How much sleep?

[funkyg]

OK, generally speaking, how much sleep should I try to get at night?
Since being a teen, I have found it very difficult to get up in a morning regardless of how much sleep I have.

I get up at around 8AM. Now it doesn't matter if I went to bed at 10PM, 11PM or something daft like 2-3AM. I always feel tired in the morning and find it really difficult to get out of bed, suffering the "I'll just press snooze one more time" syndrome!

Quite often stay up till around 2ish, playing on the xbox, watching a film, reading or just listening to music as this is the only time I get to myself and class this as my chill out time. Is this dangerous?

Even if the kids are away and I have a proper lie in I feel like shit in the morning.

However once I'm actually out of bed and in the shower I feel loads better.

Does anyone have any suggestions to getting better sleep? I make sure that I don't have any caffiene after 6, should I cut it out altogether? I don't have trouble getting to sleep, I'm just not a morning person!

[baronvon]

try a nice bottle of red a night

works a treat for me

seriously tho, I find asleep for 11-12 then up at 6.30-6.45 (snooze button dependent) is usually ok for me.

Weird tho, if I go to bed at say 9`ish i cant sleep till 11-11.30

Saying that reading a book is a very good way to nod off.

Shower then drive to work. Fag on the journey then a large latte and I`m ready to take on the world.

Any more than midnight and Im like shite the next.

Any more than 1 bottle of red and I`m like shite the next day

Body clocks are a weird thing, even at the weekend I cant sleep past 8 ish (even after a right skinfull !!)

THE BARON

[TwoPlAnKs]

i have similar problems but always looked at it as a good thing, ie. its equally as hard for me to get up at 5am as it is to get up at 10am so i dont mind doing early shifts at work and stuff

something i've blamed on being a teenager up until now but we'll have to see

out of interest, how old are you? most adults i've spoken to say it gets easier to get up as you get older

[Mule]

Perhaps you could benefit from one of those natural lights that gets gradually brighter until it wakes you. I've not used one myself but I know that waking up to real natural light is a lot easier than to an evil high pitched alarm.

[DB]

Mate it totally depends on your age, your lifestyle, job and food intake.

7 hours sleep should be around the average for a working man.
But as i said earlier it depends.....

I do fine on 6 hours every night.
Im 34 and a childrens nurse, i dont eat crap, dont drink, exercise now and again.

[steve10574]

i was same as you changed to working out of hours at my job(where i am now)

fooking great i go to bed in the morning and work(when i say work i mean i watch all the stuff i downloaded in the day lol) thou the night and get paid 30% more top banna!!!

[BFG]

I'm lucky if I get 5 hours a night, and I survive. I thought the recommended sleep length was 8 hours? Chance would be a fine thing until the nipper grows up and turns into a teenager, lol.

[DB]

I'm lucky if I get 5 hours a night, and I survive. I thought the recommended sleep length was 8 hours? Chance would be a fine thing until the nipper grows up and turns into a teenager, lol.

Its bad enough when the nippers young and jumping all over you in the morning.

[Fusen]

my sleeping pattern is so shit, it's basically fucked my GCSEs and first year of A levels :x

I barely ever get to sleep before 1-2am then I'll have to be up for 7:30am but normally sleep in till 10+ and miss half my lessons, it's not unusual for me to sleep in till around 2pm aswell.

the shittest days are when I won't go to sleep till like 4-5am and then get up before 8am and then have work at night yet I still won't go to bed till like 2-3am even after doing manual labour for 4 hours.

tbh I should force myself to drink nightol or something like that at 10pm to try and knock myself out otherwise I'll be doing jack shit sitting at my pc just not wanting to "waste time" by sleeping

[marcode]

my sleeping pattern is completely fucked lol

better than it was in the past and i do try to go to bed no later than 1 or 2 am if i have to be somewhere for 9am the next day..

i really struggle to get up in the mornings which badly affected my attendance for several early morning uni lectures in the past lol, but ive managed to not be more than 5-10 mins late so far this year.

if ive absolutely FA to do and im not working or anything i have a tendancy to go to bed anytime between 3 and 6 am and get up at 4pm lol but those days are few and far between atm

i work at 8.30 on a saturday morning rarely with more than 4 hours sleep and for some reason i dont struggle so much to get up.. i think its something to do with being paid for it.

