Ask HN: How many hours of sleep do you need to have a productive day?
Have met people who scoff at the idea of "regular sleep at regular hours" , and those who are zealously disciplined about it.
Also curious, about the proportion of "night-persons" vs "day-persons" on HN.
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There's also a lot of individual variation, though.
Also, It's not unusual for posts on the new page to fly by without many comments, particularly depending on time of day. (I'm a bit disappointed that nobody has noticed this one (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1834864).)
Bingo. I need 9-10 hours. Sometimes I sleep 11 hours. And I never feel groggy after getting that much sleep, as some people do, nor do I just lay around in bed. I literally sleep 10 hours straight. I only got 4-5 a night during undergrad, and it took a severe toll. Speaking of undergrad, I knew a guy who had to get 13-14 hours/day, but he had some sleep disorder. Still, he had enough time to study and graduate with a great GPA, was very in shape, played hockey, and was a nice guy. I think a lot of people who think they'll be more successful at 4-5 hours/day are just less efficient and have a distorted view of what their "successful" role models do (i.e. they think their role models must not sleep a lot, therefore if they don't sleep/do work more, they'll also be successful). Just what I've seen in my personal experience though, I don't mean to impose this as a general fact.
Oddly, my sense of alertness during the day has less to do with the sleep I've gotten and more to do with whether I was able to shower, brush my teeth/hair and get properly dressed. Sleep has more to do with how long I can keep going before I crash, but if I can put myself together I feel I can operate at 100% efficiency until that point.
I hate the whole idea of sleeping, seems very wasteful to spend 1/3 of life sleeping.
When I'm stuck during the day, a context change (such as a gym break) often has the same effect though.
I actually began to adjust my sleep and work schedule last night based on other people's comments in that thread.
It was painful to wake up a little earlier, but nice to come in and get an hour of peace & focus before the rest of the troops show up to the office.
Option 1 - 18 hours awake at 50% capacity. Option 2 - 16 hours awake at 100% capacity.
It seems a no brainer. But don't get the wrong impression; I lack the discipline to sleep 9+ hours every single night. But I try my best!
Many-a-times,the urge for putting in "pouring out heart and soul" and do late-nighters takes over common sense.
I have come to the sober realization that debugging with lack of sleep is the equivalent of a drunken monkey controlling the trajectory of a space shuttle. :(
on top of that, if i don't hammer a huge breakfast in the morning before work i'm about as miserable as i would have been had i only slept four hours.
sleeping well and eating well means i'm productive at work. being productive at work makes me leave the office with a positive mood, ready to get back into the gym and start the cycle over.
to anybody that believes they can survive on 4-5 hours of sleep nightly, i suggest you pick up an exercise routine immediately. after a few weeks it will be quite apparent to you the relationship between a healthy body and a full sleep schedule.
Working alongside people who can function on 4 hours a night, I feel like my need for large amounts of sleep is a big disadvantage.
This all being said, I've started consuming caffeine again after dropping it for nearly 10 years. Consuming a small amount of caffeine in the morning after having not enough sleep does wonders for my productivity, short term memory, and happiness...
Check it out http://dustincurtis.com/sleep.html
These days I'm not a good daytime sleeper. It could be that what I need is blackout shades, but it suits my preferences to be up and about early.