5 ms·

Ask HN: How much do you sleep?

52 points by ryanmccullagh 10y ago

This a bit off topic for HN, but I would like to know your sleep patterns, and what you do to get great sleep.

sharps_xp 10y ago
I'm 29, and I still don't have enough frontal lobe development to go to bed at a healthy hour. A flexible work schedule doesn't help either. There's a big difference between going to bed at 11 PM and sleeping 8-10 hours and going to bed at 2 AM and sleeping 8 - 10 hours. The rest just isn't the same. When I really want great sleep before a big interview or something, I turn off all things digital and yoga/stretching, basically a wind down routine.
- Huhty 10y ago
  As a night owl myself, I agree.
- michaelchisari 10y ago
  When I really want great sleep before a big interview or something, I turn off all things digital and yoga/stretching, basically a wind down routine. You have to start doing that as a matter of course. It can't just be for the night before an important day, it has to be routine. When I practice proper sleep hygiene, I feel immeasurably better. Usually takes about a week, maybe two. Think of staying up late like eating poorly. You can do it once in a while, and that's more than fine, but you can't make a lifestyle out of it without big consequences.
- Broken_Hippo 10y ago
  I am exactly the same way, and have been since I was young. I didn't wake up early for Santa: My parents woke me out of excitement. I feel better, physically and mentally when I sleep and wake at the later times. I sleep through alarm clocks at times as well, and it took me years to figure out how to minimize this. I feel great right now, but I'm not working and waking around 11 or noon. And as a side note: I'm 38.
misframer 10y ago
I get about 6.5 hours of sleep every night on weekdays. Closer to 8 on weekends. I graduated from college a year ago and I used to get around 6 hours of sleep daily with a 20 minute nap. I'm 23, by the way.
nthnclrk 10y ago
11pm-6am most nights. Best when I actually stick to a no "no screens policy" 30mins prior. I also use f.lux (mac) and the Night Shift mode on iPhone.
andy_adams 10y ago
I sleep 5-7 hours per night, very broken up b/c of a nursing baby and because our primary heat source is a wood stove that sometimes needs to be restocked. I am quite adjusted to broken sleep after doing it for the better part of 6 years (my oldest is 6). Sleep is a valuable resource even if I don't always treat it that way. The biggest helps for me: 1. Stop using computers, phones, etc, at least 2 hours before bed. Lots of people recommend this to help with the "quality" of sleep, but I've also noticed I fall asleep _much more_ quickly when I follow this rigorously. 2. Prioritize extra sleep every so often - that means skipping "fun" things like reading before bed after the kids are down. 3. The occasional mid-day nap works wonders.
- sharkweek 10y ago
  I used to sit in bed for like an hour just... trying to fall asleep. Realized it was specifically because I was staring at my phone/computer/TV right before bed, which was both pouring bright light into my eyes at night, and even worse, giving me something to think about most of the time (work, news, etc). I started meditating instead for about 15-20 minutes before bed and now I'm half asleep before I even lie down.
ismail 10y ago
This is something I have been researching. I feel like I am constantly tired even if I get 8 hours. The strange thing is I went on a 5 day hike earlier this year, no tech uncomfortable sleeping spots, no pillow yet I slept and woke up super refreshed. My theory's are: Could be related to physical activity, no tech, went to bed early and woke up before sunrise. Anyone else have similar experiences?
- cylinder 10y ago
  That is due to your exposure to sunlight, which helps set circadian rhythms. It's pretty well known that a bit of camping can help insomniacs or people with poor sleep. Also, sunlight helps you wake up. I'm not a morning person, but when I went on an island holiday where the sun beamed into my room at around 5am, I never had any trouble waking up at that time. Also, I was spending all day outside, which supports my first point. Aside from that, physical activity, and lack of artificial light exposure helped you fall asleep early.
- joeyspn 10y ago
  > I feel like I am constantly tired even if I get 8 hours. This is a classic symptom of hypothyroidism, maybe you should get your thyroid checked.
  - Southworth 10y ago
    are you a doctor?
    - joeyspn 10y ago
      more like a patient... :P
- angry-hacker 10y ago
  I have similar problems and I'm certain technology kills my "natural" sleeping and living patterns. I'm not good with technology, but that's the only thing I know how to do and love... I'm thinking about leaving the technology all behind, even smartphones and casual things and start learning a trade like carpentry.
