How many hours sleep is enough for an Individual?

Replies

• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Many studies indicate that 6 - 8 hours of sleep with a few minutes (not hours) power nap in the afternoon lengthens the life span.
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  The devil's advocate in me (CEan that I am) questions what is the point of such increased life span if it is going to be spent sleeping? None of the studies report what is the total number of waking hours one gets.
• 

  Manish Goyal

  Thanks Sir for your Prompt reply
  
  I am asking this because I am getting health issues these days due to improper sleep, My Doctor asked me to take proper sleep, as I normally take a sleep of just 6 hrs out of 24 hrs,
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Goyal, the doctor is right. Older people can get away with short sleep. Not youngsters.
  Browse through some of these:
  #-Link-Snipped-#
• 

  Kaustubh Katdare

  For me, a 6 - 7 hours of sleep at stretch is more than enough. If I sleep longer, the day is slow (read ruined) for me. There are few things I'll recommend for better sleep
  

  1. When you are sleeping, try to have a smile on your face. This immediately relieves your mind off all the thoughts that may keep you awake.
  2. Do deep breathing when you are trying to sleep.
  3. Be excited about all the exciting stuff you will get to do the next day.
  4. Always think that you'll get up better, healthier, wiser.
  5. Don't stay awake till late in the night [ advise to self 😒 ]

  Let me know how this works.
  PS: I'd even recommend practising 'Pranayam' every morning. People usually give me 'the look 👀' when I tell them this, because most of the 'young' folks think Pranayaam is for old and boring people. But the thing is, it is a.m.a.z.i.n.g!
• 

  Manish Goyal

  The_Big_K

  For me, a 6 - 7 hours of sleep at stretch is more than enough. If I sleep longer, the day is slow (read ruined) for me. There are few things I'll recommend for better sleep
  

  1. When you are sleeping, try to have a smile on your face. This immediately relieves your mind off all the thoughts that may keep you awake.
  2. Do deep breathing when you are trying to sleep.
  3. Be excited about all the exciting stuff you will get to do the next day.
  4. Always think that you'll get up better, healthier, wiser.
  5. Don't stay awake till late in the night [ advise to self 😒 ]

  Let me know how this works.
  
  PS: I'd even recommend practising 'Pranayam' every morning. People usually give me 'the look 👀' when I tell them this, because most of the 'young' folks think Pranayaam is for old and boring people. But the thing is, it is a.m.a.z.i.n.g!

  Wow these are really nice suggestions but for IT techs like me,
  "Be excited about all the exciting stuff you will get to do the next day." it is not an easy job 😔
• 

  Abhishek Rawal

  Well, for me 4 hrs sleep is enough (00:00 to 04:00 or 01:00 to 05:00).
  But when I had viral around one & half year ago, doctor strictly told me to have minimum of 8 hrs of sleep, else my immunity power will decrease.
  One more thing he asked me to do is to stop thinking while getting into bed (this is not possible 'cuz next day's task-to-be-completed is being previewed by my brain during night before sleep).
  
  Anyways I'll tell you what doc told me :
  - Do yogas
  - Have a night-walk after dinner
  - Stop thinking "too" much
  - Don't avoid breakfasts
  
  I can suggest you one thing though - Pop the "valium".
  Just kiddin'.Never do the latter one 😉
• 

  rahul69

  My suggestion is that, it doesn't matter if u sleep for 4 hours or 8 hours, as long as u can keep it as a routine and (around same time), it doesn't harms health. I mean if u sleep at 10:00 PM , try to sleep at same time each day, then after few days u will naturally feel sleepy around same time (guess that is related to something like Biological clock of body), so if u keep on waking around same time e g. 4:00AM u will start feeling fresh😀
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  rahul69

  My suggestion is that, it doesn't matter if u sleep for 4 hours or 8 hours, as long as u can keep it as a routine and (around same time), it doesn't harms health.

  I am afraid it is not that simple. The creative right brain does require the sleep time. So does the body. If one does not get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a day ( occasional lapses do not matter) ther will be trouble later in life. It is best not to short change on this.
• 

  Abhishek Rawal

  bioramani

  I am afraid it is not that simple. The creative right brain does require the sleep time. So does the body. If one does not get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a day ( occasional lapses do not matter) ther will be trouble later in life. It is best not to short change on this.

  Yeah that's right.
  Body needs minimum of 8 hrs of sleep to rejuvenate itself. Less sleep is very dangerous to body in long-term.Less sleep can result into depression, mood swings, no control over anger-emotions. (Words of my silly doctor)
• 

  lal

  7 hours works best for me. The whole day is hell if I cant get atleast 6 hours, feels so bad on days i sleep less. And yeah, over slept days are lazy ones too. My sweet spot seems to be 7 Hours. Thoughts - Oh!! Some days I wish I had an analog switch to switch my brain off when on bed 😁
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  lal

  Thoughts - Oh!! Some days I wish I had an analog switch to switch my brain off when on bed 😁

  Never do that. That seems to be when the creative right half of the brain gets going.
• 

  lal

  Statement Taken back in that case 😐 but thoughts do keep me awake for hours on some nights. But somehow at some moment slips to sleep unknowingly. May be one reason to stay awake is that people are conscious that they are thinking and cannot sleep at the alloted time and thus get irritated.
• 

  Manish Goyal

  lal

  but thoughts do keep me awake for hours .

  Same happens with me, but instead of thoughts in my case code keep me awake,
  
  For this now i am taking help from Yoga and meditation
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Hata Yoga (yogic postures) should be avoided at night. Better to go with @#-Link-Snipped-#'s suggestion to do breath control exercise (Simple Pranayam) followed by 5 to 8 minutes meditation.
• 

  Jeffrey Arulraj

  Only thing a nocturnal person can tell is this
  
  "Never stay up if you don't have to stay up"
  Next important thing is "Short or long never resist your sleep to do a job"
  
  Many IT pro's do the latter and pay huge doctor bills "Even if your lady love calls and you feel like sleeping it is better to sleep than to attend the call"
  
  Rest makes you wiser so I would finish with the statement 6 hours a must that to 3 hours before 00:02 hours is a must as this will recharge all your muscles. If you are feeling sleepy then it is better to sleep an extra hour no one dies if you sleep for 7 hours.
  
  Finally don't over do it that will destroy your crazy quotient
• 

  Saandeep Sreerambatla

  I used to sleep less than 4 hour a day, I did that for 3 years and I was fine except minor health problems.
  
  Now I sleep about 6 hours a day and its sufficient.
  
  One advice, if you are a smoker donot smoke while going to bed! smoke atleast a hour before.. (This experience is from past)
• 

  Umesh Kumar Rai

  I think 6-7 hours of sleep should be enough. And sometimes, if I sleep more that 8 hours I don't feel fresh. Feel like sleeping more.
• 

  Ankita Katdare

  I have a question here - If you get 6 hours of sleep, should you take a quick 30 minutes-1 hour nap (depending upon available time) in the afternoon?
  
  Or should young people completely avoid afternoon naps? 👀
• 

  Kaustubh Katdare

  The answer is that - the mind gets the rest when it needs it. When the mind excited about the things I'm supposed to do - it loses sleep. For example, just before the exam; the brain won't let you sleep because it's in an 'excited' state.
  
  If the mind has nothing better & exciting thing to do - it will go put body into lazy mode. So just follow what the brain tells you. The body will anyways get the rest it deserves.