Can you function with only a few hours sleep a night?

[Kouryuu]

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Yes, but it says that he slept for 30 minutes every six hours. You can get just as much rest from two hours a day of sleep as in eight hours. The theory is that because in a normal eight hours you get two hours of REM sleep a night, which is the most important. If you start a schedule of sleep 30 minutes every 6 hours you can get as much sleep as 8 hours. It will take about two weeks to get used to it but it works.

I told someone about this one time and they got so mad at me and accused me of lying. I told them not to trust me, trust themself and look it up. They were so ignorant and just screamed at me that they didn't need to look it up because everything they knew about logic told them that was false. Looks like his logic isn't very good... Lol.

the problem is that Rem is not concentrated in a bulk, its split up in many pieces like the picture shows.

The 15 min out of 4h
And 30 min out of 6h
is basicly cheating us out of REM sleep, we are not sleepy but we HAVE NOT HAD the necessary dose of SLEEP. We just used the sleeping pattern to cheat our body to belive we do not need to sleep for some few hours. its done while waking up in the DEEP-sleep

for more info google Sleep Cycles

 

[Discon]

I usually sleep about eight hours. I used to sleep for like 12-14 hours during weekends, but then I found out I had diabetes (type 1) and now I sleep like 8-9 hours during weekends.

If you find that you go to the bathroom a lot, drink a lot of fluid and sleep a lot, you should go to a doctor, as that's your body trying to get rid of excess blood sugar. It's better to discover it early and not get any long-term damages, than it is to ignore it and end up blind.

 

[PureChaos]

i usually get 7-8 hours, i can go with 5-6 but prefer not to. much less than that and i'd be a zombie

 

[Discon]

Not well. I have tried and when I get too sleep deprived, My body does not take it well. At all.
Also, getting up fast screws with me a little. I went to go brush my teeth this morning, as I'm standing up my vision get blurry, I can only see straight forward, I get really dizzy and the back of my head tingles. And this happens damn often

Are you tall?

I have the same problem, but it happens whenever I've been lying down and I get up quickly.

 

[tthor]

well we'll find out tomorrow, won't we..

 

[CrystalShadow]

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I've hear the theory, but it seems to rely on having a totally insane sleep pattern. (essentially, 4 hours awake, 30 minutes asleep, or something along those lines.)

More common views suggests people need between 6-10 hours of sleep a day (varies by individual), and that the average is 8 hours 15 minutes.

It also suggests if you don't sleep for a while, you'll have to make up for it later. (and it's bad for your health. Sleep is more important than most people will admit to.)

It also seems to be the case that teenagers need more sleep than any other age group.

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Huh. Really? 4? That doesn't sound plausible as a 'healthy' amount of sleep. But then again, I don't know the exact details of all the various research on this subject that has been conducted.
(But it seems reasonable to presume not all people have identical needs for something like this.)

The longer you sleep the faster you die... Well, I guess it's possible, but it sounds rather counter-intuitive.
Got any additional information on how that was deduced?

on the fly did not find the original study, but this pop-science is referring to it, so enjoy
http://care4yoursleep.com/longer-sleep-linked-dementia-age.html

Hmm makes for an interesting read, but this article suggests uncertainty about causal relationships here. (is sleeping too much causing health issues? Or does having health problems cause you to sleep more? - Considering the processes generally attributed to sleep, the latter seems somewhat more likely. But that's difficult to work out empirically.)

 

[Perfice]

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the problem is that Rem is not concentrated in a bulk, its split up in many pieces like the picture shows.

The 15 min out of 4h
And 30 min out of 6h
is basicly cheating us out of REM sleep, we are not sleepy but we HAVE NOT HAD the necessary dose of SLEEP. We just used the sleeping pattern to cheat our body to belive we do not need to sleep for some few hours. its done while waking up in the DEEP-sleep

for more info google Sleep Cycles

At first you'll feel terrible and tired all the time. After about two weeks doing that though you'll enter REM immediately once you go to sleep.

http://www.cracked.com/article/127_5-ways-to-hack-your-brain-into-awesomeness/

 

[Admiral Stukov]

I can function with 3 hours a night, but I prefer 5.
Oh, an I can't take naps, at all. It's at least 2 hours or more coffee.

 

[DesiPrinceX09]

I have insomnia but I still work and go to school. So I function on little to no sleep, it's almost 5 am where I am now and still no sleep, which is normal for me. I might get one hour or a few minutes of micro-sleep here and there but then after that nothing.

