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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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On nights before work I'm in bed by 9pm and get up at 4am, work hours 6am-3pm with a 40 minute commute MWF, work from home the Tue and Thu. On Friday and Saturday nights I'll stay up to 10-10:30pm and usually wake up at 5:30-6am. I never sleep more than about 7 hours. The morning is the best time of day, it's a shame to waste it sleeping.
If you have a lifestyle that dictates when and how long you get to sleep each night, you're probably not indulging your preference are you? If you were completely in charge of your day to day life and didn't have to consider anything or anyone other than yourself, maybe the question would be worth asking.
Anyway, guess I'll bite...now that I am retired and can dictate my day to day life more, I prefer to sleep until I wake up, not be woken up by a clock. Worrying about wasting/losing valuable hours out of life doesn't play into it at all. I'm pretty certain that would be most people's preference. How many hours that ends up being varies depending on how tired (physically or mentally) I happen to be. One night I might hit the sack early and sleep for 8 hours. The next I might stay up later reading or watching a movie so it might end up being 5 or 4 if I am energized by some project that's waiting for me. On and on. Define "early". Define "late". Its subjective.
Can't answer your little poll OP. IMHO, kind of pointless to ask. Still some people seem to insist on bragging about how much sleep they do or don't "need" and how productive their lives are because of it. Why? Are they expecting some entity to hand them a trophy on their last day on earth? Really?
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-23-2022 at 02:44 PM..
One of the problems with western cultures at least, is that many of us are controlled by school hours for a large slab of our early lives with a need to stay awake and alert from the time we leave home and then arrive back most weekdays. So we develop a need to control our sleep hours to fit in with those hours. And this is continued into our working years.
The OP, of course has asked us the question of what hours most of us do budget for sleep. I know that even when I was in my 20s, if I had less than 9 hours a night, I had trouble concentrating on lectures during my university years. Now that I'm into my 10th decade, I tend to go to bed at about 9.30 PM and wake up at daylight without an alarm at 5.00 or 6.00 AM. But then, if I'm home for the day, I'll often have an extra hour or more nap in the afternoon.
I scrap old air conditioners a couple of days a week -- for spare parts and for scrap metal -- leaving home about 8.00 AM and getting home about 3.30 PM. But curiously, I don't have a nap on those days.
The question that crosses my mind as I'm typing this, is "What hours did hunter/gatherers sleep?" They didn't have to go to school or to regular daily work.
In an attempt to answer my own question, I can only extrapolate my own experience as a youth from 11 to 16 years when I used to round up a few mates and go camping every time there were school holidays. Certainly we sat around a camp fire and talked before finally entering the tent for the night, but then talked on again till we finally dozed off before waking -- usually at dawn. Naturally it was not uncommon to 'crash' on a blanket during the day for indefinite periods.
So like Parnassia, I can't really fill in the poll, as is. All I can say is that I have the impression that I sleep a bit more than most other people I know.
If you have a lifestyle that dictates when and how long you get to sleep each night, you're probably not indulging your preference are you? If you were completely in charge of your day to day life and didn't have to consider anything or anyone other than yourself, maybe the question would be worth asking.
Anyway, guess I'll bite...now that I am retired and can dictate my day to day life more, I prefer to sleep until I wake up, not be woken up by a clock. Worrying about wasting/losing valuable hours out of life doesn't play into it at all. I'm pretty certain that would be most people's preference. How many hours that ends up being varies depending on how tired (physically or mentally) I happen to be. One night I might hit the sack early and sleep for 8 hours. The next I might stay up later reading or watching a movie so it might end up being 5 or 4 if I am energized by some project that's waiting for me. On and on. Define "early". Define "late". Its subjective.
Can't answer your little poll OP. IMHO, kind of pointless to ask. Still some people seem to insist on bragging about how much sleep they do or don't "need" and how productive their lives are because of it. Why? Are they expecting some entity to hand them a trophy on their last day on earth? Really?
^^^ What Parnassia said.
I have lots of friends who seem to think that the less they sleep (or SAY they sleep ), somehow the more "credit" they deserve. These are people who say (i.e., BRAG), "I get only 4 hours of sleep a night!" I always wonder (but don't SAY), "Really? If I got only 4 hours of sleep per night for more than a couple of nights, I could not function in the way I NEED to function."
But of course, if I ADMITTED that, I'd be saying ... what ... I'm not a "real" adult?
Seriously: when did it become a badge of honor to declare how little sleep you can get by on?
OP, your poll is useless for someone like me. I typically sleep 7-8 hours per night, but 7 hours is really not enough for me and I will be tired all day. I cannot take naps -- when I have tried, my "nap" lasts 3-4 hours, which makes it pretty useless AND makes it harder for me to get to sleep at a normal hour THAT NIGHT -- so I stopped any thought of naps literally DECADES ago. (I DO know some people who can nap for 20-30 minutes, and it seems to work fine for them -- but I would likely not even get to SLEEP within 20 minutes, so that would never work for me. C'est la vie.)
I have literally 2 more days of work this year (this academic year) when I MUST get up at a certain (very early) time, then I will have close to 4 months where my sleep schedule will be my own, and it will likely be very odd. I have had a weird sleep disorder since I was in my teens (if not earlier) -- my internal clock is set for about 25.5 hours instead of 24, so when left to my own devices (i.e., my own SCHEDULE), my "days" will be 25.5 hours and so I will go in and out of sync with the world. It's hard on relationships, of course, but oh well, other things are just as important ... like waking up when you feel RESTED, not when your alarm jerks you out of sleep in the most unpleasant way imaginable.
6 to 7 hours is my sweet spot. Anything less than 5 and I will not be in a good state the next day. Interestingly, if I get over 8 hours..I still feel groggy. Too much sleep can be just as bad because too much REM overstimulates the brain..so I try to avoid sleeping in.
didn't answer the poll because my patterns shift.
I prefer to get to bed about 10 and be up by 6:30....but time to bed varies quite a bit. 7-8 hrs of sleep is what my body seems to require.
If I am reading a good book, I will stay up past midnight reading, sometimes later.
Today we had a nice walk with the dog in the sun and fresh air. We all came home and took an hour nap (dog included )
I've learned to appreciate naps.
Since I've retired, I've slept alot more than I ever did during my working life but I don't feel any adverse effects.
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), somehow the more "credit" they deserve. These are people who say (i.e., BRAG), "I get only 4 hours of sleep a night!" I always wonder (but don't SAY), "Really? If I got only 4 hours of sleep per night for more than a couple of nights, I could not function in the way I NEED to function."
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