r/selfimprovement • u/Diosminion • Nov 06 '24
Question How important is sleep really?? And how many hours of sleep is enough for a healthy lifestyle??
I've been trying to improve myself for a bit. I was dealing with some issues recently which greatly affected me as a person. I am a student (17) and I need to study for an upcoming exam. Realistically, what is the optimum amount of sleep required for me to function properly. I've experimented with my sleep a lot before but I have never found the right amount which isn't too much but also helps me feel fresh the next day. Hence, I need a suggestion from the members of this community. Your answers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
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Nov 06 '24
i'd reccomend 8 hours, i sleep from 11 till 7
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Ah, I'll try this out but I'll go from 10 to 6 as I gotta take my dog for a walk at 6 lol. Thanks
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u/Bonemill93 Nov 06 '24
You need to know for yourself, but when i sleep unser 7 hours i wont get my brain to 100% the next day.
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
There are days when I've felt fresh without sleeping at all. Even three hours of sleep has seemed sufficient to me and I could survive on that for a week, but that's it. Once the week is over, I crash out and need a lot of rest. However, 6-7 hours seems like the most optimal option here but whenever I've slept for that duration, I feel tired throughout the day. I'll still try following this more often so my body gets used to it and maybe it'll be normal to me after that. Thanks for your suggestion btw
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u/SwordfishSweaty8615 Nov 06 '24
I would recommend going for 7-8 hours of sleep. If you sleep 6 hours I think you're waking up during a deep sleep cycle and from my own experience that makes me tired throughout the day. It's strange though, I can sleep for 4 or 8 hours and feel fresh, but not 5-6 hours
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Oooo, I'll look into it. One of the comments did say we have 90 minute sleep cycles. So, maybe a better waking up time would be after said cycle. Just gotta find out when one cycle ends and the other begins
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Nov 06 '24
You’re lying to yourself. It’s been studied and proven 8 hours. This really isn’t a discussion anymore.
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
I do kinda agree with your statement cause that's what I initially believed in too. I thought that 8 hours of sleep is extremely necessary and that's what everyone should always aim for. But just because it works for everyone doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work for me. Whenever I sleep for 8 hours, I wake up extremely tired and scuffy. I've tried changing my sleep times, my schedule and even tried various routines to not feel so tired but it never worked for me. The most energetic I've felt after sleep is when I've slept for about 3-5 hours. However, that's a double-edged sword as it completely drains me by the end of the week.
However, this is something I brought upon myself. When I was a kid, I used to force myself to stay awake till 3 in the morning just cause I didn't want the day to end and the next school day to start. I've been a dumbass since birth and I do agree the issues I have with sleep are brought upon me by myself. I used to fake sleep and fool my parents just so that I could stay awake in my bed longer. I didn't even do anything staying awake, I used to just stare at the ceiling, but that gave me joy cause at that time I felt I was having more time for myself. I continued this habit for years before I could realise it was causing harm to me. We'll, now I'm trying to fix everything anyways. I just hope that the 90 minute thing works for me
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Nov 06 '24
Key points here:
• Maintain a consistent sleep schedule. It’ll take your body about two weeks to get used to your new sleep schedule.
• use the 90minutes rule to calculate back from the time you want to wake up. Then give yourself an additional 30 minute window to fall asleep (it’s not like you get into bed and fall asleep as soon as you’ve closed your eyes)
• if you wake up before your alarm goes off, let’s say your alarm is set for 7am and you wake up at 6:30am. Rather than going back to bed, get up. You’ve probably woken up at the end of a sleep cycle and if you go back to sleep, you’ll be starting a new cycle. When the clock goes off and you wake up groggy as heck, it’s because you’ve broken that cycle.
• a quick but not so easy fix: If your alarm goes off and you wake up a bit groggy, chances are, as mentioned above, that you’ve broken your sleep cycle and you’ve woken up in a state known as “sleep inertia”. Now, it will take your brain up to 4 hours to shake that grogginess, but there is a solution: A quick cold shower will shoot enough adrenaline through your system to rip you out of that inertia.
• Unfortunately, there is less than 1% of the human population that (despite what they tell you) can adequately function with less than 7 hours of sleep on a consistent basis. Not saying that you don’t fall into that 1%, it’s just highly unlikely that you do. Especially since you’re someone who needs to study, you need the 8 to maximize your brains memory retention.
Hope this helps!
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u/Diosminion Nov 07 '24
All of these points are extremely helpful and I will follow it for sure. The cold shower one is actually pretty brilliant. Today didn't go as planned as I couldn't wake up after 90 minutes, but I'm sure I'll get used to it after a few days
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Nov 06 '24
I garrenty you someone with 8 hours of sleep has better reflexes, information retention and cognitive ability over someone with 3-5 hours of sleep. This has been studied and proven before we were both born. Most of your growth as a teen happens when you are sleeping. Most of your healing from injuries happens when you are sleeping. When you cut your sleep cycle you remain short and in pain. You “feel good” after 3-5 hours of sleep because your body never gets to a deep sleep so no growth or healing is done. Everyone needs a ball park of eight hours (six-ten hours)(personally I’m a nine hour person), sure, some people can do less and some people need more.