rabbyte 10y ago
I sleep between 3 and 11 hours which sounds strange until I mention I also don't go to sleep every night or live within the confines of any given time zone... wait that still sounds strange. I'm strange.
isubkhankulov 10y ago
most days 8-9 hours. 5-7 during stressful times and on occasion 10 when "catching up" on sleep. I prioritize sleep as I think thats the single best way to live a long life and to have a healthy brain. After all, for most us, its our livelihood and I'm hoping I can avoid serious neurological diseases and disorders just by getting a full night's rest as often as possible. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/10/18/236211811/brains-sweep-themselves-clean-of-toxins-during-sleep http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/10/18/23621181...
michaelchisari 10y ago
7-8 hours, more towards 7 depending on how much cardio I'm getting. If I'm going through a weight-lifting routine, I tend to sleep more, 8-9 hours.
jensvdh 10y ago
8-10 hours
rabidrat 10y ago
I sleep 2-8:30am during the week, and 2-10am or so on the weekends. I could maybe try going to bed at 1am, but going to sleep before midnight usually results in being awake from 3-5am which is stressful if I feel I have to get up the next day. One interesting thing I've noticed, is that when I get 8+ hours of sleep, I'm happy but not as productive. On 6.5 hours of sleep, I'm a little grouchier but a LOT more productive. It's like I get into a mode where nothing feels right so I may as well just bang it out and get it done, whereas when I feel 100% mentally, I spend more time noodling and trying to find a better/perfect solution. I'm 40 years old and a software dev, btw.
eveith 10y ago
For most of my life, if I wanted to be productive, I aimed for 10h of sleep. Yes, really, ten hours. There is nothing like a good amount of sleep to make you productive. If its about achieving a certain goal, without pouring a specificed amount of hours into it every day, it is the best solution to let your brain refresh every night as much as it can. I don't hold any self-optimization approaches in high esteem; I found that, indeed, nothing helps as much as an healthy amount of sleep. This is not only important for my brain, but also for my stomach, and, especially, my eyes, I have found. When "working a specified amount of hours every day at a minimum" is the modus operandi, I tend to make sure I get at least 8 hours of sleep at night. Recreational days are strictly exempt from this policy. If my intellectual output does not matter, e.g., during holidays, I do not care whether I sleep 7 or 12 hours, then I strictly care about my well-feeling only. This might indeed involve vast amounts of cheese, red wine, and whisky. ;-)
zem 10y ago
6-8 hours on weeknights, 8-10 on weekends
buserror 10y ago
For a million years I was a 'night owl' and did 2am, 8am or so sleep. I changed about 2 years ago to more like a 11pm, 6:30am or so. I know that a lot of people think it's a good idea and all that, but I think my productivity overrall is way down than it was before. Twist in the story is that, being aware of that, I'm unlikely to change back, as the new schedule gives more more time to do /other/ things than being productive... For example, I hit the office at 7am, and leave at 3pm, and have the whole afternoon 'off' technically.
ardit33 10y ago
When I had a regular job, I could do with about 6hrs of sleep, but eventually over time slept debt would accumulate, and I'd sleep one day (usually Saturdays) about 10hrs to catch up. Now, that I work on my schedule (getting a startup off the ground), I regularly sleep 9hrs, sometimes 10. Time to time I have coding marathons (when I am doing something exiting), that might cut my sleep to only 5-6 hrs a day, but that usually lasts only about a week and my productivity drops. I noticed with 9hrs a day, building muscle is easier, I have less body inflammation, and no stress or anxiety. The quality of my code is substantially better as well. Bottom line: I thought 6hrs a day was enough, but I see that naturally my body wants about 9hrs of sleep, and the 'plentiness' of sleep affects my mood in good ways. This is probably some of the happiest times of my life, even though it is the middle of winter here in NYC.
hkmurakami 10y ago
8 or 9 hours. Moderate exercise and a clean diet, along with reduced stress have improved my sleep markedly (I've had sleep problems for almost 2 decades now).
czep 10y ago
