All but the luckiest of new parents will be able to share stories about how sleep deprivation has affected their lives. And although my boy is 11 months old, there are still nights where he won’t sleep well, and that translates into my wife and I not sleeping well, and this can make for long, tough, tired days.
It’s been proven that sleep deprivation is harmful for us. Back in 2000, the Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal published a report that sleep deprivation can produce “the same hazardous effects as being drunk.”
More recently, studies have shown that too little sleep can even give people with high blood pressure a heart attack.
I’ve never required very much sleep, maybe 6 to 6.5 hours a night, and this has been true my whole life. My mom tells me that she recalls me waking up very early in the morning even as a very little kid—and I recall this as well—heading downstairs to watch Battle of the Planets as the sun came up.
Sleep deprivation seemed to affect me less when I was younger, though. Late nights in high school and college were easily shrugged off. These days, in my mid-30’s, I don’t seem to do as well when I’m pushed beyond my 6 hour minimum, and it seems like it can take a few days to fully recover.
A 60 Minutes episode, detailed here, explains this:
Well, the first finding, and it stunned us, was there’s a cumulative impairment that develops in your ability to think fast, to react quickly, to remember things. A single night at four hours or five hours or even six, can in most people, begin to show affects in your attention and your memory and the speed with which you think. A second night it gets worse. A third night worse. Each day adds an additional burden or deficit to your cognitive ability.
So how much sleep do you get … and how much do you need?
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Todd Austin
03 December 2008 at 3:07 pm
I’ve been getting about 8 hrs a night for the past 3 years that I have worked from home. Before that it was about 6 hours. I feel I only need 6 hours of sleep.
Donnie
03 December 2008 at 3:08 pm
In college I probably averaged around 4-5 hours a night for sleep. I can work perfectly fine on anything over 6, but average around 7-8 hours a night these days.
Peter Dorsi
03 December 2008 at 3:08 pm
I get 5-7 a night on weekdays and 10-11 hours on weekends. I tend to need 8-9 to be in top form.
Jason Robb
03 December 2008 at 3:09 pm
I get 7-8 hours a night.
I need 5-6.
I can only go 2 consecutive nights @ 5 hours. Then I need a full 8 to make up for it.
Thomas
03 December 2008 at 3:10 pm
I get about 6 hours a night, and should probably get around 8. But there’s just not enough time in the day for all that.
Gil Creque
03 December 2008 at 3:10 pm
I sleep 6 hours on weeknights and about 8-9 on the weekend. I’m not sure if it’s too much sleep, lack of caffeine, or that I have no day job responsibilities but I feel much less motivated on weekend mornings. It’s probably a combination of all 3.
Michael Critz
03 December 2008 at 3:10 pm
I usually get to sleep at 1am and wake at 7am. Six hours of sleep. I always wake when the room gets light. I’m usually OK during the day, but I do appreciate the weekends. Ideally, I’d get 7 hours of sleep.
Charlie C.
03 December 2008 at 3:11 pm
I need 8 hours+. I get 4-5 hours if I’m lucky.
Tom Carmony
03 December 2008 at 3:12 pm
I’ve really started noticing the impact of lack of sleep as a new parent. We’re lucky that our 14-month-old pretty well sleeps through the night most nights, but when I do find myself sleep deprived, it’s usually because of late-night catching up on work tasks.
Even just a year or two ago, I could pull the occasional all-nighter, or string together 2-3 consecutive 4-hour nights, without much negative impact on my daytime functionality. Now, I’m really feeling it. I can do fine with one late night a week, but more than that and I find myself really tired, sluggish and even more prone to colds.
I seem to consistently need about 7 hours of sleep to function optimally.
maczter
03 December 2008 at 3:14 pm
While my wife and I don’t have any children, I do have a hard time getting to sleep most nights. I generally get 4-6 hours of sleep per night. If I could get 6 hours per night, I’d be set. If I could get myself to fall asleep before 2AM on a consistent basis, that would happen, but most nights I don’t get tired until 3AM and if I go to bed before I’m actually tired, I tend to just end up staring at the ceiling.
I can definitely confirm that sleep deprivation leads to poor decision making. Long story, but it involves losing a lot of money trading while working on a freelance gig with a ridiculous deadline and me getting only 2 hours of sleep per night max for a couple of weeks solid.
Matt Pensworth
03 December 2008 at 3:15 pm
I usually get between 7 and 8 all week. I can survive on 6 but those extra hours feel nice.
Brad MacDonald
03 December 2008 at 3:19 pm
As a father of 2 kids under 2 I found that my requirements have changed drastically. I used to thrive on 5 hours a night. Now if I dip below 6 I am a total wreck. No amount of caffeine can fix me then.
bud
03 December 2008 at 3:23 pm
I often get 6 or less but I need 8. I will return to bed to try to top off the eight if I can. I don’t really feel rested unless I have also had some rememberable dream time.
