Sleep...how much is enough?

It is very interesting how people have different needs when it comes to sleeping. I think this could possibly be due to two factors. The first being that as we progress through life we form a schedule with certain sleeping habits. Like any habits in life, they are hard to change but could be changed with the motivation to do so. This could explain why some people prefer the morning over the night or vice versa. The second factor could be how people's lifestyles differ. Everyone values sleep differently. Someone who has a very busy schedule may value sleep less and, over time, adapt to less sleep, whereas someone who has more time on their hands may sleep longer because they simply can. These two factors could be reasons for people's differing needs when it comes to sleep.

You bring up a very interesting point about how different individuals require different amounts of sleep in order to function and if this difference may be related to a sleep disorders. For example, I am a freshman and I realized that my sleeping patterns have completely changed. Until this year, I was just like you, where I could function on 6 hours of sleep and function properly. Now though, if I don't sleep 8-9 hours a night I am completely exhausted and it becomes a struggle to get through the day. I did some reading into the matter and discovered that some individuals sleeping patterns simply change over time. Our internal clocks adjust to our age and activity level in order to determine how much sleep we need per night. For example, teenagers need the most amount of sleep to adjust to their changing hormones and adults need slightly less than them. There are even methods that can be done to adjust your circadian rhythm such as behavior therapy and bright light therapy.

I can relate to your opening statement. I regularly get roughly seven hours of sleep every evening, and seem to function well without the intrusion of caffeine throughout the day. Some nights, however, when I do receive the recommended nine or so hours, I feel incoherent to the activities of the day. In correspondence to your concluding question, I would also be eager to find out what is causing me to be tired despite getting more than a sufficient number of hours of sleep every night. Personally, I would seek any sort of treatment/advice pertaining to the sleep habits I hypothetically would have. I couldn't live on sleeping away half of every twenty-four hour day for the rest of my life!

This topic is of particular interest to me as I have been trying to find the amount of sleep that I can function well with. According to a survey we too in our lecture, I am extremely sleep deprived because I have to take a nap at least once after 12:00pm, can fall asleep anywhere in minutes, and am caffeine dependent. Our biological clock and our body in general is amazing and is great at adapting- but everyone's body can only go so far. We are very different. Having said this, I think that needing at least 9 hours of sleep per night is normal especially if he can't function otherwise. I've been trying to figure out the ideal amount of sleep for me. I've started to go to bed earlier to see if I can get more sleep, but I automatically wake up after 7.5 hours of sleep. My body knows what it's doing because I have not felt the need to nap or intake caffeine for days now. I guess problems could arise if your body isn't producing the arousing chemical and releasing it at the right time, which would cause you to oversleep and be drowsy.

I feel like I have the same problem as you do. The only difference is my "clock" changes within me and not between someone else. During the school year I feel like I need more sleep (around 8 hours) in order to function, but in the summer I only need 5 hours to function. During these times of the year I feel normal and am usually not to tired. I never understood why, it is not like I am using more activity during the school year compared to the summer. In the summer I may even be more active considering I work usually 50 hours a week plus am active outside daily.

I feel like I have the same problem as you do. The only difference is my "clock" changes within me and not between someone else. During the school year I feel like I need more sleep (around 8 hours) in order to function, but in the summer I only need 5 hours to function. During these times of the year I feel normal and am usually not to tired. I never understood why, it is not like I am using more activity during the school year compared to the summer. In the summer I may even be more active considering I work usually 50 hours a week plus am active outside daily.

I feel like I have the same problem as you do. The only difference is my "clock" changes within me and not between someone else. During the school year I feel like I need more sleep (around 8 hours) in order to function, but in the summer I only need 5 hours to function. During these times of the year I feel normal and am usually not to tired. I never understood why, it is not like I am using more activity during the school year compared to the summer. In the summer I may even be more active considering I work usually 50 hours a week plus am active outside daily.

