How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
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How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
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Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#2There is a lot of mumbo-jumbo surrounding sleep and precious little science, but I have found a few things in my own life that have made me feel better (could be placebo, who knows?)
1) Sleeping in multiples of 90 minutes really does work. It takes me very little time to fall asleep, so I can pretty predictably set my alarm to wake myself up in-between sleep cycles. My baby likes to sleep in three hour increments, and with two of those I feel great in the morning, even though I wake up in the middle to feed her.
2) Establishing a comfortable sleep environment. I jack up a humidifier and put on a Breathe-Right strip. I have low-grade allergies half the year and while I can breathe without one, I find myself feeling much more refreshed in the morning when I sleep with one on.
Most of all, sleep is something worth experimenting with. People spend huge amounts of their time sleeping, and sleepiness has a tremendous impact on productivity, but I find that most people don't introspect much with regards to their sleep. Going from not sleeping well to sleeping well is the ultimate life hack in my opinion.
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#3You know how there's people that can get by on 4-5 hours of sleep each night? I think I'm the opposite. Left to my own devices, I will sleep 10-10.5 hours a day. If I wake up with anything less than 9, I feel pretty horrible. Not sure why, but I sure wish I could get by on less.
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#4[deleted]
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#5You know how there's people that can get by on 4-5 hours of sleep each night? I think I'm the opposite. Left to my own devices, I will sleep 10-10.5 hours a day. If I wake up with anything less than 9, I feel pretty horrible. Not sure why, but I sure wish I could get by on less.
My sleep-wake cycle falls to 10-20 hours if I can let it, for some reason.
This of course spells disaster for my normal work week. I still haven't gotten used to 24 hour days.
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#6> “Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr.”
How can people even take this kind of pseudo-science seriously?
If I sleep for 5 hrs, I'm a complete zombie during the day, unproductive and depressed.
If I sleep for 8.5 hrs (which is how long I sleep naturally), I feel great, productive, and happy. I get way more done.
There are all sorts of studies showing all the negative effects of not getting enough sleep -- that sleep-deprived doctors, for instance, are basically acting under an impairment equal to a few drinks of alcohol.
The idea that people in general are getting too much sleep is really quite preposterous.
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#7It's common sense that 8 straight hours per day is not ideal in general, nevermind for everyone. If you check out your sleep rhythms (and with exercise and without stimulants like alcohol, coffee, nicotine, etc.) the ideal is usually something like:
1) sleep 5.5ish hours. 2) wake up at like 3am, work for an hour or two 3) sleep for another 1.5ish hours 4) wake up at dawn and somewhere in the early afternoon take a brief nap
The knowledge that 8 hours straight isn't ideal isn't the issue, it's fitting it into your daily schedule that's the problem, for the same reason everyone knows that 5 small meals per day is much better for you than 2.5 huge meals.
So you try to compromise, which usually means adjusting your sleeping block to hit your REM rhythms well (i.e. 6.5 or 9 hours, give or take each way).
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#8> “Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr.” How can people even take this kind of pseudo-science seriously? If I sleep for 5 hrs, I'm a complete zombie during the day, unproductive and depressed. If I sleep for 8.5 hrs (which is how long I sleep naturally), I feel great, productive, and happy. I get way more done. There are all sorts of studies showing all the negative effects of not getti…
I share your experience. I feel completely miserable on anything less than 6 hours, and I'm lucky to find myself getting anything done at all on those days.
If I sleep 9 to 10 hours, I do feel groggy/sleepy for several hours—it's not pleasant, but mellow grogginess/sleepiness is wonderful compared to the demoralizing mental and physical exhaustion I feel when I've not slept enough.
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#9> “Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr.” How can people even take this kind of pseudo-science seriously? If I sleep for 5 hrs, I'm a complete zombie during the day, unproductive and depressed. If I sleep for 8.5 hrs (which is how long I sleep naturally), I feel great, productive, and happy. I get way more done. There are all sorts of studies showing all the negative effects of not getti…
Perhaps, I have fallen victim to psuedo-science, as I can't readily produce any papers or reputable articles on the subject, but I thought there was something to getting certain amounts of sleep. Where, if you wake up in the midst of certain portions of the REM cycle, you would actually feel more tired for a length of time.
My own experiences seem to fall in line, but it may just be a placebo effect.
Re: How much sleep do we really need to work productively?
#10There are plenty of variables that influence "productivity" (however that is defined) but I imagine that the amount of sleep required for maximum productivity varies from person to person.
In my personal experience I've known people who require 3 to 4 hrs/night, and others (myself included) who need between 8 and 9. During times when I'm feeling my absolute best, physically and mentally, I get about 2 hours of rigorous exercise, 8 to 10 hours of productive work, and roughly 8 hours of sleep a day with the rest of the time filled in by preparing and eating food, taking short breaks, hobbies, relaxing, etc.
Wild hypothesis: Most people would agree that the amount of sleep they require to "feel and do their best" (assuming ideal exercise, diet, etc.) falls within a normal distribution with mean 7 hours and standard deviation of +/- 3 hours.
--- edit: spelling