Sleep

[Tanya K]

I go to sleep every night at midnight. I fall asleep within seconds since about after week 1. I wake up without an alarm most days at 6.30 and get up at 7. So all in all I get about 6 and a half hours sleep. Now, for me to function correctly I need 8 to 9 hours. So what I do is take a mid morning sleep. Normal between 10 and 11 to 11.30. This makes up the hours that I need. Is it ok do you think to do this? Ideally I would love to sleep from 10.30 to 7 but I have tried and it seems impossible. I fall asleep only to be woken again by 12 and then I'm awake til 1 or 1.30, which makes me feel so so tired the next morning. My sleep that I do get from 12 to 6.30 is heavy and feels like quality sleep but I always feel that I need that extra hour, hour and a half. At weekends I sleep at from 1 all the way through til 10!! Therefore on a sat and sun I always feel that tiger blood. So basically I just want to know is it ok to be getting the 8/9 hours albeit broken up??

[Tom Denham]

A full 8-9 hour period of sleep at night is best. Taking naps of about 90 minutes to supplement night-time sleep is a good alternative when a full night-sleeping schedule is not available, but I think that working to achieve a full night-time sleep period is an important goal. 

 

I found this helpful review of sleep at the National Sleep Foundation website: http://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/let-sleep-work-you  The site has many other useful resources. Beware the life hackers who tell you that you only need to sleep 5-6.5 hours. You can survive on less sleep, but long-term health correlates most fully with 8-9 hours of sleep. 

[Tanya K]

I had a look at that site. Thank you.

I will continue to try to get the full sleep straight through. I would really much prefer it too rather than having to wake up twice!!