[urbsy]

I get at least 10 hours a day sleep, mainly at work though.

urbsy

[CzarJunkie]

A recent long term study suggested that the optimum was 4-7 hours a night with those who fell into this range living longer on average than those who had more or less.

[/dev/null]

I have a fucked up sleeping pattern!

I work friday and saturday nights in a nightclub, getting me to bed about 5am. Then on Sunday I get up about half 11 for something.

Then I'm in bed about 2ish most other nights, getting up at various times between 6.30 and and 8.30 (depending on timetable).
Then I sometimes get 20 mins on the bus on way to Manchester. Spend the day in uni, come home around tea time, sometimes getting 15/20 mins on way home then round the cycle again!

Once in a while when I'm not doing anything on Saturday I'll have a big sleep and catch up on the past few weeks, or if I'm proper fucked, I'll have an hour before work.

I regularly sit in lectures, not being able to keep my eyes open. I know it doesn't do me much good, but it's just my way of life, lol! I've sat exams in my first year without going to bed the night before (due to various reasons) and I somehow just deal with feelin fucked constantly, lol!

[DB]

Well im up at 5.30 so i better get some sleep, lmfao

[Mule]

A recent long term study suggested that the optimum was 4-7 hours a night with those who fell into this range living longer on average than those who had more or less.

I've heard similar things, but without the information to hand that could mean either that sleeping 4-7 hours is better for you or that if you are healthy you are more likely to sleep 4-7 hours.

[whatnow]

I'll be doing jack shit sitting at my pc just not wanting to "waste time" by sleeping

humm I do that too, even though it achieves nothing in return really.

I like my sleep but i'm definatly also a morning person. Regardless of the night before I like to be out of bed relitivly early, i feel no benefit from sleeping past 9/10am, if anything it makes me more tired. but I do like to wake up and just do nothing, I find it more relaxing than having slept in.

Regardin g the optiumum sleeping time, I find 6 hours ample amount providing it's backed up with exercise, less alcohol and good food. Any miss on the abovee gives bad results. I'd like to know if 4 hours was possible and I could still function properly, but I just think I will always need more sleep than that.

A work day for me will average at about 1am sleep and 7.30 wakeup. I'd like to cut this down to a 6-6.30 wakeup and possibly 12 sleep if required. (but I have a feeling less alcohol is the key there.)

[BertRoot]

I do about 6 a night and it suits me fine with about ten miles cycling a day. Lovely old fruit! Pip pip!!

[beansontoast]

My sleep pattern is also bollocksed & there was a feature in the paper on sleep. I saw this thing called glo to sleep & thought it was some sort of technological marvel in the guise of an eye mask. What it turns out to be is an eye mask with some glow in the dark dots that draw you attention upwards. The theory is that when you're lying there unable to sleep your mind is too active. Apparently focussing your eyes upwards ("at your third eye" they say) helps you to switch off. Well I tried it without the mask & also counting backwards, slowing down but not concentrating, and I have found it much easier to switch off.

Now if someone would kindly stop the rest of the world I'll get some peaceful sleep (I work nights)

[CzarJunkie]

I've heard similar things, but without the information to hand that could mean either that sleeping 4-7 hours is better for you or that if you are healthy you are more likely to sleep 4-7 hours.

I agree and I tend to think the latter is true. With a healthier lifestyle the body performs better, the heart rate is generally lower and the quality of sleep should be better too.

[zapiy]

I get on average 5-6 hrs but i can sometimes grab a couple of hours at work depending on my shift that week.