Ken Mayer
03 December 2008 at 3:24 pm
Sleep needs vary a lot by individual. I’m jealous of those who get a couple of extra hours per day to do stuff. When I was living in the Bay Area and sailing a lot, I got involved with the San Francisco Single Handed Sailing Society. They host one of the premier short handed Trans-Pacs. Each season they host “getting ready” seminars for racers and I tagged along. One enlightening session was led by Stanford sleep researchers. Lots of hormone cycles maintain your sleep rhythms and you mess with them at your own peril. One of the most telling was about getting back on track: Recovering from sleep deprivation is not a 1:1 ratio (i.e. you might need 2 extra hours for every hour lost) and it can take days of extra sleep to catch up (you can’t get it all back at once by sleeping 24 hours). If you go too long without, your body will simply take over and “turn you off” (microsleep). The weirdest stuff was the story from past racers off all of the hallucinations they had during the race. Totally irrational, off the charts weird and they knew it and couldn’t help it.
Matthew Williams
03 December 2008 at 3:24 pm
I do my best to get 7-8 hours a night. I’m hypothyroid, so I’m tired my default (though it is for the most part under control) and I take medication for other things that cause drowsiness (I can’t win!).
I have been interested in Polyphasic sleep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep) but have never gotten a stretch of 2-3 weeks to give it a shot. It would be an interesting endeavor for sure. There are many blogs out there from those who have blogged day to day while moving to a polyphasic schedule and they interest me to no end.
Mark Boszko
03 December 2008 at 3:25 pm
I have no idea how much sleep I need, as I have spent the last decade or so going to sleep too late and still getting up early. I usually get around 6 hours a night, and it’s *definitely* not enough. I’ve absolutely noticed a reduction in memory and cognitive speed.
So why don’t I stop this cycle and go to bed at a decent hour? That’s a very good question to which I do not have a satisfactory answer. I have always tended to view sleep as a waste of time, during which I’m not learning or accomplishing anything. I guess I need to reevaluate that.
Andy Michaels
03 December 2008 at 3:26 pm
I usually get about 7-8 hrs and I need it all. For the last few years or so (our daughter is 18 months old), I’ve never felt very rested after even 8 hrs. I started using breathe-rite strips to see if my snoring is to blame. After 2 nights, I feel much more rested, but my wife says I still snore.
Dainius Blynas
03 December 2008 at 3:30 pm
I get 7-8 hours and I need 8-9 hours. So, I think I am OK with sleep at this time of my life.
And honestly I do not believe all these people saying 6 hours is all they need. No offense, but it so contradicts my experience. Six hours is bare minimum for not feeling obvious signs of sleep deprivation like sore eyes, difficulty to concentrate, wandering thoughts, getting tired fast, nervousness.
Dan I
03 December 2008 at 3:34 pm
I usually get between 6-7 hours of sleep and get buy. But, if I can get 8 hours I do feel better during the day.
Photar
03 December 2008 at 3:34 pm
When my wife and I started having kids I got used to being sleep deprived. I now get about 6 hours a night durring the week and 16 hours on Saturday and Sunday each. I’ve become uased to running behind on sleep and can’t really get to sleep if I’m not _really_ tired.
Geof F. Morris
03 December 2008 at 3:35 pm
Dan, I can subsist on 4-5 hours of sleep for a day or two, but then it really comes back to bite me in the rear end. I even have some minor level of creativity boost on short sleep, probably because I rely on adrenaline and stress hormones to get me through it, but after 48-72 hours, I’m toast.
Typically, I need seven hours a night. Sleep is near and dear to me now as a sleep apnea sufferer, someone who’s just spent the last few months getting right with sleep. Like Mark Boszko above me, I used to regard sleep as a nuisance, but now I find that good sleep makes the time I am awake and refreshed to be a lot, lot more enjoyable.
Natalie Jost
03 December 2008 at 3:39 pm
Oh, now let me tell you about the time I gave birth to twins… :D It’s shocking to me even though I was there, but I slept about 1-3 hours in a 24 hour period for 4 months (it took about a week to rack up a normal 7-8 hours). I can attest to the fact that it takes a huge toll. Quite a few times I filled bottles with coffee mix instead of formula and nearly drank the formula myself in my coffee cup. Of course it’s funny now, but I was terrified that I would drop one of the babies or forget about them completely. So I would definitely say 1-3 hours a night is not good.
On the flip side, I’ve noticed a difference when I get too much sleep. If I sleep more than 8 hours I’m tired all day and can’t seem to keep up with the world around me, mentally or physically. For me, I’ve found an average of 6 hours works well. I’m most productive and quick thinking in the late hours after life settles down and goes away for the night. I have about 5-6 hours to work, shop, clean, etc, and then I get up around 7. I don’t feel great first thing in the morning, never have, but within an hour of being up, I feel great.
