I survived on 4-5 hours a night during grad school and was pretty successful, but I feel much better with 7. I also usually get at least one night a week of 9+ (on the weekend).
Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
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Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#12Relevant discussion from yesterday with added insight: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1829124
I actually began to adjust my sleep and work schedule last night based on other people's comments in that thread.
It was painful to wake up a little earlier, but nice to come in and get an hour of peace & focus before the rest of the troops show up to the office.
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#138 usually. I hate the whole idea of sleeping, seems very wasteful to spend 1/3 of life sleeping.
Last thing before you go to bed, get stuck on a problem. Go to bed. You'll wake up with a solution, and in the meantime get to lay in a comfy bed for hours, and maybe even have some cool dreams. Best brain hack ever.
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#14P.S: Those who liked this question- please comment! :(
I think sleep and mindfulness / productivity are influenced by long term patterns more than just day to day. If I get a good 7-8 hours of sleep for a while, but only 4-5 one night, I'm usually ok, but a week of 5-6 hours takes its toll. There's also a lot of individual variation, though. Also, It's not unusual for posts on the new page to fly by without many comments, particularly depending on time of day. (I'm a bit…
"There's also a lot of individual variation, though."
Bingo. I need 9-10 hours. Sometimes I sleep 11 hours. And I never feel groggy after getting that much sleep, as some people do, nor do I just lay around in bed. I literally sleep 10 hours straight. I only got 4-5 a night during undergrad, and it took a severe toll. Speaking of undergrad, I knew a guy who had to get 13-14 hours/day, but he had some sleep disorder. Still, he had enough time to study and graduate with a great GPA, was very in shape, played hockey, and was a nice guy. I think a lot of people who think they'll be more successful at 4-5 hours/day are just less efficient and have a distorted view of what their "successful" role models do (i.e. they think their role models must not sleep a lot, therefore if they don't sleep/do work more, they'll also be successful). Just what I've seen in my personal experience though, I don't mean to impose this as a general fact.
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#158 usually. I hate the whole idea of sleeping, seems very wasteful to spend 1/3 of life sleeping.
Last thing before you go to bed, get stuck on a problem. Go to bed. You'll wake up with a solution, and in the meantime get to lay in a comfy bed for hours, and maybe even have some cool dreams. Best brain hack ever.
For me, that usually just leads to insomnia. If I read anything remotely interesting within an hour or so of bed, it takes me a long time to wind down. YMMV.
When I'm stuck during the day, a context change (such as a gym break) often has the same effect though.
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#16I used to sleep 6 or less hours a night when I was younger, and I was chronically sleep deprived. I had this mentality that there weren't enough hours in the day, and there were so many things I wanted to do that it made no sense to waste another 2-3 hours just lying there. But as I got older (meaning, post-college), increased responsibilities and the need for complex thinking made this impossible. A year or two out of college, and any sort of sleep deprivation sapped my motivation, ability to focus, and ability to think strategically. When I haven't slept enough, all I can accomplish during a whole day is rote tasks. So now, I think of the 9 hours I try to sleep every night as an investment in the other 15 hours I'll have awake. Or to quantify it for you:
Option 1 - 18 hours awake at 50% capacity. Option 2 - 16 hours awake at 100% capacity.
It seems a no brainer. But don't get the wrong impression; I lack the discipline to sleep 9+ hours every single night. But I try my best!
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#17I'm slow at anything less than 7. Less than 6 and I can't really focus at work.
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#188.5 minimum. I cannot write good code without it.
I'm the exact same. 8.5 is what i need to have a good coding day.
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#19If left alone I will sleep 9 hours. That is sufficient. Much less than that (and frequently less is what I have to settle for) and I feel groggy.
Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
#20I can jump out of bed after ~7 hours without an alarm. Used to be an extreme night owl, which worked for me, but not the people I work for/with. Going to sleep at midnight to 2am means I still get a bit of night peace, and can be up at a reasonable hour. Sometimes I'll pass out around nine and wake up at four, which feels much more awesome than going to sleep around that time.