How Much Sleep is “Enough”
Sep 6th, 2008 by Nut
My alarm went off today at 5:30am and the first thing that popped into my head was “Why am I getting up right now?” The answer, of course, is “to write.” Either for this site or for my fiction, but the whole idea is to get up early to write. But it’s tiring and it’s something I don’t have to do. I won’t get in trouble if I turn off the alarm, roll over and go back to sleep.
Which brings me to the title of this post: how much sleep is enough? I typically get around seven hours of sleep, but it doesn’t always go down that way. When I go to sleep a little later, I’ll sometimes get around six hours. It affects the rest of my day — I feel tired, unproductive, lethargic, etc. But I trudge along and make it to the weekend, where I try to “catch up” on my sleep. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
But this morning it got me wondering: what’s it all for? Sure, my body is used to it by now (I’ll wake up a minute or two before the alarm even goes off) — but wouldn’t it be better to just sleep an extra couple hours and have my body (and mind) nice and fresh for the day?
What’s the right balance of diligence (waking up early and getting things done) and health (getting “enough” sleep)?
Any ideas?
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It’s a good question, and one that I have thought about a bit myself. I typically aim for seven hours, but like you most nights I don’t hit the mark. I think the recommended amount is at least seven, closer to eight. Anything under seven is detrimental to mental and physical health if maintained for a long period of time, or so I’ve heard!