How Much Do You Sleep?
I imagine it’s the season change, but I am feeling a little extra sleepy these days. Sleep is a subject that I find endlessly fascinating. From why we need it to how much we each get to why some of us require less than others—it is both completely mysterious and completely common. It’s something we all do, yet know so little about.
So here’s your pop quiz! (Please answer in the comments section and I will tally results.)
1. How much do you sleep a night?
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up?
3. Do you have trouble sleeping?
In my recent GOOD post about sleep, I also mentioned the Ayurvedic day-cycle theory. Here’s a quick explanation (and I promise to go further into Ayurveda later this week): This ancient Indian medical system believes that all things are dominated by three doshas (or energies that are themselves made up of the five elements): Pitta, Vata and Kapha. Still with me?
Anyway, the day itself is also broken into these energy cycles and some cycles lend themselves to rest and others to activity. This random site offers a pretty good breakdown. Ayurveda strongly encourages early to bed and early to rise, and I have to say that the more that I experiment the more I find that to be true. For instance, waking up at 5:30am is easier than 7:30am. Weird.
OK, I’m excited to hear your answers so that we can come up with some fun, non-controlled, non-scientific deductions! Get to it…
1. As of lately, I probably sleep around 6 – 8 hours every night.
2. I go to bed around 12:00 a.m. and wake around 7:30 a.m.
3. Yes, because we adopted a second puppy and she unfortunately, sleeps on the bed next to me.
1. How much do you sleep a night? 5-8 hrs
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up? bedtime is between 10pm and 1am – and I typically wake between 6 and 7 am five days a week- rest of the week trying to “catch up” and I sleep in til 9 or 10 am (doesn’t help!)
3. Do you have trouble sleeping? It has gotten better now that I go to sleep before midnight most nights, but I have a terrible time waking up …refreshed and happy… workin on diet, and routine!
1) 8-9 hours a night
2) I go to bed between 11pm & midnight, getting up between 7:30 am & 8:30 am
3) A bit – my husband is at boot camp for the Marine Corps & the bed is very empty and cold without him :)
1) ~9 hours a night
2) I go to bed around 8:30-9 and wake up around 5:45-6:30
3) I don’t have trouble sleeping when I fall asleep, but I usually wake up once because I drink too much water before bed!
1. Usually 7.5-8.5 hours a night
2. i go to bed about 11:30 or 12:00 and get up between 7:30 and 8:00 most days. Weekends I usually go to bed a later and wake up around 9 or 9:30.
3. I am not a morning person. I love mornings, but I hate being tired. Does that make sense? It’s never been easy for me to get out of bed. Although… when I kicked sugar for a few weeks, I could get 6 or 7 hours of sleep and feel totally awake all day long! I also wake up sometimes once or twice in the middle of the night and tend to check the clock. When my schedule was different everyday, I would wake up in a panic almost every morning thinking about what I had to do and where I had to be that day, thinking I overslept. I tend to have nightmares when I’m stressed, too.
I feel like I sleep a lot better on a routine and when I eat healthier and exercise more. Especially when I take a shower or bath right before bed and the sheets are clean, I fall asleep instantly.
1. How much do you sleep a night? 5-6.5 hours
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up? In bed by 11:00PM of 12:00AM, awoken by the screeching alarm at 6:30AM
3. Do you have trouble sleeping? Yes! Because I hate having to sleep instead of working more on side projects I’m passionate about. I resent it, battle it. This has to stop.
1. 7-8 hrs. maybe more on weekends.
2. go to bed between 9 &10pm, wake up at 5:30 during the week.
3. yes, especially if I’m stressed/worried about something. otherwise I tend to wake up several times during the night.
1. 5-7 hours a night.
2. Usually I got o bed between 12-1am. I work full-time and try to catch-up on side projects at night… I wake up at 7am (takes time tho!).
3. Not really. I do usually try aromatherapy for a better sleep, it works every time! :)
1. 6-7hrs weekdays / 8-10hrs weekends
2. 11-12pm to 6-7am weekdays / 11-12pm to 9-10am weekends
3. i stress about getting enough sleep, since i struggle to fall asleep, tend to be a light sleeper, and am the first in the household to bed and the first to rise. i feel forced to try and stay up later to be social, yet struggle every morning to wake up, and i hate it.
I’ve been experimenting, too and find it is much easier to fall asleep early and wake early. I wake naturally between 6 and 640 but always go back to sleep! I’m trying to stop that.
1. How much do you sleep a night? 8-9 hours. 9 is better and this is how much I need to feel rested.
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up? between 10 and 11 (SUCH and old lady)
3. Do you have trouble sleeping? No. Blessed with falling and staying asleep easily. Also a curse because I need more sleep than most people I know! Too few hours in the day…
1. 7-8 hours during the week, 8-9 hours on the weekends.