I sleep from 9pm to 4am, +/- 30 minutes. I was never a morning person but having a kid changed that out of necessity. From 4pm until 9pm, my life is absolutely frantic: commute and/or daycare pickup, feed, cleanup, bathe, and by 9 I'm exhausted. My partner stays up to work after my son and i go to bed. I tried that approach but was totally unproductive. Now I get up 2 or 3 hours before anyone else and in that time I get more done than I used to do in a normal 8 hour workday. My team at work mostly get in and stay late which is sometimes difficult because I'm basically out of commission after 3pm. But I like to think I compensate by getting so much done in the early hours. I got dinged on a performance review for ignoring slack messages sent at 6pm. It was hard to swallow because I basically work 11 hours a day. I have to refuse meeting requests after 3pm, and if I get pushback, I offer to reschedule for 5am. Oh that's too early for you? So I have to accept your schedule? Fine, cut me a check for $80 because that's what my daycare charges for late pickups. Oops, this got a little off topic. But as you can see, work/life balance should really be renamed work/sleep balance since I'm working basically every waking minute that I'm possibly able to.
- sagichmal 10y ago
  > I got dinged on a performance review for ignoring slack messages sent at 6pm. Ugh, that's not reasonable on your manager's part. > I have to refuse meeting requests after 3pm, and if I get pushback, I offer to reschedule for 5am. That's also not really reasonable on your part. Of course it all depends on dynamics and mutual understanding, but 3pm is certainly well within "core hours" of a normal working day, and 5am certainly isn't.
  - trcollinson 10y ago
    While you are right that 5am is well outside of normal working hours, I have been at places that will do a 4pm meeting but won't do a 11am meeting because "a number of people won't be in, or won't be ready," and so on. I like the point that was trying to be made. This is why in organizations I run I actually restrict meetings to no more than 60 minutes per day as must be better 10am and 2pm. It's amazing how few meetings organizations really need to get work done.
  - 10y ago
fnovd 10y ago
Anywhere from 6 to 10 hours, with the occasional 5-hour or 12-hour nights. If I could, I'd sleep from 1:30-2AM until 10-11AM. I can get away with this every now and then when my schedule permits. I'll spend 30-45 minutes on email, eat a big lunch, and then work for 6-7 hours straight. I haven't had much look finding sleep strategies. Screen or no screens, my mind will race while I lay in bed until 1AM or so. I've found it to be a great time for me to think about my work as I end up doing a lot of 'background processing' while I sleep.
alex- 10y ago
The normal 8 hrs here. I don't set an alarm (unless getting up early for something) I just wake up when I normally wake up. This means I go to bed very consistently and earlier than most of my peers. The main thing I need to sleep is total darkness. Some years ago I read that people don't need as much sleep as they think. In an attempt to gain some extra time in the day I experimented with reducing the amount I slept. I found even a little less sleep has a significant adverse effect on me; lower energy levels, irritability, reduced attention span.
Broken_Hippo 10y ago
I'm usually in bed 7-9 hours. Occasionally I sleep less, and very rarely more. Right now, I don't work so I usually sleep around 3-4am and wake between 10:30 and 12. I've always slept well so long as I'm not on a morning shift: In this case, I just let myself sleep most days. If I have to get up early, my sleep quality suffers even with good sleeping habits. The difference between the waking times is stark. In these cases, I just suffer through it.
Yetanfou 10y ago
3-5 hours per night, depending on what I'm doing. I usually end up switching off the book around 0300, the alarm is set for 0620, children get up at 0730, I drive them to school at 0815, work on the farm and work on different projects between then and 1315/1415 when it is time to get them from school again, after that my time is divided between work, children, food preparation and such. Around 2200-2300 I'm 'free' again to do some more work, this time usually something IT or electronics-related. Bed around 0200-0230. I never was much of a sleeper, not even when growing up. When I was around 12 I used to switch off the radio when the boring night programming started (I still hear the beginning tunes of those programs in my head and remember the dreary sensation which came with them: time to tune out and read a bit more...). Officially I don't get enough sleep and I should suffer from all sorts of ailments but... I don't. The children are 5 and 12, I'm 51.
- Frondo 10y ago
