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HN, just wondering: How much does sleep affect your productivity?

4 points by TheCoreh ↗ HN
I've recently started noticing a significant drop in my productivity, and I think it's somewhat correlated to problems I'm having keeping my sleep times stable.

However, I know a lot of coders and/or designers that have completely irregular sleep schedules and have no problems with productivity... What are your personal experiences with this? Are some of you facing similar productivity problems? Any advice for me?

There's also the common concept of hacking/coding all night in. I would like to know: How common/productive that really is?

4 comments

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mikelbring
When I was younger (like highschool, I am 22) I would get most of my coding done in the middle of the night. Now I have a 9-5 development job but now I notice huge drop in my coding when I come home. I am always working on ideas but I feel like after coding at work all day, its hard to come home and code. Specially since I can't stay up till 2 AM any more.

I am interested in seeing how other people deal with this.

bartonfink
I'm 27, and I've found that I actually am more interested in coding at home now than I was at 22. I can't stay up as late as I used to, but I find that I am able to be more productive, and hence happier, because I wound up eliminating several things that were huge distractions back in the day.

For instance, I stopped drinking about 4 years ago and cancelled my cable because I felt that alcohol and ready access to television simply weren't adding anything positive to my life. If I want to watch a football game, for example, I go to a sports bar and call a friend - killing two birds with one stone. I got married and that gives me a reliable outlet for sex and socialization that simply wasn't around earlier. When she wants to do something together, it does interrupt my coding, but on balance it's less of an interruption than dating ever was.

I think it's not as much about how much time you can pack into your day as how well you've learned to spend the time you've got. In my experience, age has only helped me there.

LilValleyBigEgo
I've discovered recently that quality sleep is very important to my health.

I was extremely anxious and had trouble focusing until I realized I wasn't able to get good sleep because of the noise from my partner's air cleaner running.

When I started sleeping in another room my mental and physical health both rapidly improved.

Regular sleep is more important for me now as an adult than it was when I was younger.

MoreMoschops
When I'm sleeping, I get no work done whatsoever :)