seep than 11 hours, and I will usually be upset for the whole day if I have to set an alarm 

If I really get caught up in working on a project I do tend to find it harder to sleep, and then it can drop down to 7 hours, but usually I end up crashing badly after a few days of that 

I think some of the happiest times in my life have centered around times when I was both very busy but also able to get a lot of sleep

[lakes]

i need at least 6 to 7 hours of sleep
if i'm too sleep deprived, it takes me a while to process my immediate surroundings

[arz]

i can do 3-4 hours, maybe below an hour as well - provided that i'll sleep in later in the day. i do get a nice 9-12 hour sleep during the weekends, or when i have nothing going on in the morning.

i was a roblox obsessed kid, staying up until 1-2 am almost everyday and feeling like a wreck when i had to go to school the next day. it's unfortunate that i haven't learned much from back then lol.

there was a phase in my preteens when i strictly made myself go to bed at 10 pm: do my pre-sleep routine cause i was very into self-improvement then, leave my phone on the desk (usually), and then closed my eyes, waiting for the moment i get drowsy.... 10 minutes... 20 minutes, not anytime soon - i tried terminating my thoughts, learned the military pose, it just won't happen.

eventually i just gave up! still, everyday's another chance to get better at this thing called a sleep routine - it just feels so horrible to not sleep in during the day though. i'll be so glad when this is over.