  You're not alone in needing very little. I myself need the usual 7 1/2-8 to feel good, but a long time ago I did martial arts with a guy who slept 4 hours a night, from 1am to 5am. He just didn't need more, and enjoyed more free time than most of us get.
  - mrslave 10y ago
    Colloquially referred to as the "efficient sleeper gene" or "super-sleeper gene", a quick search of these terms, or DEC2, reveals some lucky people among us get by - indeed thrive - on 4 or 5 hours of sleep per day. Famous examples include Kobe Bryant and Donald Trump (please suspend irrational partisanship for just one minute - ducks). I'm not big into basketball but I was thoroughly inspired by Kobe legends (linked below). Favorite among them, John Celestand jealously pleased he might finally beat Kobe to training one day after Kobe's wrist was broken, only to find Kobe still there first, and training just as hard as usual, only with his off-hand. https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2dzolu/compilation_of_kobe_bryant_stories/ https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2dzolu/compilation_of_... http://www.viralhoops.com/kobe-bryant-motivational-stories/ http://www.viralhoops.com/kobe-bryant-motivational-stories/.
lhnz 10y ago
If I fall asleep at 2am I wake at 9am, and if I fall asleep at 11pm I wake at 9am. The latter is extremely hard, so generally I just try to work around my night-owl body clock. I am most productive in the evenings anyway. It's hard though, because there are a lot of early risers, and there's always an expectation that you must fully conform to the norm or else must be lazy.
emidln 10y ago
6-7 hours. If I sleep for longer, I feel like shit.
codingdave 10y ago
9pm - 5am, ideally. But just as often, I get off schedule, and end up doing a split of 9-1, be up for 4 hours, then 5-9. For the best sleep, I take melatonin, I exercise in the mornings, avoid caffeine after lunch, and avoid naps.
guard-of-terra 10y ago
I go to bed at 2am-3am, alarm rings 10:50, I reset it to 11:10, wake up, get dressed and walk to office without breakfast to be there at noon sharp. Not feeling well. On weekend, I would go to sleep even later, wake up after 9 hours of sleep and still feel like crap.
alistairSH 10y ago
8 hours, give or take. In bed by 10pm, read for a bit, alarm at 6am. Doze a bit while my wife showers, then up and get myself ready. I try to work out 5-6 times/week. Without it, I sleep lighter and inconsistently. With it, I usually sleep well.
1e1f 10y ago
I prefer 9 hrs if I can, scales down to 6 during stressful periods but if I do less than 6 for a while it becomes a real problem. Hours are all over the place, this summer I was sleeping midnight to 7:30, right now I'm 3a to 11/12
gwicks56 10y ago
I just bought one of those Phillips wake up lights. Only been two weeks, but now I have way more energy in the morning, usually enough to get up and do 30 min of exercise and be finished before i had previously finished dozing. I find I am slightly awake 15min into the light cycle, and fully away 25 min in ( 5 min before the alarm actually goes off)
rubicon33 10y ago
I've been using the Eight "smart" mattress cover to track my sleeping patterns. I average about 9 hours of sleep. The quality of that sleep though (per their algorithm) varies greatly. Some nights I sleep really well, others, I toss and turn all night. I'm hoping to figure out why that is, using their "experiment" feature.
jecjec 10y ago
I sleep from 11/1130pm to about 7/730am. I live in San Francisco and sleep with earplugs in
hluska 10y ago
I have a ten month old daughter. I vaguely remember the concept of a regular sleeping pattern, but I can't for the life of me, remember what that would be like.
- czep 10y ago
  It gets better, I know being in that zone you can't imagine what "normal" life is like but trust me it gets better. Right after my son was born when I was on paternity leave, I slept in two shifts, for about 2-3 hours if I was lucky. I pulled the night shift and got to sleep around 5am when my partner and in-laws woke up to relieve me. Then I'd get another 2-3 hour cat nap in the late afternoon. While doing the overnight shift, in the rare moments when all the baby's needs were met I took to studying bash. I wrote some really crazy cryptic bash scripts! Of course I totally forgot everything I learned but for awhile I felt like a zen master of bash.
  - hluska 10y ago
    Thanks for your kind message! :)
sinap 10y ago
364 nights using the Sleep Cycle app and I have an average time in bed of 6.5 hours.
sridvijay 10y ago
Around 7 hours most of the time, from 1:30-8:30am
jaytaylor 10y ago
In bed by 9pm, asleep by 10, and wake up around 6-7am. I've found that a full night of rest enables great productivity. And things are a lot less crowded and traffic-y early in the morning!
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