I find it very interesting to hear people saying they do not need more than 6 hours of sleep a night. For me personally, I would not be able to function on that little amount of sleep. In order to feel rejuvenated and like myself I need around 8 or 9 hours of sleep and then a coffee in the morning. If i happen to go to bed significantly later one night my body's internal clock will wake me up at the same time every morning without and alarm. However, i will usually need a nap and some caffeine in order for me to function. I have also found that the more active I am the more sleep I need. During the school year I work almost 30 hours a week on top of being a full time student plus I find time to exercise regularly. It makes sense to me the more active/busy you are the more sleep you will need (as in my situation) but from what other students say the more active you are the less sleep you need. So which one is true? How do body's differ so much from one another?

I would say I am fairly similar. I have a very restrained window of sleep that I can allow myself to get. To little, and I'll be exhausted, but on the other hand, too much, and I am completely lethargic through out the day, but different from getting too much sleep. I do believe it really depends on the person, especially diet and excessive. Exercise actually increases metabolism along with generating energy being able to make it through the day. I am an extremely healthy eater with a very strict diet that I stick to almost daily, and when I have a cheat day, I feel so different than I do when I eat my whole super foods.

I find this interesting because it sounds similar to my personal experiences. I currently suffer from mild insomnia and take medication 3 times a week to keep me on a sleep schedule. I noticed my freshman year how I would stay awake for twenty hours a day and only get four hours of sleep per night. If I did sleep I could sleep for hours on end and still not be rested but if I maintained four hours of sleep per night I functioned fine. By using this medication it helped me to reach a manageable sleep schedule and I am feeling more rested than ever. So to compare with the question I would say yes your husband suffers from some type of sleeping disorder and getting it checked out may benefit him in the long run.

Interesting blog to read! Like you, I probably average about 6-7 hours per night. With homework, extracurriculars, and distractions, I get to bed pretty late some nights. I've never been one of those people to sleep in on the weekends either. Due to my circadian rhythm, my body has a natural tendency to wake up early on weekends or days off and be productive. It's kind of handy when things need to get done!

I find this interesting because then I am led to ponder, if so many people say they can function (not saying they cannot, just relaying facts) perfectly with less than the recommended amount of sleep, then why is it that we have learned from so many texts that we need 8 to 9 hours. I find that my body adjusts to "need" as much sleep as I can consistently give it. That said, is it then our brains playing tricks on our allowing us to only need as much sleep as we can give it or are we unconsciously just accepting the fact that we can only take what we can get?

I seem to be more like you. At first, not getting much sleep had negative effects on me, but now I have been getting only 5 to 6 hours of sleep every night for so long that it hardly even effects my any more. I have a problem in which, if anything awakes me torwards the morning hours, even if it is 4 am, I will not fall back asleep. I thought this was just an unusual phenomenon, but I read in our psychology textbook that this is also a form of insomnia, just a less stereotypical form. Needless to say, it gets very annoying on some weekends when I finally have the time to sleep in, but cannot sleep past 7.

How ironic that you bring this up. I feel as though many people, especially college students, do not get the "recommended" amount of sleep per night. As stated in the text book, 8-9 hours is sufficient. I believe that is just a guideline though and that your body truly knows what is best- hence the difference not just between you and your husband, but between roommates, best friends, and the night-owls vs early birds. As long as you're getting enough sleep for you, and your husband is getting enough sleep for him- and by enough I mean the amount needed to enable your body to function at its highest capacity, I would not be worried about the differences.

As a insomnia victim, I've found it very frustrating that sleep doesn't come as "naturally" to me as it does others; thus diagnosing my disorder has brought me peace as well as many nights of wonderful sleep. If I were your husband, I think it would be extremely beneficial to see what the root of his sleeping "problem" is.

I can completely agree with you in that I feel much more worn-out if I sleep more than 6 hours on a given night. One would think the more sleep that one gets the more active and energetic they feel once awake. That cannot be less true in my case. Whenever I would sleep beyond 6-7 hours, oddly enough I can barely get through my day without taking a nap or stay awake in any of my lecture classes. I have no idea why my body functions as so. However, my theory for one (and in no way am I claiming it to be the exact explanation) is that my body just gets "used to" the sleep and non-physically strenuous state that I am in when I tend to sleep for longer periods of time.