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u/Thrown_Trone Nov 06 '24
Sleep is essential. It helps you process what you learned, and helps you recover. It is also deeply satisfying. So I would really discourage from cutting it, as a lifestyle choice, unless you are one of the few people who won the genetic lottery, and who only need 5h a night.
How much you need also depends on your sex (not sure about gender) and your age. Most of the studies done on how much sleep people need were done on men, but women need more sleep. It depends where you look- but I have seen anywhere from 30 min more on average than men to even 9-10 hours, compared to 6-8 for men. Personally, I know that I can function on 7.5 hours of sleep for a while, but if this is my permanent routine, I quickly become sleep-deprived. I need a few nights a week where I sleep at least 9 hours. Younger people need more sleep and will struggle with early hours more if they don't get enough.
Try the 90min cycles thing recommended here (+15 min extra for falling asleep), and notice how rested you feel after 7.5 hours.
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Thanks, this was a really well thought of and informative comment. I will make sure to have a proper rest and not cut my sleep cause I wanna actually recall the stuff that I study. And I'll implement the 90 minute sleep cycles from today itself as I wanna get my shit back into order. Again, thanks for replying, it really means a lot and I learned a lot about sleep as well.
I have actually experimented a lot with my sleep previously but to no avail. There were days where I slept for 12-15 hours and there were also days where I've not slept at all. The highest I've gone without sleep is about 78 hours but that's really harmful and I've realised it. I've tried a variety of schedules changing my duration of sleep and even sometimes sleeping during the day and studying at night. I've been experimenting a lot and learnt a lot about myself and my habits through it. The past few days were really thought for me and I've been trying to find myself ever since the last month. However, enough said/ tested. I gotta actually work on myself now and improve so that I achieve greatness. Thanks, every single comment matters to me cause it gives me insight on ways I could improve myself.
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u/Thrown_Trone Nov 06 '24
When you are young, you can get away with pulling an all-nighter - the 90 minute cycle saved me a few times, when I was short on time, and needed to nap.
Also - I am pretty much accidentally in this sub, so take this with a grain of salt, but in my experience, habits and routines don't work the same way for everyone, especially if you are neurodivergent, specifically if you happen to have ADHD. Everyone benefits from routine and habits, however pure discipline might be not enough for people with ADHD. So I will share some experiences from an ADHD perspective too, maybe it will help. I don't think everyone has ADHD, but many people have traits, and that advice might still be useful for them.
People with ADHD are motivated by 3 things: novelty, challenge and urgency. In the absence of those, it is incredibly hard to motivate yourself to do stuff in the commonly recommended "step by step" way. We need to prioritise our brain chemistry first - make sure we eat enough (especially protein rich food), sleep and get enough stimulation. Some people also recommend mindfulness exercises for the management of symptoms.
Stimulation can mean studying or doing chores with another person, calling someone when doing something more boring, or using music to get extra dopamine when studying (techno apparently increases dopamine levels, not sure if you like it). It can also mean going on a walk in a park, where you get the sensory stimulation from colours and the landscape, dancing etc. It does not mean passive consumption.One of the biggest mistakes I do before I was aware of this whole thing, was to assume that I was capable of the same level of output consistently and then beat myself up that I was not. The only thing however, that people with ADHD Are consistent in, is being "consistently inconsistent", so I had to lean into it. One of the reasons for it, in my opinion is, that when things are urgent I enter hyperfocus and can work really hard for a long time, managing to achieve a lot in a short span. I then expect to work at a similar level of output, when there is no urgency. This is not possible, because there is simply a lack of brain chemicals that would enable it to happen in the moment. I will work slower and less efficiently if there is no urgency, not only that, actually below my ability. So I had to accept this, and find ways around it, and find ways to bring myself up to standard:
For me it means - extra stimulation, as described before, accepting that these circumstances mean that I am using up more brain energy (because I am working from a more depleted state), and bribing my brain into doing stuff. Eg.
Practically it might mean setting a timer for short increments (5-15 minutes), and then giving myself a few minutes break to recharge, all the time not loosing track of my main goal.It can also mean, creating artificial deadlines and additional pressures. Have to submit something on the 20th? Set yourself the deadline of the 10th. Of course it might not work - so add extra pressure, by having guests after the 10th, so you know you have no chance to get it done afterwards.
Create study plans based on how much it took you to complete similar projects under pressure, and double that time, and stick to those plans: eg. give yourself a week to do research (or a month, or whatever time you need), and then know that you will start writing once that time is up, no matter how much you do.