2. Get in bed around 10, read until 10:30 or 11 when I fall asleep with the book on my face. Drag myself out of bed at 7 (okay, 7:15) on weekdays. Weekends, maybe it shifts an hour — go to bed between 11 and 12, sleep until 8 or 9 AM.
3. I am a champion sleeper 95 percent of the time — fall asleep easily, and nothing wakes me. My only complaint is that I just want to sleep more and more and have a hard time waking up in the morning (especially on gray days — big believer in getting your sunlight fix early). But maybe once every few months, when I’m super stressed out, I’ll have a really hard time falling asleep and lie awake for hours. Usually Tylenol PM takes care of it… but leaves me groggy in the morning.
1. 7.5-8 hours and more on weekends
2. I wake up at 6:01am for work(I really set my alarm at that time) so I try to get into bed between 930 and 10.
3. I fall asleep really easily and usually wake up once to go to the bathroom. Even though I get “enough” sleep I am always tired and feel like my alarm often goes off in the middle of a dream. I also feel like I wake up too early for my natural sleep cycle but I have to because I work early. Maybe I need to wake up earlier? I can sleep 12 hours no problem on my days off.
1. 5-7 hours
2. go to bed between 11-12/wake up at 7
3. if I am really stressed out I have trouble falling asleep…. but once I am asleep, I stay asleep
I’m a psych student and we are learning pretty in-depth about sleep, why we need it, and why different people need different amounts. So interesting!
I get 8+ hours of sleep a night. Usually I go to bed between 11-12 and wake up between 7:30-9:30 (I have late classes some days!). I don’t usually have trouble going to sleep unless I am really anxious about something or I’ve been drinking (particularly beer… alcohol really messes up your REM sleep!).
1. I’m in bed for 7-8 hours per night; I usually sleep 5-7 hours (see #3).
2. In bed between 10:00 and 11:00; up at 6:00.
3. I do. I’m a night owl, and it’s difficult for me to be on a 9-to-5 schedule. I have a hard time falling asleep, and often wake up multiple times at night. When I was an undergrad and in grad school, I’d go to sleep around 1:00 in the morning and sleep until 9:00 or 10:00, which felt much more natural and didn’t result in the same broken sleep and daytime tiredness. Alas, until I win the lottery, I’m stuck working the man’s hours.
1. I generally get 6 to 6 & 1/2 hrs of sleep everyday.. Slightly more on weekends
2. I go to sleep around after 12 midnight & wake up by 6:30
3. I have no trouble going to sleep, but a lot of trouble getting up in the morning.
Awesome to have so many answers! I’m going to wait a few days to get more in then do my “report.”
1. How much do you sleep a night? – 5-6 hours during the week, bit more on weekends.
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up? 2am – 8am or 3am – 8:30 on weekdays, 3am – 10am on weekends.
3. Do you have trouble sleeping? Not often.
1. 6-8 hours
2. I usually go to bed between 10 and 12 and wake up between 5.45 and 6.10 (that’s the snooze time I give myself trying to get used to the idea of waking up)
3.I don’t have trouble sleeping if I’m sharing the bed with my husband (sadly, he’s got projects keeping him late at night, working, so I pretty much wake up once to three times at night to check up on him).
1. 6-7 hours average
2. I got to bed anytime between 11-12:30 / I wake up around 7
3. I do not sleep well at all – I can’t turn my mind off at night and I’m usually uncomfortable. The last time I took something to help me sleep I had the most bizarre nightmares… Ugh…
1. How much do you sleep a night? 6 – 8 hours
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up? 11PM or Midnight, up at 7AM every day
3. Do you have trouble sleeping?
Lately I’ve had trouble sleeping because my boyfriend travels for work, and I haven’t been sleeping as well since he has been gone. On good nights, when he is home, I sleep straight through, without waking up, but the week or so since he has been gone, I find myself waking up every couple of hours.
i’m not sure i’m qualified to answer the questions because through some stroke of luck i get to do whatever i want, which means huge variations in sleep schedules (but i do have trouble sleeping & must wear an eye mask & ear plugs).
that said, i’m a total night owl and seem to do best going to bed after midnight and no matter what time i wake up, i’m not fully coherent til about 10am. i heard a while back that scientists had found a certain gene defines whether a person is diurnal or nocturnal, but i haven’t been able to find anything to support that online. it would make sense to me if it were true, tho. 5:30am wake up, no freaking way! :))
1. I’m in bed for 9 hours, but amount of sleep varies.
2. 9:30 – 10:30
3. I do not sleep well and I don’t remember ever sleeping well, even as a child. I have tried everything, (except medication, which I simply will not do). Normally, I am awake for hours at a time and use meditation to calm my mind and help me get back to sleep. It is a real problem and, unfortunately, I think an inherited trait, if that is possible.