52 points by ryanmccullagh 10y ago

This a bit off topic for HN, but I would like to know your sleep patterns, and what you do to get great sleep.

I'm 29, and I still don't have enough frontal lobe development to go to bed at a healthy hour. A flexible work schedule doesn't help either. There's a big difference between going to bed at 11 PM and sleeping 8-10 hours and going to bed at 2 AM and sleeping 8 - 10 hours. The rest just isn't the same. When I really want great sleep before a big interview or something, I turn off all things digital and yoga/stretching, basically a wind down routine.

Huhty 10y ago
As a night owl myself, I agree.
michaelchisari 10y ago
When I really want great sleep before a big interview or something, I turn off all things digital and yoga/stretching, basically a wind down routine. You have to start doing that as a matter of course. It can't just be for the night before an important day, it has to be routine. When I practice proper sleep hygiene, I feel immeasurably better. Usually takes about a week, maybe two. Think of staying up late like eating poorly. You can do it once in a while, and that's more than fine, but you can't make a lifestyle out of it without big consequences.
Broken_Hippo 10y ago
I am exactly the same way, and have been since I was young. I didn't wake up early for Santa: My parents woke me out of excitement. I feel better, physically and mentally when I sleep and wake at the later times. I sleep through alarm clocks at times as well, and it took me years to figure out how to minimize this. I feel great right now, but I'm not working and waking around 11 or noon. And as a side note: I'm 38.

misframer 10y ago

I get about 6.5 hours of sleep every night on weekdays. Closer to 8 on weekends. I graduated from college a year ago and I used to get around 6 hours of sleep daily with a 20 minute nap. I'm 23, by the way.

nthnclrk 10y ago

11pm-6am most nights. Best when I actually stick to a no "no screens policy" 30mins prior. I also use f.lux (mac) and the Night Shift mode on iPhone.

andy_adams 10y ago

I sleep 5-7 hours per night, very broken up b/c of a nursing baby and because our primary heat source is a wood stove that sometimes needs to be restocked. I am quite adjusted to broken sleep after doing it for the better part of 6 years (my oldest is 6). Sleep is a valuable resource even if I don't always treat it that way. The biggest helps for me: 1. Stop using computers, phones, etc, at least 2 hours before bed. Lots of people recommend this to help with the "quality" of sleep, but I've also noticed I fall asleep _much more_ quickly when I follow this rigorously. 2. Prioritize extra sleep every so often - that means skipping "fun" things like reading before bed after the kids are down. 3. The occasional mid-day nap works wonders.

sharkweek 10y ago
I used to sit in bed for like an hour just... trying to fall asleep. Realized it was specifically because I was staring at my phone/computer/TV right before bed, which was both pouring bright light into my eyes at night, and even worse, giving me something to think about most of the time (work, news, etc). I started meditating instead for about 15-20 minutes before bed and now I'm half asleep before I even lie down.

ismail 10y ago

This is something I have been researching. I feel like I am constantly tired even if I get 8 hours. The strange thing is I went on a 5 day hike earlier this year, no tech uncomfortable sleeping spots, no pillow yet I slept and woke up super refreshed. My theory's are: Could be related to physical activity, no tech, went to bed early and woke up before sunrise. Anyone else have similar experiences?

cylinder 10y ago
That is due to your exposure to sunlight, which helps set circadian rhythms. It's pretty well known that a bit of camping can help insomniacs or people with poor sleep. Also, sunlight helps you wake up. I'm not a morning person, but when I went on an island holiday where the sun beamed into my room at around 5am, I never had any trouble waking up at that time. Also, I was spending all day outside, which supports my first point. Aside from that, physical activity, and lack of artificial light exposure helped you fall asleep early.
joeyspn 10y ago
> I feel like I am constantly tired even if I get 8 hours. This is a classic symptom of hypothyroidism, maybe you should get your thyroid checked.
- Southworth 10y ago
  are you a doctor?
  - joeyspn 10y ago
    more like a patient... :P
angry-hacker 10y ago
I have similar problems and I'm certain technology kills my "natural" sleeping and living patterns. I'm not good with technology, but that's the only thing I know how to do and love... I'm thinking about leaving the technology all behind, even smartphones and casual things and start learning a trade like carpentry.

