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Unless I’m sick, I need about 5 hours a night—typically a few hours after midnight, and another couple after dawn. Like the woman in the article, I also don’t g

Unless I’m sick, I need about 5 hours a night—typically a few hours after midnight, and another couple after dawn. Like the woman in the article, I also don’t get hangovers beyond a mild headache and tiredness. It doesn’t make me significantly more productive, but it does give me more time to enjoy life, which is not nothing. I like having people over for parties, because I can get up before everyone else and make breakfast, and people are always really appreciative. :)

mikegioia 12y ago
I also get about 5 a night. The best part, to me, is the 11pm to 2am "shift" when I just read stuff online, or watch videos. I wouldn't say I'm any more productive because of the fewer hours of sleep, but it's those extra 3 hours at night that really lets me learn and discover new things.
- lmnm 12y ago
  I absolutely feel the same way. While those extra few hours aren't necessarily used "efficiently" in a work/study manner, I find I can focus better during the day knowing I'll have time to have plenty of unstructured time later on.
deleted 12y ago
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- evincarofautumn 12y ago
  Dunno. If I sleep more, I feel like I can’t give the appropriate amount of time to all of the routines I want to keep—exercise, work, personal projects, chores, hanging out with friends, and wasting time on the internet with a glass of wine. Splitting things between days makes them harder to keep as routines, for me.
code_duck 12y ago
Hmm, as far as hangovers she says "Does drinking impact your sleep? I don’t get hangovers. If I overdo it and I get a headache, that’s saying a lot. Most people in their 40s are sick for a day and a half. If I drink too much, then I may go to bed at two and get up at six — maybe I get an extra hour’s sleep!" Severe alcoholics often don't get a full night of sleep because they wake up when the depressant effect of the alcohol wears off, the same reason people shake in the mornings - in the absence of alcohol, the chemicals the body releases to compensate for constant alcohol cause overstimulation. My experience with drinking a fair bit last year is I would get 4-6 hours of sleep a night, and wake up wide awake with no hangover, too. On nights when I hadn't drank, I'd sleep 7-9 hours which is normal for me. I'd say it's all a matter of neutransmitter balance, which varies even in normal people. Bipolar folks often only need 2-4 hours of sleep in manic phases, and feel great, but may sleep for 8-12 hours in depressive states. Someone who is hypomanic could be expected to sleep just 4 hours a night and have difficulty sleeping longer.
- peteretep 12y ago
  > Severe alcoholics often don't get a full night of sleep > because they wake up when the depressant effect of the > alcohol wears off ... the same reason people shake in > the mornings I don't think I'd have ever classified myself as an alcoholic, although I used to drink a lot, and now I drink nothing. For a while, I ran a party-promoting business and held down a job as a programmer at the same time, typically going to bed at 2am having drunk maybe the equivalent of ~20 shots of vodka, 3-4 nights a week, and getting up to be in work by 10am. I was definitely stumbling around a bit by the end of the evening, and I needed some strong coffee in the morning, but seriously impaired I was not (although I imagine driving would have been a bad idea at any point in this cycle). Assuming I distributed my drinks fairly evenly from 9pm to 1am, and using the British system of "units" of alcohol, peak blood alcohol was at 1am with ~ 15 units. Less 1 unit an hour, means at 9am wakeup time, I have the equivalent of about 3.5 pints of beer in my blood, and the alcohol doesn't properly drop off until about 3pm in the afternoon - which anecdotally was when I used to feel dreadful. I can't imagine a "severe alcoholic" running out of alcohol in the blood stream overnight.
  - 12y ago

mikegioia 12y ago

I also get about 5 a night. The best part, to me, is the 11pm to 2am "shift" when I just read stuff online, or watch videos. I wouldn't say I'm any more productive because of the fewer hours of sleep, but it's those extra 3 hours at night that really lets me learn and discover new things.

lmnm 12y ago
I absolutely feel the same way. While those extra few hours aren't necessarily used "efficiently" in a work/study manner, I find I can focus better during the day knowing I'll have time to have plenty of unstructured time later on.

deleted 12y ago

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evincarofautumn 12y ago
Dunno. If I sleep more, I feel like I can’t give the appropriate amount of time to all of the routines I want to keep—exercise, work, personal projects, chores, hanging out with friends, and wasting time on the internet with a glass of wine. Splitting things between days makes them harder to keep as routines, for me.

code_duck 12y ago

Hmm, as far as hangovers she says "Does drinking impact your sleep? I don’t get hangovers. If I overdo it and I get a headache, that’s saying a lot. Most people in their 40s are sick for a day and a half. If I drink too much, then I may go to bed at two and get up at six — maybe I get an extra hour’s sleep!" Severe alcoholics often don't get a full night of sleep because they wake up when the depressant effect of the alcohol wears off, the same reason people shake in the mornings - in the absence of alcohol, the chemicals the body releases to compensate for constant alcohol cause overstimulation. My experience with drinking a fair bit last year is I would get 4-6 hours of sleep a night, and wake up wide awake with no hangover, too. On nights when I hadn't drank, I'd sleep 7-9 hours which is normal for me. I'd say it's all a matter of neutransmitter balance, which varies even in normal people. Bipolar folks often only need 2-4 hours of sleep in manic phases, and feel great, but may sleep for 8-12 hours in depressive states. Someone who is hypomanic could be expected to sleep just 4 hours a night and have difficulty sleeping longer.

peteretep 12y ago
> Severe alcoholics often don't get a full night of sleep > because they wake up when the depressant effect of the > alcohol wears off ... the same reason people shake in > the mornings I don't think I'd have ever classified myself as an alcoholic, although I used to drink a lot, and now I drink nothing. For a while, I ran a party-promoting business and held down a job as a programmer at the same time, typically going to bed at 2am having drunk maybe the equivalent of ~20 shots of vodka, 3-4 nights a week, and getting up to be in work by 10am. I was definitely stumbling around a bit by the end of the evening, and I needed some strong coffee in the morning, but seriously impaired I was not (although I imagine driving would have been a bad idea at any point in this cycle). Assuming I distributed my drinks fairly evenly from 9pm to 1am, and using the British system of "units" of alcohol, peak blood alcohol was at 1am with ~ 15 units. Less 1 unit an hour, means at 9am wakeup time, I have the equivalent of about 3.5 pints of beer in my blood, and the alcohol doesn't properly drop off until about 3pm in the afternoon - which anecdotally was when I used to feel dreadful. I can't imagine a "severe alcoholic" running out of alcohol in the blood stream overnight.
- 12y ago