 

[Ambi]

I get the impression that one of the main reasons the amount of sleep needed varies between individuals is eating habits and emotional factors, an example for the latter is how far one feels they need to exert themselves. When I get only a few hours of sleep, I'm thinking "I could think of the standard socially acceptable response to that easily so I can say I function okay without sleep, well maybe, but I want it to sound interesting, ughhh I'm tired and I feel like there's something I want to say but the linguistic brain process won't catch up to my intuition, or maybe it's just vanity". I liked that quote about tired people being sober drunks.

I think the people who say "sleep is for the week I'm so hardcore I only need like 2-4 hours to function 100 percent" probably just eat a lot and consume caffeine. Drinking two litres of coke or coffee a day doesn't make you mentally or physically superior. It's actually pretty unhealthy.

I got about three hours sleep last night, and the night before I had a computer/farewell intermission for a while after sleeping two hours, then I was somehow able to go to sleep when the sun came up, then I was woken up again. I am le tired but my willpower (and dinner, but I didn't have much because I'm afraid it'll actually keep me awake or not let me sleep as long somehow) keeps me going until it's properly dark, or else I'll probably wake up at 1am or something. Sometimes I get a little tired around the time children go to bed, then at midnight it's like my brain has released happy chemicals to compensate and I'm sitting there immersed in something on the computer screen with one or both of my legs jiggling up and down. Before, I was really wanting the sun to go down so I'd allow myself to sleep, but now I just feel bleh and bed doesn't seem so appealing. I think I'll have a shower. I am aware these ramblings might sound weird. I don't care, and I probably won't care when I'm not tired anymore.

 

[Artina89]

I only need about 4 hours sleep, and I can't bear sleeping in. If I wake up and it is after 8, I feel cranky. I guess I am a little strange.

 

[GeorgW]

I'm sick, so I haven't been sleeping well. I have a head-ache, but that's probably cuz of the fever. So I'd say you can function with few hours of sleep, but it isn't good for you.

 

[monkey jesus]

About 6 hours of unbroken sleep is my minimum.

When my kid was a baby he was awake every couple of hours for feeds/changes etc, this went on for the best part of 3 years. I could get a total of 10 or so hours a night but I was constantly knackered because I wasn't getting one good long period of rest.

Totally worth it, he's a fucking boss.

Before kids I found that cutting back on caffeine really helped, especially not taking any after about 2pm.

Also I find it really hard to sleep directly after gaming, I need a good 30 mins watching TV or reading to cool down.

 

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

yeah, I have that ability.

 

[Batfred]

I live on about 4-5 hours a day for a fortnight or so and then I will get home one day and sleep for 13 hours sraight till I need to go to work the next day. The cycle then starts again.

It's not good, and being half asian it gives me huge dark rings under my eyes that really show. 24 hours just aren't enough in a day!

 

[babinro]

In high school and university I lived off of 6 hours sleep at the most. I simply had more energy those days and work/school demanded more time out of me in order to be successful.

These days I simply can't function properly under 6 hours sleep. I'll very consistently wake up within 7.5 and 8 hours regardless of how early I fall asleep in the day.

 

[Squeaky]

I normally get 5 hours but iam sleeping in as iv got the a few days of work

 

[OldRat]

Sorry if someone already said this, but the Cracked article the OP's talking about is actually about the Uberman schedule, which is a bit different. Basically, you sleep in short sequences around the day. Half an hour every three hours IIRC. Or possibly five, I forget. The way it works is that you condition your brain to enter REM sleep, the actual sleep you need, immidiately, whereas ordinarily you sleep in different phases and enter REM only a few hours in. Which is why ordinary naps don't really restore you to full functionality. You only get two hours or so of REM sleep every night, the rest is other types of sleep. But with the Uberman schedule, every one of those half-hour spells is full REM. So with the Uberman schedule, you actually get more REM sleep per day, and still have to sleep less.
It apparently works really well, but it's hell getting there (requiring total sleep deprivation for days and all that stuff), and you really do need to sleep every few hours. So it's not exactly for everyone. But I hear that your body starts to follow the rhytm incredibly punctually quite quickly.

But more on topic, yes. I can function only with few (3 to 4) hours of sleep, provided I'm not going to be doing loads of physical excercise or anything too complicated. I do prefer six to eight, which has always been enough (and should be enough for anyone, really, if studies are to be believed).
On a sidenote, sometimes it's easier just not to sleep. If I'd only get an hour or so, I just won't do it. Better to keep some power on instead of trying to recharge for way too short a time. It feels hideously bad trying to wake up from that.

 

[badpun]

I can function on a few hours sleep but i always hate myself for it, prefer to get a good 8-10 hours that usually make wake up fairly well and fuction pretty well during the day

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well last night I had only about 5 or 6 hours sleep were I normally have at least over 7 (the average amount of sleep). I have no idea why it happen to me last night and yet right now I feel perfectly fine.