rabbyte 10y ago

I sleep between 3 and 11 hours which sounds strange until I mention I also don't go to sleep every night or live within the confines of any given time zone... wait that still sounds strange. I'm strange.

isubkhankulov 10y ago

most days 8-9 hours. 5-7 during stressful times and on occasion 10 when "catching up" on sleep. I prioritize sleep as I think thats the single best way to live a long life and to have a healthy brain. After all, for most us, its our livelihood and I'm hoping I can avoid serious neurological diseases and disorders just by getting a full night's rest as often as possible. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/10/18/236211811/brains-sweep-themselves-clean-of-toxins-during-sleep http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/10/18/23621181...

michaelchisari 10y ago

7-8 hours, more towards 7 depending on how much cardio I'm getting. If I'm going through a weight-lifting routine, I tend to sleep more, 8-9 hours.

jensvdh 10y ago

8-10 hours

rabidrat 10y ago

I sleep 2-8:30am during the week, and 2-10am or so on the weekends. I could maybe try going to bed at 1am, but going to sleep before midnight usually results in being awake from 3-5am which is stressful if I feel I have to get up the next day. One interesting thing I've noticed, is that when I get 8+ hours of sleep, I'm happy but not as productive. On 6.5 hours of sleep, I'm a little grouchier but a LOT more productive. It's like I get into a mode where nothing feels right so I may as well just bang it out and get it done, whereas when I feel 100% mentally, I spend more time noodling and trying to find a better/perfect solution. I'm 40 years old and a software dev, btw.

eveith 10y ago

For most of my life, if I wanted to be productive, I aimed for 10h of sleep. Yes, really, ten hours. There is nothing like a good amount of sleep to make you productive. If its about achieving a certain goal, without pouring a specificed amount of hours into it every day, it is the best solution to let your brain refresh every night as much as it can. I don't hold any self-optimization approaches in high esteem; I found that, indeed, nothing helps as much as an healthy amount of sleep. This is not only important for my brain, but also for my stomach, and, especially, my eyes, I have found. When "working a specified amount of hours every day at a minimum" is the modus operandi, I tend to make sure I get at least 8 hours of sleep at night. Recreational days are strictly exempt from this policy. If my intellectual output does not matter, e.g., during holidays, I do not care whether I sleep 7 or 12 hours, then I strictly care about my well-feeling only. This might indeed involve vast amounts of cheese, red wine, and whisky. ;-)

zem 10y ago

6-8 hours on weeknights, 8-10 on weekends

buserror 10y ago

For a million years I was a 'night owl' and did 2am, 8am or so sleep. I changed about 2 years ago to more like a 11pm, 6:30am or so. I know that a lot of people think it's a good idea and all that, but I think my productivity overrall is way down than it was before. Twist in the story is that, being aware of that, I'm unlikely to change back, as the new schedule gives more more time to do /other/ things than being productive... For example, I hit the office at 7am, and leave at 3pm, and have the whole afternoon 'off' technically.

ardit33 10y ago

When I had a regular job, I could do with about 6hrs of sleep, but eventually over time slept debt would accumulate, and I'd sleep one day (usually Saturdays) about 10hrs to catch up. Now, that I work on my schedule (getting a startup off the ground), I regularly sleep 9hrs, sometimes 10. Time to time I have coding marathons (when I am doing something exiting), that might cut my sleep to only 5-6 hrs a day, but that usually lasts only about a week and my productivity drops. I noticed with 9hrs a day, building muscle is easier, I have less body inflammation, and no stress or anxiety. The quality of my code is substantially better as well. Bottom line: I thought 6hrs a day was enough, but I see that naturally my body wants about 9hrs of sleep, and the 'plentiness' of sleep affects my mood in good ways. This is probably some of the happiest times of my life, even though it is the middle of winter here in NYC.

hkmurakami 10y ago

8 or 9 hours. Moderate exercise and a clean diet, along with reduced stress have improved my sleep markedly (I've had sleep problems for almost 2 decades now).

