Poll: How much sleep do you get per night? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#81

Post by umjames » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 5:30 PM UTC

bane wrote: post #3

I do about 6-7 on weekdays, then crash on weekends and sleep 12-13 hours. If I don't get my weekend crash and roll into the next week, I'm practically brain dead by the end of that week. I have some respiratory problems that make the sleep quality not that great either and 6-7 often more like 3-5 depending. I'm chronically sleep deprived. It's not healthy. I'm also a supreme night owl, doing my best work around 6-9pm…

Do the respiratory problems include sleep apnea? If so, do you use a mask?

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#82

Post by JJMalina » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 5:44 PM UTC

nagrom wrote: post #79

EToS wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Beer' can help with sleeping earlier during weekdays :)

Beer may help you sleep, but it will, in my experience, leave you feeling groggy the next day and impair your performance more than you would have suffered through lack of sleep. There are many good reasons to drink beer, but to help you sleep and improve performance ain't one of 'em.

Like you mentioned, that in your experience it leave you groggy, personally I think this depends on the person and how their body reacts to beer. I've found that one beer (500 ml) at least an hour or two before sleep doesn't leave me groggy in the morning at all. If I drank beer right before sleep that probably wouldn't work well.

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#83

Post by lightyrs » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 5:52 PM UTC

Please indicate whether you take some kind of ADHD medication as I think this greatly impacts sleep schedules.

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#84

Post by jrockway » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 5:52 PM UTC

akg wrote: post #46

I've tried Monophasic sleep, Polyphasic sleep, the uberman cycle, the every-man cycle, and just about every other sleep cycle. I find that the best pattern that works for me is bi-phasic sleeping. I think we are naturally biphasic sleepers. The best change I made to my sleeping patterns is getting rid of an alarm clock. Get as much sleep as you need and then just wake up. If you get tired, take a nap. The body induce…

I agree with you. The problem is staying on a 24-hour cycle with biphasic sleep; I simply cannot do it. 4 hours of sleep gets me about 12 hours of productivity before I am tired again. This puts me on a 32 hour cycle, which is largely incompatible with real life.

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#85

Post by jrockway » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 5:53 PM UTC

veyron wrote: post #73

1.5 hour caffeine power naps: I found that if I drink a red bull or a cup of coffee right before going to bed, I wake up in an hour and a half feeling refreshed and alert

I have vivid nightmares if I do this. (Not that this is a bad thing. It's nice to wake up and realize that you did not, in fact, just run over 30 people with your car and engage in a high-speed police chase.)

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#86

Post by waldr » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 5:54 PM UTC

I was getting around 4 hours sleep per night until I made a change and stopped taking my laptop to bed! Instead I make sure I leave it out of my bedroom and read a book to wind down for 30-45 mins before sleeping. This has drastically improved my sleeping patterns.

As much as I thought spending an hour or 2 reading online before sleep would be ok, it'd send me into a cycle and I simply didn't sleep at all.

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#87

Post by alecthomas » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 6:01 PM UTC

I have a four month old baby. I'm lucky if I get five hours.

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#88

Post by bleakgadfly » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 6:02 PM UTC

- Do you sleep continuously, or are you on a polyphasic sleep schedule?

I tried a polyphasic sleep schedule. And failed.

- How does your sleep schedule affect your work and the rest of your life?

Not that I can tell.

- Does the work you do affect your sleep?

No.

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#89

Post by goblin89 » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 6:02 PM UTC

steve8918 wrote: post #76

I was chronically sleep-deprived for about 5-6 years but didn't know it, once I started watching the stock market closely. I would go to sleep at 12-1am and wake up at 6am to watch the stock market open. Then at 930am I would leave for work and come back at 730pm. I would have dinner, do some additional work and then repeat the cycle. I loved it, but I would regularly get between 4-6 hrs per night even on weekends. I…

Thanks for sharing this experience. It reminds that many of us far too often overestimate our abilities to ‘read’ our bodies. Being aware of a problem when it affects the brain is the trickiest part. Good that you've noticed it in time.

Re: Poll: How much sleep do you get per night?

#90

Post by bh42222 » Wed, Jan 18, 2012, 6:06 PM UTC

steve8918 wrote: post #76

I was chronically sleep-deprived for about 5-6 years but didn't know it, once I started watching the stock market closely. I would go to sleep at 12-1am and wake up at 6am to watch the stock market open. Then at 930am I would leave for work and come back at 730pm. I would have dinner, do some additional work and then repeat the cycle. I loved it, but I would regularly get between 4-6 hrs per night even on weekends. I…

Same 4-6 hrs sleep pattern here, and recently I too have suddenly started to forget simple things like how words I use every day are spelled.

Yet I can't seem to be able to consistently force myself to be in bed early enough.