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Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

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Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#13
8 hours when I have time. 7 to 4 in a crunch. I try to control the sleep debt and pay it off ASAP, or next weekends.

Lack of sleep has a noticeable effect on productivity (especially error rate). When I was younger I did not notice it so vividly, which I ascribe strictly to improved introspection.

One of the best vacations in my life, after a particularly hard project, involved having 12-16 hours of sleep every day, for two weeks, without any drugs; just a calm winter forest away from civilization. It did wonders to my productivity and cognitive ability. In 6 months past it I quickly learned a huge bunch of apparently hard things that propelled me for years after that.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#15
Used to be 9h per day for decades. Any more and I'd feel strangely groggy (unproductive), my body cannot deal with oversleeping.

Lately I experimented with a 1h nap after lunch (I'm getting old!), and can report that I feel equally refreshed with only 6h of sleep a night.

So, 7h total now, but split into two 1+6 sessions. It feels great to have 2 extra hours per day!

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#16
My biggest problem with sleep is the fixed working schedule I have to follow. The 9-to-5 is killing me. It's not that there isn't enough time to sleep, it's that I cannot convince my body to go to sleep if it doesn't feel like it. Just last night I stood awake till 5 a.m. unable to fall asleep despite all efforts. The problem is that my natural clock seems to be working on a 26-7 hours per day cycle and I cannot fit this properly into the regular working hours. This leads to general accumulation of tiredness during the week and on Friday I need a total reset by going to bed early. At least now I know what to look for in future job opportunities.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#17
5 hours on a bad night. 7 on a good night. Not including the 50 or so minutes awake in the middle of the night.

I'm extremely unproductive on the days I get 5 hours, and can work around 4 hours/day when I get 7. I'd probably be extremely productive if I can get 9 hours of sleep.

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