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Poll: How much do you sleep?

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Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#31

Post by ccvannorman »

I've thought a lot about polyphasic sleep but in the end decided it wasn't for me -- too exhausting to have my mind running like that all the time (and this was the feedback I got from most polyphasics I spoke with).

However, I do need 1 - 3 nights per month were I pull an "all nighter" and sleep very little, and it gives me a huge cognitive and perspective boost -- I highly recommend this for those seeking to shake up their sleep cycle. Typically I would just stay up all night then crash about 4 hours earlier the next day.

For reference, I'm a slim 31 years old white male.

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#32

Post by ccvannorman »

bhouston wrote: post #18

There is a lot of folklore about successful people needs 4, 3 and even 2 hrs of sleep, such as this article: http://www.businessinsider.com/successful-ceo-sleep-schedule... But I am not sure how much of that is being selective in truth telling (it is easier to state that one has gotten by with as little as N hours of sleep, even though that isn't one's average) and being competitive/boastful as it can be a mark of pr…

My experience has been, "this works -- kind of -- but it is not sustainable, difficult to break into, difficult to maintain, and in the end you will have sleep debt and/or suffer in overall cognitive function."

I took this as, "4 hour nights are for code sprints and burning man."

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#33

Post by japhyr »

I'll put in a plug for ditching your alarm clock.

I was a terrible snoozer for years. At my worst, I went through a bad progression: I moved my alarm clock across the room, so I'd have to get out of bed to hit snooze. I got so I could walk across the room, stand on a chair, reset the snooze, and go back to sleep without ever knowing it. I removed the snooze button from my alarm clock, and covered the hole with tape. I would wake up, walk across the room, stand on a chair, manually set the alarm 9 minutes later, and go back to sleep without ever waking up. I did that for hours each morning.

The thing that finally worked for fixing my sleep habits: never using an alarm. I committed fully to a no-alarm mindset. It had a number of results:

- I got up out of bed the first time I woke up each day. It was easy because it was at a natural waking point. I got up easily an hour and a half earlier than I would with an alarm.

- I went to bed earlier, because I knew I had to get enough sleep. I couldn't just trust the alarm to wake me, so I paid more attention to how my body felt.

- I got sick much less. When I was getting run down, my body would sleep longer.

I've been living without an alarm for over twenty years now. I've never missed a test, a flight, anything, except I was late for work once. (It helps that I usually get up hours before I have to be at work, so if I need extra sleep I can get it without being late.)

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#34

Post by nkozyra »

UrMomReadsHN wrote: post #28
nkozyra wrote: post #14

My first child turned 14 months yesterday. For the duration of his life I've operated on 5-7 hours total every night. I (and my co.) were just acqui-hired, but prior to that I was in the 5th year of startup hustle, which became infinitely harder with a newborn. The difference is that I appreciate the value of sleep more than I did before. During a near-acquisition a few years ago I was sleeping 3 hours a night thinki…

No no no no and no. You can't train your body to need less sleep. Sleep deprivation actually effects your judgment on how much sleep you need. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1690

"Affects." Score one for the "sleep deprived." :)

First, literally none of the sources in that link works. Every single one is a 404.

Second, less sleep != "sleep deprivation." This assumes that people never get used to sleeping more than is physiologically necessary. I sleep 5.5 -> 6.5 hours a night. Plenty of people do. But I used to sleep 8+ hours a night in my mid-20s and anything less would leave me feeling worthless.

Most topics on this talk about 6-8 hours of sleep being the "sweet spot," so it's not like I'm talking 3 hours of sleep here. I'm saying that you can move around a little bit and your body will adjust, much like it adjusts to thousands of other changes in environment. You can't go without eating, but you can eat less and your body will respond, for example.

Humans are more pliable than we give ourselves credit.

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#35

Post by damon_c »

People who don't get enough sleep, have you tried napping?

I find that a 20-30 minute nap after lunch is a decent replacement for hours 5-8 of sleep that I didn't get the previous night... until about 10pm or so at which point I crash hard but hopefully the day's work is done.

