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Ask HN: How many hours of sleep are you getting?

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Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep are you getting?

#14
I average 7-8 hours per night, which is basically as much as my body seems to need. I work for myself from home, so I don't have to get up at any particular time - I just sleep as much as I need.

This seems to work well for me, as I have had pretty much perfect physical and mental health for the last 10 years (nothing but the occasional cold about once a year or so), and I have high motivation, productivity, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep are you getting?

#17
Average of six and a half hours. It was higher for a brief period when I returned from international travel and my body had no idea where it was anymore. Other than that, I wake up tired, which I mostly attribute to breaking a REM cycle, since once I get going, I'm pretty much great until the afternoon. I think a siesta would do me well, though, but I don't work in a siesta-friendly world. So, coffee. But never after 5, or I don't sleep until later.

My take on it is that I sleep when I'm tired, with the asterisk that I have work in the morning most days, and that means I should try to be tired before 11:30p. But I also look at it like I look at treatment of my laptop battery - if I spend more effort worrying about and attempting to optimize the thing than it's worth, then that is effort wasted. The best I can hope for is good sleep when I am sleeping.

All of that said, sleep is obviously important since we all do it. I wouldn't make a habit of not sleeping so I could ship, but I also wouldn't let shipping get in the way of many things, like time with my family. Maybe my priorities are messed up, but they're mine.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep are you getting?

#18
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the hacker in you just forces you to ignore the alarm to go to sleep?

I forced myself to go to bed for a week at midnight and now I start to feel sleepy/tired around that time. I also stopped drinking coffee or energy drinks after 6pm.

Kudos. For some people (like me) the caffeine has to stop around noon in order to get a good night's sleep. Caffeine metabolism is highly variable between people, so it is worth experimenting on.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours of sleep are you getting?

#20
5-6h weekly. I live very away from work(2 hour trips) and I still want to get home and go to gym&OSS.

But in the weekend I sleep a lot. Maybe 12h a day.

I wish I could have more time to balance it(and my plan is that I will in the future), 8 hours a day would be ideal.

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