czep 10y ago

I sleep from 9pm to 4am, +/- 30 minutes. I was never a morning person but having a kid changed that out of necessity. From 4pm until 9pm, my life is absolutely frantic: commute and/or daycare pickup, feed, cleanup, bathe, and by 9 I'm exhausted. My partner stays up to work after my son and i go to bed. I tried that approach but was totally unproductive. Now I get up 2 or 3 hours before anyone else and in that time I get more done than I used to do in a normal 8 hour workday. My team at work mostly get in and stay late which is sometimes difficult because I'm basically out of commission after 3pm. But I like to think I compensate by getting so much done in the early hours. I got dinged on a performance review for ignoring slack messages sent at 6pm. It was hard to swallow because I basically work 11 hours a day. I have to refuse meeting requests after 3pm, and if I get pushback, I offer to reschedule for 5am. Oh that's too early for you? So I have to accept your schedule? Fine, cut me a check for $80 because that's what my daycare charges for late pickups. Oops, this got a little off topic. But as you can see, work/life balance should really be renamed work/sleep balance since I'm working basically every waking minute that I'm possibly able to.

sagichmal 10y ago
> I got dinged on a performance review for ignoring slack messages sent at 6pm. Ugh, that's not reasonable on your manager's part. > I have to refuse meeting requests after 3pm, and if I get pushback, I offer to reschedule for 5am. That's also not really reasonable on your part. Of course it all depends on dynamics and mutual understanding, but 3pm is certainly well within "core hours" of a normal working day, and 5am certainly isn't.
- trcollinson 10y ago
  While you are right that 5am is well outside of normal working hours, I have been at places that will do a 4pm meeting but won't do a 11am meeting because "a number of people won't be in, or won't be ready," and so on. I like the point that was trying to be made. This is why in organizations I run I actually restrict meetings to no more than 60 minutes per day as must be better 10am and 2pm. It's amazing how few meetings organizations really need to get work done.
- 10y ago

fnovd 10y ago

Anywhere from 6 to 10 hours, with the occasional 5-hour or 12-hour nights. If I could, I'd sleep from 1:30-2AM until 10-11AM. I can get away with this every now and then when my schedule permits. I'll spend 30-45 minutes on email, eat a big lunch, and then work for 6-7 hours straight. I haven't had much look finding sleep strategies. Screen or no screens, my mind will race while I lay in bed until 1AM or so. I've found it to be a great time for me to think about my work as I end up doing a lot of 'background processing' while I sleep.

alex- 10y ago

The normal 8 hrs here. I don't set an alarm (unless getting up early for something) I just wake up when I normally wake up. This means I go to bed very consistently and earlier than most of my peers. The main thing I need to sleep is total darkness. Some years ago I read that people don't need as much sleep as they think. In an attempt to gain some extra time in the day I experimented with reducing the amount I slept. I found even a little less sleep has a significant adverse effect on me; lower energy levels, irritability, reduced attention span.

Broken_Hippo 10y ago

I'm usually in bed 7-9 hours. Occasionally I sleep less, and very rarely more. Right now, I don't work so I usually sleep around 3-4am and wake between 10:30 and 12. I've always slept well so long as I'm not on a morning shift: In this case, I just let myself sleep most days. If I have to get up early, my sleep quality suffers even with good sleeping habits. The difference between the waking times is stark. In these cases, I just suffer through it.

Yetanfou 10y ago

3-5 hours per night, depending on what I'm doing. I usually end up switching off the book around 0300, the alarm is set for 0620, children get up at 0730, I drive them to school at 0815, work on the farm and work on different projects between then and 1315/1415 when it is time to get them from school again, after that my time is divided between work, children, food preparation and such. Around 2200-2300 I'm 'free' again to do some more work, this time usually something IT or electronics-related. Bed around 0200-0230. I never was much of a sleeper, not even when growing up. When I was around 12 I used to switch off the radio when the boring night programming started (I still hear the beginning tunes of those programs in my head and remember the dreary sensation which came with them: time to tune out and read a bit more...). Officially I don't get enough sleep and I should suffer from all sorts of ailments but... I don't. The children are 5 and 12, I'm 51.