A few other people where I work have been napping. It's becoming culturally acceptable.

Don't doze. Nap!

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#36

Post by rgbrenner »

japhyr wrote: post #33

I'll put in a plug for ditching your alarm clock. I was a terrible snoozer for years. At my worst, I went through a bad progression: I moved my alarm clock across the room, so I'd have to get out of bed to hit snooze. I got so I could walk across the room, stand on a chair, reset the snooze, and go back to sleep without ever knowing it. I removed the snooze button from my alarm clock, and covered the hole with tape.…

I do the same thing with my alarm -- walk across the room and manually set it for 10 minutes later.. sometimes several times... sometimes without even remembering.

So what does no alarm mean in practice? How early do you go to bed? and how early do you need to be at work? Does this mean going to bed at 8pm?

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#37

Post by nkozyra »

japhyr wrote: post #29
nkozyra wrote: post #14

My first child turned 14 months yesterday. For the duration of his life I've operated on 5-7 hours total every night. I (and my co.) were just acqui-hired, but prior to that I was in the 5th year of startup hustle, which became infinitely harder with a newborn. The difference is that I appreciate the value of sleep more than I did before. During a near-acquisition a few years ago I was sleeping 3 hours a night thinki…

My kid will turn 4 in March. It's much better these days than when he was an infant, but there are still many interrupted nights - dreams, peeing, just coming in to say he's awake. It's sweet; I wouldn't give it up for the word. Some day he'll be too old to crawl into bed with us, so I enjoy every night he comes to visit us now. What I'm finding, though, is that when I get uninterrupted sleep now, it's amazingly refr…

I agree with much of this (and eagerly await the next few years).

The difference between sleeping 6 hours uninterrupted and sleeping 6 hours with 2 interruptions is so dramatic. The cumulative effect of sleep deprivation takes awhile to really hit - the first three months or so I thought I was "fine" and then it really started to compound. Mood was really the most negatively hit aspect of my life.

It's fair to say my appreciation of sleep is perhaps more psychologically-induced than physiological. Happens often when something is taken for granted and then ripped from under your feet for some duration. :)

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#38

Post by alfasin »

japhyr wrote: post #33

I'll put in a plug for ditching your alarm clock. I was a terrible snoozer for years. At my worst, I went through a bad progression: I moved my alarm clock across the room, so I'd have to get out of bed to hit snooze. I got so I could walk across the room, stand on a chair, reset the snooze, and go back to sleep without ever knowing it. I removed the snooze button from my alarm clock, and covered the hole with tape.…

It won't work when you'll have children :)

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#39

Post by r0s »

7.5 hours daily, but some times 6 during the week and about 9 on the weekends.

Ideally it would be whatever I felt like, for maximum cognitive and memory benefit. I hate being on someone's schedule.

Re: Poll: How much do you sleep?

#40

Post by lugg »

ccvannorman wrote: post #31

I've thought a lot about polyphasic sleep but in the end decided it wasn't for me -- too exhausting to have my mind running like that all the time (and this was the feedback I got from most polyphasics I spoke with). However, I do need 1 - 3 nights per month were I pull an "all nighter" and sleep very little, and it gives me a huge cognitive and perspective boost -- I highly recommend this for those seeking to shake…

Biphasic sleep is what I role with after learning about it here on HN a few years ago. I really enjoy reading / learning late at night / early morning. Yet I can't sustain early morning exercise and other things like that after staying up til 1-2am every night. Going to sleep shortly after dinner and waking up around midnight for a few hours reading / coding / learning has really helped me get my shit together.

In fact, come to think of it, biphasic sleep was what got me into early morning running. One morning I woke a bit late and worked a bit too long, so instead of only getting a couple more hours I decided to ride it out and go for a run at 5am. Probably a huge turning point in my life and I didn't really think much of it.

I think this was the thing that really got me interested to try it: http://web.archive.org/web/20110629110723/http://www.history...

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