How many hours of sleep a night do you need? - Now with Poll

How many hours a night of sleep do you need to function best on average?


  • Total voters
    60
I need 10 hours to function reasonably well at a low to moderate level. I’m rarely up for more than 6 - 7 consecutive hours, and deteriorate without an afternoon nap (sometimes as long as 3 hours). The more I do, the more sleep I need — up to 16 hours in a 24-hour period.
 
I generally do well with 7 to 9 hours each night.
Thats incredible, less then 10 and i'm messed up, under 8 and i'm in bad shape

Any less than 5 or 6 hours and I'm cranky the next day. :asleep:
I can relate to that :dead:

I need 10 hours to function reasonably well at a low to moderate level. I’m rarely up for more than 6 - 7 consecutive hours, and deteriorate without an afternoon nap (sometimes as long as 3 hours). The more I do, the more sleep I need — up to 16 hours in a 24-hour period.
Sorry to hear that, i don't take naps, don't need them and can't fall asleep anyways (i also have non 24 hour circadian rhythm disorder, not sure how it affects the naps though).
I did find that back when i could take naps the power nap would not work for me, it had to be 2-3 hours.

I used to only get 3-6 hours per night and functioned with that but now that I have less insomnia, I feel worse if I don’t get a good 8-9 hours and sometimes a 2-3 hour nap in the late morning or pm.
I see, thats an interesting contrast.
 
Since getting ME I sleep far less and have never been able to make it up. In the early years of severe I was sleeping 2-3-4 hours sleep (it was bad) and many nights I didn't sleep at all. In my moderate years I began to get up to 5-6 hours. I think it was around 2010 when I began to have some 7 hour sleeps. It was at that time that I finally stopped counting how many hours I had slept each night

I now sleep mostly between 5-7 hours. I wake up a bit through the night though.

With a more severe PEM I will be awake all night.
 
It's PEM related for me. Sleep is always one of the first things to go haywire. PEM often results in no sleep at all. Otherwise I sleep 9 or 10 hours, but I'm artificially woken in the mornings by my husband's routine. (I'm ok with that - cup of coffee together in the morning is quality time, just us.) On the weekend I sleep 10 -11 hours. Sometimes I nap in the afternoon, activity dependant, but more than half an hour of that and I feel dreadful afterwards.
 
I only manage an average of about 5 to 6 hours a night, and rarely fall asleep during the day. And I usually wake at least once in the night. I react badly to drugs, and don't want to get dependent on them, and I find 'sleep hygiene' only makes me more 'tired but wired'. I try to just go with the flow and put up with days when I'm zonked from only 3 hours sleep like today.
 
Now I’ve started using melatonin I seem to be able to get a block of 6 hours consecutive sleep at night together -when I don’t have to get up -with an extra couple during a lie in which will last til lunchtime if I can. As I’ve been resting/sleeping all morning I don’t sleep again until I go to bed at night. I do rest lying down on my sofa though. Getting up around 11 or 12 and going to bed around midnight is the pattern I feel best on. Good thing I’m finding with Melatonin is that it is pretty reliably getting me to sleep around 1am which is good - although it doesn’t at 1mg override tired but wired. I used to wake up every couple of hours so I’m happy to be getting a block of 6.
 
It's interesting to read how much sleep everyone needs. I need 6-6/12 hours and I'm good. If I can get an hour nap or good rest during the day it keeps my nervous system calm so that I feel more restful at night.

I don't need more sleep with PEM, it doesn't make any difference for me.
 
I take Melatonin every 2 nights (3 mg, was 5 mg) but it doesn't always work. Last night for example I woke about 0400, after going to sleep about 2230-2300.

In the early days I slept longer (as I believe research has shown), but now my 'ideal' seems to be about 7-8 hrs. I have very rarely been able to get any sleep during the day, at home anyway - maybe I did in hospital? (because couldn't access any of my usual activities)

It seems to vary with what I take (and possibly what I eat); for example last night I took a cetirizine tablet with little effect, and on previous nights I haven't had enough sleep with chlorphenamine, although sometimes I do.

I am going to have one or probably two promethazine tablets tonight, which usually works.
 
I need about 9 - 10 hours to get a day I consider one of my best days. I very, very rarely manage this though. And when I do succeed in getting 9 - 10 hours I find it hard to sleep for the next few nights. But it is worth it to have one of my best days very occasionally.
 
I need 8-9 but often get around 7. I don't sleep in the day. Sleep is the first thing to go with PEM, I take meds so I get off to sleep but wake early if I have PEM and can get as little as about 4 hours those days. Im in bed all day and I wish I slept all my resting time as I'm so fed up with "resting" but the horrible wired feeling that means even a rest isn't really.
 
Thats incredible, less then 10 and i'm messed up, under 8 and i'm in bad shape
If I sleep for 10 or more hours I feel awful for the rest of the day. Usually the only time I sleep that long is when I'm sick with something like chronic sinusitis or a cold.
 
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