Frondo 10y ago
You're not alone in needing very little. I myself need the usual 7 1/2-8 to feel good, but a long time ago I did martial arts with a guy who slept 4 hours a night, from 1am to 5am. He just didn't need more, and enjoyed more free time than most of us get.
- mrslave 10y ago
  Colloquially referred to as the "efficient sleeper gene" or "super-sleeper gene", a quick search of these terms, or DEC2, reveals some lucky people among us get by - indeed thrive - on 4 or 5 hours of sleep per day. Famous examples include Kobe Bryant and Donald Trump (please suspend irrational partisanship for just one minute - ducks). I'm not big into basketball but I was thoroughly inspired by Kobe legends (linked below). Favorite among them, John Celestand jealously pleased he might finally beat Kobe to training one day after Kobe's wrist was broken, only to find Kobe still there first, and training just as hard as usual, only with his off-hand. https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2dzolu/compilation_of_kobe_bryant_stories/ https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2dzolu/compilation_of_... http://www.viralhoops.com/kobe-bryant-motivational-stories/ http://www.viralhoops.com/kobe-bryant-motivational-stories/.

lhnz 10y ago

If I fall asleep at 2am I wake at 9am, and if I fall asleep at 11pm I wake at 9am. The latter is extremely hard, so generally I just try to work around my night-owl body clock. I am most productive in the evenings anyway. It's hard though, because there are a lot of early risers, and there's always an expectation that you must fully conform to the norm or else must be lazy.

emidln 10y ago

6-7 hours. If I sleep for longer, I feel like shit.

codingdave 10y ago

9pm - 5am, ideally. But just as often, I get off schedule, and end up doing a split of 9-1, be up for 4 hours, then 5-9. For the best sleep, I take melatonin, I exercise in the mornings, avoid caffeine after lunch, and avoid naps.

guard-of-terra 10y ago

I go to bed at 2am-3am, alarm rings 10:50, I reset it to 11:10, wake up, get dressed and walk to office without breakfast to be there at noon sharp. Not feeling well. On weekend, I would go to sleep even later, wake up after 9 hours of sleep and still feel like crap.

alistairSH 10y ago

8 hours, give or take. In bed by 10pm, read for a bit, alarm at 6am. Doze a bit while my wife showers, then up and get myself ready. I try to work out 5-6 times/week. Without it, I sleep lighter and inconsistently. With it, I usually sleep well.

1e1f 10y ago

I prefer 9 hrs if I can, scales down to 6 during stressful periods but if I do less than 6 for a while it becomes a real problem. Hours are all over the place, this summer I was sleeping midnight to 7:30, right now I'm 3a to 11/12

gwicks56 10y ago

I just bought one of those Phillips wake up lights. Only been two weeks, but now I have way more energy in the morning, usually enough to get up and do 30 min of exercise and be finished before i had previously finished dozing. I find I am slightly awake 15min into the light cycle, and fully away 25 min in ( 5 min before the alarm actually goes off)

rubicon33 10y ago

I've been using the Eight "smart" mattress cover to track my sleeping patterns. I average about 9 hours of sleep. The quality of that sleep though (per their algorithm) varies greatly. Some nights I sleep really well, others, I toss and turn all night. I'm hoping to figure out why that is, using their "experiment" feature.

jecjec 10y ago

I sleep from 11/1130pm to about 7/730am. I live in San Francisco and sleep with earplugs in

hluska 10y ago

I have a ten month old daughter. I vaguely remember the concept of a regular sleeping pattern, but I can't for the life of me, remember what that would be like.

czep 10y ago
It gets better, I know being in that zone you can't imagine what "normal" life is like but trust me it gets better. Right after my son was born when I was on paternity leave, I slept in two shifts, for about 2-3 hours if I was lucky. I pulled the night shift and got to sleep around 5am when my partner and in-laws woke up to relieve me. Then I'd get another 2-3 hour cat nap in the late afternoon. While doing the overnight shift, in the rare moments when all the baby's needs were met I took to studying bash. I wrote some really crazy cryptic bash scripts! Of course I totally forgot everything I learned but for awhile I felt like a zen master of bash.
- hluska 10y ago
  Thanks for your kind message! :)

sinap 10y ago

364 nights using the Sleep Cycle app and I have an average time in bed of 6.5 hours.

sridvijay 10y ago

Around 7 hours most of the time, from 1:30-8:30am

jaytaylor 10y ago

In bed by 9pm, asleep by 10, and wake up around 6-7am. I've found that a full night of rest enables great productivity. And things are a lot less crowded and traffic-y early in the morning!

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