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

[Kouryuu]

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.)

yeah, the research is superficial, but even if I wanted, I would not be able to sleep 14 h a day on a daily basis, for me it is not possible, not the sleeping is the killer, but the indicator that shows that you are at risk. The main point is, if for you 8 h sleep is not enough on a daily basis, you should be careful, and watch out for other symptoms, if you catch the "bug" that is responsible early on you will have a bigger chance to live a full and healthy life, here its like taking the body temperature, as a indicator of flu.

 

[Legion]

Yes for several reasons.

The first is that I used to be almost an insomniac, I'd lie in bed for hours each night and struggle to sleep, and as such I didn't get much each night.

The second is that my job requires me to get up at 3:30am and so I get very little sleep each night now due to my "lifestyle". The problem I have the most is if I can't get to sleep for whatever reason (usually noisy people in the house) then I sometimes get as little as 2-3 hours sleep and don't sleep again until the next evening.

 

[Doctor What]

Absolutely not.

I am yawning and drifting off by nine-ish, and I need to be in bed by ten, or I just can't do anything the next day.

 

[Tallim]

I can, and do, function fine on a couple of hours sleep every few days. Not that I like to do that but outside circumstances usually prevent me from sleeping. Single parent with a nasty pain disorder.

 

[Kouryuu]

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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/

as I said before, it is possible, but unhealthy.
A normal human who sleeps 8 h a day has a sleep pattern where the sleep splits in 20% REM 30% Deep sleep and 50% in-between phases + smaller yet unclassified sleep stages.
You should Understand that the body need both stages, REM and Deep sleep. the math does not ad up. even if you could increase the efectivnes of sleeping by 50%, you would still miss the smaller stages.

For full understanding read those two articles by Doctor Piotr A. Wozniak, who is researching this theme more then most.

http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm#The%20Uberman%27s%20Sleep%20Schedule
http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic2010.htm

There is no Healthy way to sleep less then 6 h a day.

 

[binvjoh]

I like to think that I do, which is an important illusion since I usually don't get more than 3-4 hours.

If I do get a good nights sleep I feel amazing though.

 

[CactiComplex]

With the lifestyle I'm leading just now I can get by fine with just three hours of sleep, though whenever I haul my lazy self out of that cycle and start exercising properly and going out that's bumped up to five hours minimum. Six or seven would be ideal, and I only ever manage eight when I'm ill.

 

[spookydom]

I like to think that I do, which is an important illusion since I usually don't get more than 3-4 hours.

If I do get a good nights sleep I feel amazing though.

This is me also. ^

I have had bad insomnia since I was very little. Generaly only sleep 3-4 hours a night now that I am older and don't have a problem with it. Once in a while I sleep for twelve hours straight and wake up feeling like I have super powers.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

I get 8-9 right now, but im starting a new job today, , so I have to be up in 5 1/2 hours. Im actually kinda happy about it. I get sick of sleeping so much.

M/p

 

[fooddood3]

Hi there,
that depends on the application of sleeping style,
you could get through the day(24h) with about 90 Min of sleep, Power sleeping,
15 Min every 4 h, but it is bad for your health(not really good in longer-term)
normal you should get between 4-8 h of sleep a day preferably 6h but not more then 10, because its proven that the longer you sleep, the faster you die.
speaking as a Biologist
Kouryuu

Kinda off-topic, but since you are a biologist, can you tell me what the fuck a platypus is?

 

[Perfice]

as I said before, it is possible, but unhealthy.
A normal human who sleeps 8 h a day has a sleep pattern where the sleep splits in 20% REM 30% Deep sleep and 50% in-between phases + smaller yet unclassified sleep stages.
You should Understand that the body need both stages, REM and Deep sleep. the math does not ad up. even if you could increase the efectivnes of sleeping by 50%, you would still miss the smaller stages.

For full understanding read those two articles by Doctor Piotr A. Wozniak, who is researching this theme more then most.

http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm#The%20Uberman%27s%20Sleep%20Schedule
http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic2010.htm

There is no Healthy way to sleep less then 6 h a day.

Ah, well I didn't say it'd be healthy. Just like the 'hallucination' thing they had listed on there. Seems understandable, but any hallucination effect always sounds like a bad idea.

 

[Vakz]

Personally, it really depends on how long term we're talking. I can easily go for a week or two with 5-6 hours of sleep per day and have no reduced "performance" during the days. A few days with less than 4 hours is usually no trouble either, but I do get.. well.. slower? I usually used to aim for 7-8 hours back when I was in school, but since I graduated last summer and it's impossible to find a job (at least where I live) I simply go to bed, and get up when I feel it's about time.

 

[Zanakanishi]

I am cursed with allways needing large amounts of sleep, even if I had 12 hours sleep, I can eat food and sleep straight afterwards for another 9-10 hours (I would say 12, but I think I have a little less on my 2nd sleep) so as I allways sleep around/over/just under 12 hours, I make the most of it and stay up for as long as possible, since I don't have a job I might as well make the most of my curse right?

 

[Samuel Cook]

During the last few years of school, I was going to sleep at around 2-3 in the morning, then waking up at 5.30 to look after my ferret, then wash. I never felt tired or had any side effects from it. Now I need 7-8 hours of sleep a night, strangely, I feel more tired if I have more, rather than less.

 

[Kouryuu]

Kinda off-topic, but since you are a biologist, can you tell me what the fuck a platypus is?

It's one of the five extant species of monotremes( mammals who lay eggs)
the other are 4 species of echidna.
there are some visuals, but basicly it is a species that took a different turn on the road of evolution, not long after Birds and reptiles left the mammals.

if you do not believe in evolution it's your loss.

for in-depth discussion PM me, always willing to help understand.
kouryuu

 

[spartan231490]

I try to get 8 or more, but i can function on 4-6 a night for a very long time if pressed.

 

[SinisterGehe]

6hrs is my standard amount of sleep per night. 8 If I am being fancy. But the smallest amount of sleep I need is 4½. But I have always, ever since I was 2, I have always slept 7hrs a day, Example me and my brother used to drive our parents to bring of madness because we slept both only 7 hrs day - in total - and we both slept and different times. If we slept 2 hrs during day we slept 5 during night.

 

[Vonnis]

I like to sleep a lot (8 hours), but I noticed that the optimal amount of sleep for me is about 3-4 hours per night. At least then I have some energy, when I stay in bed longer (which is nearly always) I tend to be just as tired when I get up as when I went to bed. I can function on just 2 hours a night for weeks, but at some point that starts to fuck with my head.

 

[Kouryuu]

During the last few years of school, I was going to sleep at around 2-3 in the morning, then waking up at 5.30 to look after my ferret, then wash. I never felt tired or had any side effects from it. Now I need 7-8 hours of sleep a night, strangely, I feel more tired if I have more, rather than less.

The sleep cycle is 90 min long, so if you are near the and of a cycle or at the beggining of a new one it is easier to get up.
for more info on sleeping tricks and tips visit:

http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm

 

[Kouryuu]

Feeling tired, no?
just test it for fun
BBC sleep test game
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/