Daniel Black
03 December 2008 at 3:41 pm
Hi, Dan,
I’ve often felt that sleep was wasted time. There are too many interesting things to ponder and investigate to sleep away precious time. I sometimes delight in getting 2-3 hours, like I’m sneaking something other people are missing. This program is not quite conducive to deep critical thinking, though. I look forward to see where you might go with this, as I’ve also been wondering how best to work meditation into my daily life.
Sleep issues are garnering more prominence. Nathan at Flowing Data has a review of a product, Sleep Tracker Pro, that sounds interesting and might signal a new cottage industry. I wonder, too, how beds factor into the analysis.
Cheers,
Daniel
Review: [http://flowingdata.com/2008/10/23/get-a-good-nights-sleep-with-sleeptracker-pro-review/]
Rebecca Miller
03 December 2008 at 3:59 pm
I need 8, but tend to get 7 because like you, my husband only needs 6 - 6.5.
Ted Todorov
03 December 2008 at 4:18 pm
Need 8 (7.5) at least. Last night I got four hours due to too much programming and today I’m I wreck. Not drinking caffeine (I don’t outside of green tea in Japanese restaurants) doesn’t help either.
I do find it harder to get the full 8 than it used to be when I was younger (I’m 46)—I’m more bothered by noise, etc. I feel for parents with multiple small kids.
Ben Kimball
03 December 2008 at 4:23 pm
I seem to need about 9, sometimes 8, and I’m pretty confident that I’m getting all I need because I don’t ever use an alarm clock. I often abuse my “bedtime,” not going to sleep until well after I’ve become exhausted, but I regularly wake up about 9 hours later. Becoming self-employed has made a huge difference in my quality of life, and I attribute the improvement mostly to this change in my sleep patterns.
Ragfield
03 December 2008 at 4:30 pm
I require 7.5-9 hours of sleep per night. If I sleep any less than that I feel tired all the next day. I am an endurance athlete who exercises 6-18 hours per week, which definitely seems to have an effect. The more I exercise, the more I sleep.
Phil Bowell
03 December 2008 at 4:38 pm
I really need more than I’m getting. 8 hours or slightly more is the optimum for me, but I seem to average 6 to 7 hours. I’m not a morning person either, which isn’t good when you have a 40 minute drive to work on one of the busiest motorways in England!
Dainius Blynas
03 December 2008 at 4:48 pm
Anyone drink mate tea (usually imported from Argentina) regularly?
This tea is what deprives me of sleep the most. Because by drinking it you can be REALLY productive late, late into the night. Of course, it catches up with you the next morning and then you drink more of mate ...
John Bedard
03 December 2008 at 5:15 pm
I have severe sleep apnea but also have a high level of compliance with my BiPAP, near 100%. So I get as much sleep as I allow time for. That said, I haven’t been able to find that sweet spot in duration. Usually I get 7 hours. Sometimes as much as 8 and rarely more than that (last Saturday I did manage 9 and felt crappy all day). I do okay on 7.
Jeff Judge
03 December 2008 at 5:54 pm
I think I’m fine with 6 hours a night, but 7 hours is perfect. As a newbie parent (11/15), the sleep is sporadic and more like 5 hours. That seems to be fine too, but feeling a little more sluggish.
Donovan Roddy
04 December 2008 at 5:10 am
I’ve always been able to sleep 4 or 6 hours a night but right around the age of 30 I found It’s harder for me to get a productive day in when I’m sleeping with anything less the 8.
gizo
04 December 2008 at 9:35 pm
I always used to be a ‘late to bed, late to rise’ type. Preferring sleeps in excess of 8 hours.
Currently, with our 3 month old second child, I average 4.5 hours a night, and not all at once. The longest stretch I’ll get is 1.5 hours.
I am wrecked most of the time, and just keep hoping that she’ll grow up soon. I have to believe.
Stephen
09 December 2008 at 1:44 am
I been getting about 6 hours for the last couple of years—I probably need more.
In college I finished a large project in order to graduate—started Monday morning and finished Friday afternoon—no coffee and no sleep—saunas, basketball, meals, and work—didn’t know I could stay up that long—was less effective at the end, had a headache, and was somewhat grumpy ;-)
Ramin
13 December 2008 at 12:49 pm
I’ve always managed fine with 4 hours. Any less and I need serious caffeine in the afternoon to get over the hump. Much more and I’m sort of groggy all day long (a feeling that I hate, so I tend to avoid extended stretches of 8-hour sleep). Then again, every few months (or when I feel my ass dragging) I go to bed at 9pm and sleep for 12 hours—like hitting a giant reset switch—then I’m fine again.
My wife’s the opposite. Any less than 8 hours and she seriously feels it. When we had the kid a few years ago, I was the designated point person for getting up. Nowadays, everyone’s in bed by 10pm and I get a 4-5 hour stretch of quiet work time, so it works out pretty well.