A full nights sleep in THREE hours!

[Piratecat]

Sleep is overrated.

You only need about four hours a night to function, course you function better on eight, but I sleep less then five to six a night average.

Nah. Sleep is underrated.

Most folks say that they can get along with five or six. I've talked to literally thousands of them. Unless they're extremely unusual, though, what has happened is that they're continuously fatigued and the baseline by which they measure fatigue has changed -- so they don't realize it. They're used to feeling crappy all the time, so it doesn't seem unusual. As Merkuri said, though, it affects the immune system, coordination, emotions and patience, the ability to reason logically... all sorts of things.

A good baseline? If you have a day off or a vacation and you're still sleeping 5 or 6 hours, and you feel great doing so, you're one of the lucky few. If you find that you're sleeping longer than normal on days off, though, or you want to be, then you're sleep deprived during the week.

 

[megamania]

deprived...depraved....its all the same to me as I get 4 hours a day except for Saturday whicjh I try for 8.



I need a solution for working two full time jobs and having a family.

 

[Piratecat]

And they outlawed child labor, so the kids can't take up the slack!

I may not have said it, MM, but I'm very impressed by you. You've really busted your ass to make the family work, and you have my admiration and respect for that.

As for the sleep, just take naps when you can and make up as much as possible on weekends.

 

[Harmon]

Nah. Sleep is underrated.

Most folks say that they can get along with five or six. I've talked to literally thousands of them. Unless they're extremely unusual, though, what has happened is that they're continuously fatigued and the baseline by which they measure fatigue has changed -- so they don't realize it. They're used to feeling crappy all the time, so it doesn't seem unusual. As Merkuri said, though, it affects the immune system, coordination, emotions and patience, the ability to reason logically... all sorts of things.

A good baseline? If you have a day off or a vacation and you're still sleeping 5 or 6 hours, and you feel great doing so, you're one of the lucky few. If you find that you're sleeping longer than normal on days off, though, or you want to be, then you're sleep deprived during the week.

I agree, the unfortunate part is I have nightmares, loads of them, more then about five hours of sleep and I can't see straight the next day because I am thinking about what I saw in the nightmares.

I would love to have a peaceful night of sleep, but its not something I can have.

 

[Merkuri]

I agree, the unfortunate part is I have nightmares, loads of them, more then about five hours of sleep and I can't see straight the next day because I am thinking about what I saw in the nightmares.

If your life is being affected by something like that you should see a therapist. Seriously.

I knew someone who learned to use lucid dreaming to make their nightmares go away. They learned to do it with the help of a psychologist. If there's some reason (like money) you can't go see a therapist about your nightmares then you might want to self-treat by looking up lucid dreaming online. It can take a while to learn how to do, but if you can't get a full night's sleep because of them then anything you can do is worth it. Believe me, you will feel so much better with a full night's sleep.

 

[GlassJaw]

If you find that you're sleeping longer than normal on days off, though, or you want to be, then you're sleep deprived during the week.

So is it bad to "catch up" on sleep on the weekends for example?

 

[Merkuri]

So is it bad to "catch up" on sleep on the weekends for example?

I've heard that while you can't "make up" lost sleep, you can prepare for it.

For example, if you're well rested on Friday and you know you will not be able to get much sleep Monday and Tuesday night then sleeping more on Saturday and Sunday will help you get through Monday and Tuesday. But if you were not well rested on Thursday and Friday, sleeping more Saturday won't help. It certainly won't make you feel better on Thursday and Friday.

I've also heard that sleep is more beneficial if you go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning, regardless of how long you sleep. Obviously sleeping 7-8 hours each night is preferrable to sleeping 4-5, but I beleive that sleeping 4-5 hours five nights a week and then sleeping 9-10 hours on weekends may be worse than sleeping 4-5 every night. Take that with a grain of salt, though. I'm not a doctor.

 

[megamania]

I'm tired and both my knees hurt bad enough I called in for work. Is this from sleeping 4 hours a day?

 

[Harmon]

If your life is being affected by something like that you should see a therapist. Seriously.

I knew someone who learned to use lucid dreaming to make their nightmares go away. They learned to do it with the help of a psychologist. If there's some reason (like money) you can't go see a therapist about your nightmares then you might want to self-treat by looking up lucid dreaming online. It can take a while to learn how to do, but if you can't get a full night's sleep because of them then anything you can do is worth it. Believe me, you will feel so much better with a full night's sleep.

Asking for help seldom gets me anything but heart ache, and bad mouthed. Thank you for the kindness, but I will do as I have for the thrity odd years I have lived with it, and endure the long sleepless, painful nights.

 

[Merkuri]

Thank you for the kindness, but I will do as I have for the thrity odd years I have lived with it, and endure the long sleepless, painful nights.

See, I don't see why you'd want to keep going through that. I'd be trying everything to get the nightmares to go away. You don't have to be a martyr. Try self-treating with lucid dreaming if you don't want to see a professional. It's possible to learn, and I've been slowly making my way there. I've had one short lucid dream in a few years, but I haven't been trying that hard. If you actually put effort into it (which can cause you to not get as much rest at first, but it sounds like you're already used to that) you'll probably be lucid dreaming in no time.