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How much sleep do we need?

Stewstews

Small Fry
Found some threads around here about how much people typically sleep each night.

I am more interested to know is how much we *should* sleep - for general health reasons but also to see what impact low levels of sleep has on muscle growth.

Myself, I am very busy in the early days of a business venture at present and would get 6 hours on a good night, and the odd bad night at 3 hours... am sure others have similar situations for whatever reason, kids etc.

I can't help but think I am not getting enough to support my workouts, as work or gym after work has me home quite late and feeling wired late at night. Cooking up dinner after 10pm etc. So I can't fit more sleep in without sacrificing something, and right now that could only be the gym sessions... which means the extra sleep I'd gain would not help with growth anyway. /dilemma
 
Yeh I wonder about this too, I have horrid sleep patterns. No more than 4hrs or 5 if I'm lucky.
Read that 8hrs was good for all round health, but being a shift worker I never seem to be able to any more. Even if I got a couple days off I still have short sleeps.
 
Yeh I wonder about this too, I have horrid sleep patterns. No more than 4hrs or 5 if I'm lucky.
Read that 8hrs was good for all round health, but being a shift worker I never seem to be able to any more. Even if I got a couple days off I still have short sleeps.

Some people function very well on 4hrs, I envy those people :mad:
 
All I can say is if are getting the required amount of sleep you should be waking up refreshed.

Yeh, logical as always Andy, that makes complete sense to me. It's something I don't do often, but I have recently backed off on the suger laden processed foods and I am feeling better rested the last couple weeks. Might try and back off the coffee a bit too, my old man reckons after a couple weeks it helps as well.
 
I'm very big on the "no caffeine" front due to my lack of sleep, so give it a go Rambodian.

Basically when I have coffee is when I really need it, and by abstaining from it when I have it I get a real kick - e.g. trying to get a tender complete and working through the night. So it's a bonus rather that way. I look at people having a lot of coffee etc like people who smoke a lot - they need it to get back to normal.

I am definitely not waking up refreshed and I am sorer for longer lately, but I don't really know how to combat it with how busy I am at present. I take ZMA, and I like the idea of a "digital sunset", which might help if work didn't require staring at a laptop...
 
Still have bad habits from years of shift work.

Just cutting my coffee habit in half from 40+ a week to max of 20 to start with.
Still drinking lots of green tea , matcha (Japanese powdered green tea) and pureh tea
so not down on the caffeine to much but the teas are better than coffee and not diuretic .

In my old job I wasn't the worst in the office, one guy was drinking double the coffee I was.


Go well on 5-6 hours but need at least 1 or 2 nights of 7 to 8 hours to catch up.
Less than 5 and I'm zombie like
 
I don't think there is a prescribed 'should' when it comes to sleep?

Andy's absolutely right, if you awaken feeling refreshed and rested, then you're on a winner.

Some people sleep for 12 hours but don't get the required REM sleep that is so important for a truly restful state.

Others get in 4 hours sleep, and plenty of good solid REM sleep and awaken feeling refreshed and rejuvinated - like moi :p

I average 4-6 hours a night, 6 hours is a very good night indeed when it happens lol

Everyone is different, the important thing is the quality of your sleep and that you're not waking up MORE exhausted than when you went to bed?

Sorry there's not a more specific answer Stewstews :)
 
I don't think there is a prescribed 'should' when it comes to sleep?

Andy's absolutely right, if you awaken feeling refreshed and rested, then you're on a winner.

Some people sleep for 12 hours but don't get the required REM sleep that is so important for a truly restful state.

Others get in 4 hours sleep, and plenty of good solid REM sleep and awaken feeling refreshed and rejuvinated - like moi :p

I average 4-6 hours a night, 6 hours is a very good night indeed when it happens lol

Everyone is different, the important thing is the quality of your sleep and that you're not waking up MORE exhausted than when you went to bed?

Sorry there's not a more specific answer Stewstews :)

I run pretty well on 4 hours sleep from my uni days... getting about 6.5 at the moment and i'm finding it's either not enough or too much... if that makes sense.. usually have one catch up day at the weekend
 
I average around 5 to 6 hours sleep a night.....6.5 if I'm lucky. Any less than 5 and I can feel the muscles in my back and legs feeling very weary by lunchtime...just feel too tired.

I agree with above comments...the optimal amount of sleep depends on the person. 8 hours is supposedly the 'magic' number for adequate sleep, but I have rarely slept this long and still managed to cope. 6.5 is my nirvana lol.
 
Yeah I guess everyone is different, certainly aware of that.

Just looking for some info on levels of sleep and the affect "generally" on muscle repair/growth. If you're not getting what your body needs (and it tells you you're not getting enough), how much could this hinder your muscle growth?

Also debate/tips around maximising the sleep and/or quality of sleep that people currently get. e.g. one that worked for me in the past (when I had time), was the "digital sunset"... no tv, pc, phone etc past 10pm, and none of them within an hour of bed.
 
I work two on two off roster.
When I'm at work, I am averaging about 5hours sleep a night. When I am home on break I am getting about 10-12. Oh how I love being on break.
 
Have really struggled sleeping this year for some reason, find myself waking up at least 3-4 times a night. I do seem to sleep better when I go to bed about 12 on weekends but can't do this in the week as work starts at 7, therefore I'm in bed around 9.

I like 7-8hrs a night, really struggle with less than this. I also feel just as bad if I have more than 8 so I try not to sleep in on weekends.
 
I'm probably in bed for 8 hours a night, but wake up every 1-2 hours.... its fucking shit... how do I stop it... same fucking times too...

Bed at 9:30, wake up at 11:30, 12:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30 get up at 5:30.....
I'm awake long enough to check the time, then asleep again....
 
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