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Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

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Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#71

Post by jrowley »

wallace_f wrote: post #52
hacker_9 wrote: post #29

7-9 hours. I require less sleep when I look after my body and eat healthily. For those who struggle to sleep, you may want to look into meditation when you are in bed. Effectively you focus on a single point and slowly your mind clears, kinda feels like it's shutting down regions. Then sleep comes naturally after, takes me about 20 mins with this technique. Concentrate on your heartbeat or breathing, and know that th…

This my sound strange, but has anyone tried this and had that sensation that if you stop thinking about your heart or breathing, they will stop? Jesus, I must be filled with anxiety.

You may want to consider something a little more casual. I like this breathing pattern:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wg-UAYGa2A

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#72

Post by tertius »

amorphid wrote: post #39
tertius wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wake up at the same time every day. Pick that time and stick to it. Whether you get too little sleep or not.

I've tried doing that. Even if it is possible, I really don't like it. When married to a fixed schedule, life just isn't as much fun for me.

I think it can make one feel trapped. Trapped to a schedule.

But you have to think of it as something that you choose, i.e. your own limitation, not some external limitation.

Having a normal circadian rhythm makes the rest of life a lot more enjoyable (fun) than not. Especially after 30.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#73

Post by jrowley »

jcadam wrote: post #11

During the week? 6 hours. Weekends are closer to 8. My time in the Army destroyed my ability to sleep in :(

Why did your time in the Army destroy your ability to sleep?

I've heard rumors that if anything the exhaustion taught you how to fall asleep at anywhere/anywhere.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#74

Post by askafriend »

omalleyt wrote: post #43
hedonistbot wrote: post #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…

I had this problem all my life. Now I take 500 micrograms of melatonin every night an hour before bed. I'm out like a light. It might not be for everyone, but it's changed the way I feel about sleeping. And it's non-habituating

It's really easy to develop a tolerance and a reliance on it though. That's the downside to a supplement like melatonin.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#75

Post by jcadam »

jrowley wrote: post #73
jcadam wrote: post #11

During the week? 6 hours. Weekends are closer to 8. My time in the Army destroyed my ability to sleep in :(

Why did your time in the Army destroy your ability to sleep? I've heard rumors that if anything the exhaustion taught you how to fall asleep at anywhere/anywhere.

Not sleep in the general sense, but sleeping late into the morning. Years of having to be in formation at 0600 every morning have trained me to rise before dawn :(

On the upside, some of my most productive coding time is during the quiet morning hours before the wife and kids get up.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#76

Post by markpapadakis »

I sleep at around midnight and I wake up at 06:00 every day with no exceptions (e.g weekends or vacations ). I average about 6 hours of sleep. If I sleep for 7 hours I definitely feel better and think “faster” the following day. Sleep is good for you.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#77

Post by Toast_25 »

fsociety wrote: post #47
hedonistbot wrote: post #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…

I highly recommend you try meditation, not just because it reduces the total amount of sleep you need ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2919439/ ), but also because it sounds likes it'll teach you how to drift asleep more easily. Yoga is also another great option, but just know that both of these will require a small amount of dedication.

That's really interesting! Now all we need to do is find a MED where we save more time sleeping than we need to invest meditating. Although that might be offset by the amount of focus we gain by meditating as it would allow us to be more efficient.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#78

Post by parvatzar »

I used to sleep usually on average 7 hrs when i worked the regular 10 am to 6pm shift. However , working 1 pm to 11 pm shift nowdays and tend to turn in much late than before however wake up earlier than 7 hrs to study for an exam that i am preparing for alongside. I I have observed my productivity in view of this routine to be at peak later in the day rather night when lesser to no distractions or people in office. However am trying to balance out my routine to get the magic number 7 hrs of sleep.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#79

Post by taternuts »

I've had sleeping issues since I was a kid so mine are probably a bit skewed. Weekdays, on a good night, 4-6 hours. Anything below 4 hours is a bad night and does happen more than I wish. Weekends: 6-8 hours

If I get 4 or less hours of sleep, it affects me pretty heavily and I honestly feel somewhat 'hungover' and it can be hard to get meaningful work done. For me, 5-6 hours is the sweet spot.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

#80

Post by sethrin »

About six hours per night. Never more than seven. I've been working from home on my own schedule for years, so productivity is probably not impacted either way. I seem to be consistently waking up at 0425 in the mornings. I'm 31, more or less male-bodied, and I've taken exercise only once in the last two years -- biking 70 miles to see the eclipse. I suspect I'm too much of an outlier to be of any use to this discussion, but I would like to suggest that the "early to bed, early to rise" phrase has some truth to it. I also think that proper sleep is more important than anyone's business schedule, but I don't know how well that one might go over with employers.
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