How much sleep do I need?

Post Reply New Topic

I got a new job about a month ago that's got me working from 3pm to midnight. I have a hard time sleeping after the sun comes up, which is problematic because if I want a full eight hours the sun will rise a long time before I want to get up. My dad insists that grownups don't need eight hours of sleep, and he gets about five every night and is fine. I'd love to quit worrying about sleep, but there are some days when I do get a full eight hours and still feel tired. So, how many hours of sleep does a twenty five year old man need every night, and/or how can I get so that I don't feel like I need as much?

I read the recommended norm is between 6 - 8 hours. But it does vary crazily between individuals, sexes, ages, activity levels, etc. I used to dorm with someone who slept four hours a night and was perfectly fine.
Autistics also commonly need more sleep which is unfortunate.
Here's a rant you didn't ask for - It's a fascinating thing sleep really. Take your timing issue. Circadian rhythms supposedly respond to light cue. Light makes your brain active/wake cycle, darkness less active/sleep cycle. I have a delayed sleep phase syndrome which means mine doesn't. In your case, going to bed before the sun rises (should be easy enough with finishing work around midnight) and blocking out all light from your sleeping space (blinds/curtains/what have you) should trick your brain into not recognizing light cue, so not rebooting the brain into active wake cycle. Earplugs may also help you deceive yourself, if your brain is responding to auditory cues to reinforce circadian cycles - there was one article I read (and as someone with a severe sleep disorder I've read a lot on sleep) that found a connection between "dawn chorus" of animals and birds and circadian cues. Humans and their machines add to this - things are generally quieter at night, trucks/cars/machinery starts up during the day, adding to your chorus cues.
The same train of thought often applies to temperature - cooler at night, warmer during the day.
So, keeping your sleeping space cool, dark and quiet may trigger your brain's passive cycle.
Reinforcing your desired circadian cycle with "sleep hygiene" can help to set it, as can supplementing things like melatonin about an hour before your desired sleep time, to hormonally/chemically convince your body to sleep.
Not to continue the rant, but they tell me that daytime fatigue, even when you have been asleep for eight hours, is due to disordered sleep phases. You need the requisite phases of REM, slow wave and so on for "refreshing" sleep and to avoid being tired on waking. If you're not getting enough or any at all of one of the phases, you can sleep all you want and still feel like garbage (I was lectured on this when I was an alcoholic, for example, because drinking until you pass out screws your sleep phases). To this end one of these fitness trackers that also have the option to record sleep states could be helpful to let you know if disordered sleep stages is your fatigue issue. There has been some studies done in clinical sleep labs to test the accuracy of these activity monitors compared to generally more accurate medical equipment - to mixed results but still interesting.
Also, and I'll stop ranting after this, it's normal to feel tired for a few weeks after you significantly shift your cycle. After that time, if you continue the schedule routinely, your brain should adapt and you'll start to feel less tired and find sleeping easier.

I am 28 female and for a while I have been sleeping 5-7,5h a day but I am not sure how good it is for my health because I have long term depression which could be related. I am thinking about going to sleep early but I just love the night hours too much(sometimes I will go to sleep at 7am and sleep till 11-12am, daylight doesn't bother me). But I will still sleep till 11-12am even if I try to go to sleep at midnight(thats why I avoid going to sleep at midnight unless I have to wake up early, I hate wasting 12h on sleep) so it's more a biological clock thing than being well rested.

Anyway. If daylight is the only reason you cant sleep in the morning why don't you install curtains? I use them every New Year, when I go to sleep at 10am and winter sun bothers me. They allow me to fall asleep and keep me asleep till 5-6pm by making the room nicely dark.

You may be able to sleep under a blanket. I can do that, as can a lot of folks on the Spectrum.

I am 30 now and after some bad trauma last years I am sleeping about 10 to 12 hours and it is very healthy for me. Mostly I am awake till 1-4 a.m. in the morning and sleeping to 12-3 p.m.

There also was days when I had more activity and I mostly needed less sleep in these times, to 6-8 hours, but only in good times.

So you go to sleep, then the sun rises and wakes you? Could blackout curtains help?

I have those things, the sun does not shine in my room, mostly I wake up when my dream is over and I realize that I am still on this foreign planet

You need 6 hours. Half a clock over sleeping is bad.

6.5-8 hours of sleep at the least. Without good sleep and while on a lot of caffenine, you risk ruining your body. Too much sleep can make you groggy and feel miserable. I can understand too why someone can hate the sleep schedules and the eating and drinking water parts of life. As a kid and as an adult I was always annoyed by those things. Now that I am seeing events on the news I am opening my eyes to how important they really are. Besides if you tried what I did in college with drinking an energy drink and mountain dew nonstop to turn a late paper in, you are going to feel miserable.

Feeling tired after a full night's sleep could indicate sleep apnea. Different people need different amounts of sleep, at different times in their lives. If I'm breathing well, I can easily get by on 4-6 with an occasional nap.