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How Much Sleep Do You Get?

By Michael Stelzner

If you have been following this blog, you know that I have a new edition in my family.

She has been crimping my sleep a little bit.

Lately I have been getting about six hours of sleep–a good two hours less than normal. Surprisingly, my writing has not suffered.

My question to you: How much sleep do you get on average? Does less sleep impact your writing?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 5:08 am and is filed under Writing White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • Hi Mike,
    I'd say on average I get about 7-8 hours of sleep. If I had 6 or less it would be tough to function throughout the day without some serious caffine and some sore eyes. You're a tough one if you can function on 6 hours or less of sleep. That's hard for me to do. :)
    ~Phil
  • Rosemary
    I noticed that most of yuo referred to having small children, and I remember those years very well. However, my "children" are now in their late teens and early twenties and somehow I still don't get enough sleep. It seems that someone is either coming in or going out at all hours of the day and night in my house.
    Truthfully, I'm grateful for 6-7 hours of sleep on a regular basis, and occasionally an extra hour or two on a weekend. It seems to me that what our bodies become accustomed to is what works best for each of us.
    To all the new parents - hang in there and enjoy the early years! They go by even faster than everyone tells you they will!
  • Ste
    I try and get about 8 hours sleep a night but usually its barely 7. I seem to get extremely effected by the lack of sleep, my attention span decreases closer and closer to zero the less sleep i get. I think anything below 6.5hrs and I wouldnt be able to function on every day tasks.
  • Joy
    I'm currently working in a night shift so I don't get enough hours of sleep but I always make sure to it that I eat healthy foods and do lots of exercise to keep my system healthy. I also take vitamins and supplements.
  • Shelby
    Hi Mike

    I totally understand - I too have a little one (almost 6 months old now) and she was sleeping through the night but then started teething - argh! After 6 months of less sleep than is advisable I think the brain/body starts to compensate and you can do almost anything you need to. My work doesn't appear to suffer (at least no one has told me it has), but my eye for detail isn't as good as it was.
  • Some days, 10 hours; other days, none. I used to be able to stay up all night and then go crank out productive work all day.

    Now, if I stay up all night, forget it. Proper, regular, refreshing sleep--generally 7 to 8 hours a night--is probably the most important key to success for me. Without it, I hate life. With it, I feel so much better and amped.

    I've read that getting the sleep your body needs may be the most important thing you can do for your health, more than diet or exercise. It certainly has the biggest effect on my mood and productivity.

    Thus, I gotta get more of it.
  • I'm not impressed, Michael. ;-) We have seven month-old twins and a four year-old. As you point out in the Comments, it's not the total amount of sleep that matters, it's the amount of *unbroken* sleep. I rarely get more than two or three hours of that a night.
  • Interesting question - can I answer "that depends". James Brausch recently wrote a post about Seasonal Affective Disorder (http://www.jamesbrausch.org/sad-seasonal-affective-disorder) and I know I suffer from it. In the winter I really find it hard to get up in the morning in the winter, and I would easily stay in bed if I didn't have to take my daughter to school. In the summer time I would have no problem running on 6 hours or less becuase the sun is there to kep me going.

    I live in France, and in the winter the sun goes down at 4 pm, but in the summer we can still see a bit of the sun after 10h30. I have to move to the nordic region for summer and REALLY southern America for the winter.
  • Barb
    Mike,

    Trying have two little ones who don't sleep through the night. As a mother, I get the honor of getting up with them a minimum of 2-3 times a night. So I expect I average 5-6 hours of non-straight sleep time. You learn to adjust... It hasn't affected my writing...so far....

    congratulations on your new addition...hey make life worth the effort a hundred times over!
  • Hey,

    Actually I've heard that 6 hours is still normal. When I sleep longer than that I will not be as sharp the next day as I should be. So, 6 is fine for me :)

    I've also noticed, that I can only write longer articles etc when I'm up late at night (around 3-4am) - that's after going to bed and not getting sleep.

    Cheers,
    Meelis
  • Hi Mike,

    Creativity is the first thing to go-- at least for me! So my writing definitely suffers from lack of sleep. I agree with Manya that one short night isn't so bad, but multiple nights is where work starts to suffer. 2-3 nights with less than about 6.5 hours and I'm toast.

    I hope little Makenna takes after her father and goes back to sleep quickly!

    Casey
  • Hey Manya and Chad;

    You know the body is a pretty amazing thing!

    When I wrote my book, I woke up one hour earlier for months and that was how I cranked it out.

    I am getting between 6 and maybe 8 if I am lucky. The bad news is the baby wakes me up multiple times throughout the night.

    The good news is that I fall asleep very quickly.

    Mike
  • Mike,

    Sleep is my favorite thing, so I definitely know when I haven't gotten enough. My ideal is about 8.5 hours, anything less than 7 and I'm mentally dragging. If that happens a few days in a row...look out.

    My writing doesn't suffer on those days, if I've already done the research or I'm writing something I know cold. But if I have to do the research or create something from thin air (aka my imagination) it's much, much harder to get in the groove. As long as that day isn't my deadline, though, I can save it after a good night's sleep.

    Good luck on sleeping through the night soon!
    Manya
  • I try to aim for 8 hours a night, but often stay up later that I originally set out to do. It probably ranges from 6-8 with a good 9 on Saturdays.

    Congrats on the new daughter!
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