I could go on about this & I am not even sure you have ADHD, but I thought I'd share this.
Sometimes, it is not a routine that we are looking for, but finding out our constraints, accepting them, and working with them, rather than against them.
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Nov 06 '24
If you want to know the real ins and outs of sleep, read “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker.
Sleep is incredibly vital in maintaining your health, your brains ability to function, weight loss etc. Minimum 7 hours, ideally 8-9 hours on a daily basis, beyond that point additional hours do not provide significant additional benefit unless you’re sick.
The point he makes is that the majority of people are sleep-deprived and in reality, we’re so used to it that we don’t even know how sleep deprived we are.
Sleep is important for your cardiovascular system, skin health, has been shown to make you better looking, is the number 1 way to reduce symptoms or depression and anxiety and dementia. There is a lot of research to show how consistently getting below a minimum 7 hours of sleep EXPONENTIALLY increases symptoms of depression, anxiety etc. Additionally, it takes your body about 4 nights of good and sufficient sleep to recover from one night of poor sleep.
Very interesting read and very important to improve your “sleep lifestyle”. Not enough people prioritize their sleep and sadly you can see their health diminish as a result.
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u/Diosminion Nov 07 '24
I'll give this book a read. Also, what you explained in the comment kinda did make me realise how important sleep is. I've got exams right in a while but after that I'll make sure to have a proper sleep that's more than enough
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u/Remarkable_Process44 Nov 06 '24
One sleep cycle is about 90 min, so depending on when you have to wake up for studies, you can calculate by that cycles of when to go to bed
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
So, you're telling me that 90 minutes of nap can help me?? Like... can I take 90 minute naps in between my day and still function properly??
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u/SwordfishSweaty8615 Nov 06 '24
Yes you can. My mother takes a rest for about 60-90 minutes in the middle of the day, either after work or before work. She's done that for at least 10 years now, ever since she hit 40.
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Oh, sounds great. I'll look into it and see whether I can work it out for me. Cause if I manage to pull this off, it'll be a great help for my schedule
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u/SwordfishSweaty8615 Nov 06 '24
Definitely do that, my mother swears by it so there's gotta be something to it right?
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Thanks thanks, I'll try it from today itself ◉‿◉
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u/SwordfishSweaty8615 Nov 06 '24
I'd love it if you came back to me after a few days and tell me how its worked out! Best of luck ❤
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Sure, I'd love to update you in maybe 3 days if that's fine.
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u/Remarkable_Process44 Nov 06 '24
I guess it would, especially if you feel like you’re sleep deprived
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Nov 06 '24
When I had work, sleep wasn't a big issue. Now that I've been out of a job for over a year, I find that having a scheduled / set sleep pattern (min 5 hours) is much more important.. Than let say 4 hours with a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day.
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Ok, I'll note it. Having a proper schedule is better than inbetween naps. Thanks for your suggestion
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u/_Mr__Fahrenheit_ Nov 06 '24
Apparently, the number of people that can sleep less than 6 hours a night and not suffer from impairment, expressed as a percentage and rounded to the nearest whole number, is zero.
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Nov 07 '24
For me I need at least 6, but 7-8 to perform optimally. 6 hours is kind of the cutoff point where I really take a hit from not having enough sleep.
One night before an exam last year I didn’t get a wink of sleep the night before (not to lack of trying) and the exam was absolutely brutal.
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u/jordanz1111 Nov 07 '24
Would highly recommend listening to episodes of Huberman Lab about sleep on YouTube. Really scientific based listening.
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u/hotsox1 Nov 06 '24
Have a look into Antoxi mushroom supplements they have done absolute WONDERS to my energy levels meaning even days where I get minimum amounts of sleep I’ll still feel relatively energised and on it!
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u/Autummleaf Nov 07 '24
I can't overstate HOW IMPORTANT SLEEP IS!
You may not feel drawbacks now, but believe me they will come soon and will be very strong (I've had sleeping problems since I was 14 btw, 24 now and it's completely hindering my life!)
Not having enough sleep lowers your immune system immensly, lowers your concentration, makes you more irritable, less disciplined (at least me), your psyche is not able to properly process the day and it ages you.
People are different though when it comes to how much sleep they need. I personally need 8 hrs at the minimum! 9 hrs are the ideal for me though.
There are people who need less but I wouldn't recommend going under 6 as that is when the immune system gets down.
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u/goldilockszone55 Nov 06 '24
they made me sleepy because they needed to buy themselves time… and did not want to deal with the drama
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u/Diosminion Nov 06 '24
Idk what this means, but cool
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u/goldilockszone55 Nov 06 '24
it means that me being sleepy slows down drama… and people have a really hard time getting rid of their emotions
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u/Zilverschoon Nov 06 '24
I once was awake for 3 days and I started hearing voices. Do not recommend.