May I add that there are things that make my sleeplessness even worse – caffeine too late in the day (after 10:00 a.m.), exercising too late in the day, certain foods will keep me awake, (for example, spicy basil chicken), chocolate, desserts, even some self-proclaimed non-caffeinated teas, alcohol, (of course), being premenstual.
Oh, and neither valerian nor melatonin work for me. No effect.
I’ve sort of resigned myself to the fact that I have a lot of energy and the motor just doesn’t idle very effectively.
I sleep about 5-6 hours per night. Generally, I’m in bed by about 8:30 but don’t actually try to go to sleep until around 11pm. I get up around 6am. It takes me awhile to fall asleep, and I often wake up in the middle of the night, which is why I usually only end up with 5-6 hours instead of 7. :)
1. 7-8 on weekdays and 8-12 on weekends!
2. In general I am on the early to bed, early to rise plan. Mon & Wed try and get to bed between 8:15-9:15PM to wake up at 4:15 for 5AM Bikram yoga. Other weekdays around 10PM and up between 530-630.
3. I have never had trouble sleeping. Sleep like a rock, except when my dog wakes me up to go potty. bad doggie!
1. How much do you sleep a night? 6-8 hours
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up? 11pm/midnightish // 5:30am/7:30am (depending if i am teaching early morning)
3. Do you have trouble sleeping? no, i am a GREAT sleeper :) just have to make myself get to bed earlier (so much to do!)
When I finally realized that I need 9-9.5 hours of sleep a night more days than not in order to feel rested, I started putting myself to bed based on when I need to wake up. I’m more of a night owl, so a little discipline here is necessary for me; most of the time it’s not practical to wake up at 11:00. I usually sleep great!
1. I tend to try to get at least 8 hours, if I can get more, I do. On the weekends, I usually get 10.
2. I usually fall asleep around 1:00 am. I don’t have to be to work until late morning, usually. The benefits of an office with no set time schedule.
3. I wake up a lot, but it’s very easy for me to fall back asleep. The bigger problem is that I have lots of really effed up dreams, and at least 1-3 nightmares a week. That’s most likely some weird genetic thing, though, as my mother and sister, who have vastly different sleep schedules than me, have the same dream life. If I ever can’t fall asleep, I turn on cartoons and they distract me enough to fall back asleep.
1. How much do you sleep a night? I lie in the bed about 8-9 hours a night, I know you are thinking you’re jealous but I didn’t say sleep. I might get 6ish hours of honest sleep.
2. What time do you go to bed / wake up? I get IN the bed around 9:30pm and get OUT at 6:00am, give or take an hour depending on what day it is.
3. Do you have trouble sleeping? I have a 14 month old, a bed thrashing husband and a tiny dog with big sinus problems, ’nuff said…
1. I sleep about 8 hours a night, but I need 9 to feel my best.
2. Ideally in bed at 10 or 1030, TV off, with book. Up at 6 or 7 depending. 8 on a bad day.
3. I wake up in the night a lot. Falling asleep isnt a problem unless I have something big on the brain.
1) 7-8 hrs a night average (sometimes 6, sometimes a bit more)
2) go to sleep between 12 and 1, get up around 8
3) nope–sleep comes easily to me! as long as i stay in a pretty good routine. :)
1. 7-9 hours. I like to sleep, and sometimes I’ll take a nap in the afternoon
2. get into bed around 11 get up around 8 or 9
3. I have to pee a couple times, but other than that, I’m out!
1) Anywhere between 8-10 hours a night (still doesn’t seem like enough!)
2) In bed around 10 or 11 and up by 7 or 8
3) I can fall asleep pretty well, although I do tend think/ponder up ideas and things to do right before bed…. I move a lot at night; rub my feet together when falling asleep and waking up.
1) 7 hrs weekdays, 8-10 weekends
2) Asleep by 12-1am, awake by 7-8am
3) Good at falling asleep, most nights.
I sleep about 4 hours a night on weekdays, going to sleep at about 3am then my alarm goes off at 7am but I am usually too exhausted to get up until about 7:30/8am.
On weekends, I go to sleep about 3/4am but don’t wake up until 2/3pm but can easily continue to doze until 5pm.
I do believe I have a sleep problem as I find myself extremely tired around 3/4pm, regardless of whether I’ve had 3, or 13 hours of sleep.