This was originally posted on The Wired blog, written by Daniel Dumas You may more sleep than you think.
Research by Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders Center found that people who slept eight hours and then claimed they were "well rested" actually performed better and were more alert if they slept another two hours.
That figures. Until the invention of the light bulb (damn you, Edison!), the average person slumbered
10 hours a night.
Night owls are more creative.
Artists, writers, and coders typically fire on all cylinders by crashing near dawn and awakening at the crack of noon.
In one study, "evening people"
almost universally slam-dunked a standardized creativity test. Their early-bird brethren struggled for passing scores.
Rising early is stressful.
The stress hormone
cortisol peaks in your blood around 7 am. So if you get up then, you may experience tension. Grab some extra Zs! You'll wake up feeling less like Bert, more like Ernie.
Do you agree with any of these assessments? How many hours of sleep do you get? If your get more than eight hours, are you refreshed or sluggish?
Comments (66)
Eight-nine hours if I'm taking care of myself.
I've been a chronic insomniac for years, though...and my sleeping habits nowadays are pretty new.
I'm not usually "more productive" if I sleep ten hours.
Since I've struggled with insomnia my tendency is to either sleep way too much or not enough. Either way's bad, but I feel worse when I sleep too much than not enough.
I am a night owl though -- it's part of what contributed to my insomniac habits. I do my best at night. I'm a writer, so I qualify as one of those creative types. I've observed that my most brilliant ideas tend to happen between midnight and ten a.m. (if I've been up since late afternoon the following day)
Getting up extra early when I'm sleeping at night is actually stressful for me. I tend to go throughout the day fighting tensing back and neck muscles when I do this.
On weekdays, I get six hours of sleep..
On weekends, I get ten hours.
Over Christmas break, I was able to go to sleep really late at night and sleep in every single day.
I was writing a lot between 2am and 6am.
So yeah, I think night owls are more creative.
About 8 and half hours per night (whether it a week day or the weekend.)
On weekdays I sleep 6h or even less, but on weekends I sleep up to 12h. 8 hours of sleeping are not enough for me. I only wish if I could go to bed earlier on weekdays.
This is something that really effects me. Sleep, or lack there of rather. I have worked overnights at a gas station for the past two years and it has really messed with my sleep schedule.
On an average work day, I get about 6 hours of sleep at most. Usually that is split up into 2 three hour naps. Then I wake up feeling exhausted but also unable to get back to sleep. On my days off, I tend to head back to a more regular sleep schedule but still do not receive adequate amounts of rest.
As a result, I have gained 30 pounds while working this job, become more stressed, and I get sick much more often.
So I would assume getting a regular nights sleep every night is far more healthy than what I am doing here.
I tend to get at least 8 hours. I find it really does make a huge difference! People often make fun of me for how much I sleep. This makes me feel much better!
Im not sure I agree that the stress level is highest at 7am in all people naturally. That is part of my peak time for the day! (Is the link correct? It seems to be the same as the night owls link. I would really like to see the cortisol article)
I want to send this to my dad, who somehow thought it was more virtuous to get up early.
I've never had a normal sleep schedule. The assessments sound about right. It varies from 3 hours to 12. Going, going, crash. Restart process.
i will eat up these reports, because i know it is true for me. i feel GREAT when I sleep about 10 hours a night, and if I really let myself, that is about how long I will naturally sleep.
I have never slept late. I actually studied my sleeping needs after reading an article that said we only need about 4 hours of sleep if we get it at the right time. I found out if I got up earlier than 4:20 a.m., I was exhausted. I then started getting up between 4:20 and 4:30 a.m. I did my Bible reading and prayer until 5:30 a.m. Then I jogged 5 miles, took my shower and got to the office 7:00 a.m. That allowed me to do all my paper work early so I could meet the needs of my employees and answer their questions. I did that during my whole career. I still get up at 5 a.m. as a rule, but admit, at age 75, getting up a little later once in a while and napping in front of the always boring TV set.
Enjoy your rest while others at work get the promotions and more money while being tired, but you well rested worrying about the next credit card bill. lol
@NightCometh@xanga - Your dad was 100000% correct.
school cuts back on my sleep a lot. i go to bed late because of studying and get up early to prepare to do it all over again! so 6 hrs on the weekdays and i'll try to get 8 hrs. on the weekends. 8 a.m. is sleeping in for me
If I get more than 8h of sleep -obviously refresh :)
As a college student, my sleep varies greatly from absolutely none to 14 hours the following night. Not the healthiest, I know.
But I have found that when I just go to sleep and allow myself to wake up naturally, I get 10-11 hours of sleep, and usually feel the best at that. I also do follow the pattern of going to bed extremely late and waking up at noon.
Ironically? Yes, I am an artist. I'm majoring in graphic design. My mom on the other hand, who sleeps a strict 7 hours a night (9pm-4am) is much less creative and more fact-driven than I am.
I'm not sure about the second point. I was under the impression that those kinds of sleep habits were a sign of an adrenal problem. Does that mean creative people typically suffer from adrenal problems? Or do adrenal problems make you more creative?
I get at least 10 hours a night. If I don't get that, I'm a bear.
If I don't get at least eight hours of sleep I can't function well during the day.
I'm most deffinately a night owl then. I'm a music student at uni versity. I was also an art student in college.
All my best toughts and work is done at night.
And I'm pretty sure I work better on 8 hours or less of sleep. x
I definitely agree with these. I sleep a lot, probably more than I should. I feel great after 10 hours.
@bedheadbaby@xanga - Oooh, I was a music student. I don't miss waking up at 6am to go warm up and practice, lol.
@mkenyon719@xanga - Ha haa I should get into a habit of doing that. It's just too cold atm.
I'm a complete night owl. As in, my average bedtime is between 3-5 a.m. I try to break this habit, but my mind is always going 90 to nothing. Plus, I'm a waitress, and when I get home at 12 a.m., my mind and my body are still in high adrenaline waitress mode. I don't mind being a night owl, but the downside to this is that I never get enough sleep. Just like my body doesn't want to go to bed early, it doesn't want to sleep too late either. I went to bed at about 5 a.m. this morning. I woke up around 12:30 p.m. I mean, that's still about 7 1/2 hours, and I feel fine when I get that kind of sleep. I have two girl friends, however, who stay up until 8 a.m, or so, and then sleep until 5 p.m. I can't do that. Period. I wish I could get a little more sleep, but as long as I'm still functioning well and I have lots of energy, I'm good.
I'm also a journalism student with a musical theatre minor, so that gives some credibility to the night owls being a bit more creative. My mind always works better at night. 
I totally agree with the fact that night-owls are more creative. Most of my best work is done late at night(as long as i am fully functioning otherwise it's my crappiest).
i hate not getting enough sleep. i noticed that for me, if i get the chance to sleep for as long as i want and i dont need to be awake by a certain time, i'll usually wake up after about 8 hours anyways. plus i function better when its not morning lol
That last point will be my excuse for being late for work from now on. ; )
Awesome!