Weird sleep habits
For the past few nights I've been staying up till 2 am (a common symptom of homework, project, and test/quiz overdose), and waking up at 6 am in order to get to school on time.
Oddly, I feel more awake than I do when I can get 6 hours of sleep. Experts say we need ~9 hours of sleep per night, but absolutely NO ONE I know sleeps that much ever on a school night/Sunday.
Even weirder, my grades seem to be reaching an all time low even though I feel more awake...
Although sleep deprivation has never been new to me, I feel like I've been "getting used" to it (No, I don't drink coffee, energy drinks, etc.)- but its taking a toll on my problem solving/application side of my brain.
Now, I've passed out standing up in public transport because of deprivation before, but I'm not quite sure where deprivation line is, it's perhaps a week for me?
[b]How much is enough for you to feel refreshed? [/b]
Do you think 9 hours is excessive? How do you feel sleeping say, 6 hours vs. 9 hours?
how much sleep are you getting (on average, or a range of) per night?
My brain won't even allow me to sleep 9 hours no matter how tired I am (bleh.)
24 Comments • Newest first
6-8 hours everyday. I don't like sleeping too much so yep.
sleeping around 5 am and waking up at 11 am ~ 1pm.
It doesn't matter if I sleep for eight hours or even one. I will feel either refreshed or exhausted at random. Sometimes I sleep at 8PM, sometimes I sleep at 7AM because I stayed up all night.
I got 12 hours of sleep last night aside from getting the usual 6-7 hours, and dang I had a great day today.
The usual amount of sleep I get, I just feel like crap after school.
I think that boost of energy is to compensate your lack of sleep (however that makes sense).
I need coffee in the morning to stay up during class now, black only occasionally with sugar or honey.
The only time I get 9 hours of sleep is during the weekends and sometimes I feel so tired I sleep into the afternoon. I don't see a difference really.
7 - 7 1/2 hours on the week days, 9-10 on the weekends
I never get enough sleep
then again, I never sleep enough.
I can perform well after a good ~8-9 hours of sleep but typically I get around 7 while recently I've been getting 6-7
9 hours is completely insane, thats for special weekdays.
Eight hours is the norm, but I usually try to get about 5-6 hours, usually less if I have a lot of work to finish.
@Gyroscope: I do, but it's what my natural sleep cycle is like; it's not like I wake myself up after four/five hours on-the-spot just because I want to. I refer back to high school because that was the time period I had the least amount of sleep - it occurred most in 2010. I've taken medication that aids in sleep but that's a different story. If you believe that 6-8 hours of sleep is necessary for a sustained healthy lifestyle, take some time to research [url=http://www.google.com/search?q=polyphasic+sleep]polyphasic sleep[/url] and get back to me.
* [i]Edited for broken link[/i].
8 hours 12 minutes is the optimal sleep you should have.
And yes as above said a sleep cycle is close to 90 minutes. It is best to go through 5 of these cycles
i just sleep whenever i want to and when i wake up it's a 50% chance that i will be sleepy
i still do good
I have to go to sleep at 11pm and I wake up at 6am.
So about 8 hours
Times I had woken up last week:
6pm
2pm
12pm
12pm
8am
*Did not sleep
5pm
Mine is worse.
[quote=xxdrkangelxx]Back in high school, I'd sleep for about four hours a night. If I was still awake by 3AM, I'd pull an all-nighter so I wouldn't oversleep (I get massive sleep paralysis whenever I know I need to be up within a couple of hours; it'd occur three to four times a week at one point). I'd usually pull a minimum of one all-nighter per week with a maximum of three in a row and still function better than 98% of my peers.
Nowadays, my sleep schedule runs about 4-6 hours a night (or day -- I don't sleep at night in general). I'll occasionally have a day where I pass out for a solid 8+ hours.. and then I'll be back to my norm for another 3-5 weeks. Sleep is for the weak.[/quote]
You do realize you shorten your life every time you continue this habit? You're body and brain can't maintain itself for much longer if you keep damaging it like this. At least 6-8 hours of sleep is NEEDED in order to preserve your body and brain for longevity.
[quote=Gyroscope]Did you know there are four stages of the sleeping cycle? The fourth level obviously being when you're dreaming or the REM stage. Just avoid dreaming if that's possible.[/quote]
No wonder I never dream nowadays, I'm only getting 3-4 hours of sleep every school night
@drager240 Lucky guy
I get at least 8-10 hours a night.
[quote=DIEgusie]12 hours on weekends feels [b]sooooooooo[/b] good
btw, you might feel more awake, but it's just that you're kind of getting used to it. That's bad. You're grades are getting lower because you don't have enough energy (you feel like you have enough) for your brain. If you sleep long enough, your brain is pretty energized.[/quote]
I dunno man. Whenever I get more sleep on weekends I just feel like crap.
Sleep deprived is bad but I think oversleeping is even worse.
Back in high school, I'd sleep for about four hours a night. If I was still awake by 3AM, I'd pull an all-nighter so I wouldn't oversleep (I get massive sleep paralysis whenever I know I need to be up within a couple of hours; it'd occur three to four times a week at one point). I'd usually pull a minimum of one all-nighter per week with a maximum of three in a row and still function better than 98% of my peers.
Nowadays, my sleep schedule runs about 4-6 hours a night (or day -- I don't sleep at night in general). I'll occasionally have a day where I pass out for a solid 8+ hours.. and then I'll be back to my norm for another 3-5 weeks. Sleep is for the weak.
Haha, just heard from my professor today that sleeping 6-10 hours is okay if you're 17-20 years old. Anything longer puts your body into some sort of hibernation, which is why you may feel more tired after waking up from deep sleep.
Did you know there are four stages of the sleeping cycle? The fourth level obviously being when you're dreaming or the REM stage. Just avoid dreaming if that's possible.
The important thing to remember is that you will optimize your sleep between 7-9hours. But what you still don't understand is that you need to keep a constant sleeping schedule. So if you've been used to sleeping from 12am to 6 am all your life, a 9hours sleep will not help you at all and will just disrupt your system.
What you would need to do is actually start sleeping constantly for that amount of time to feel more energized , focused and awake.
I usually get 5-8 hours.
Like me, I've gotten used to it. Also, look up REM and NREM sleep. Depending when you wake and what kind of sleep is interrupted might affect how groggy you are. I've had an even worse cycle recently. I've followed a cycle similar to yours for like 2 years, but then it became worse and worse and now for like 1-2 weeks I've been sleeping right after school (and a bit in school) and waking up at 11pm-1am, basically I'm now nocturnal.
As a physics major, I notice a definite decrease in my ability to do homework problems when I'm sleep deprived. Which sucks because I don't like doing homework during the weekend.
I can only sleep 6 hours max, unless it's the weekend and I don't feel like getting out of bed.
9 hours is too much. We sleep most of our lives anyways.