reducing # of hours of sleep

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I'm sleeping around 6-7 hours a night and would like to get down to 5.

Any suggestions?

[singpilot]

Get a girlfriend.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

You can get it down to two or three...just have a kid.

[singpilot]

Lose the girlfriend.

[dhoward]

Take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.

[nostatic]

don't f*ck with your body's sleep cycle. You have been warned...

[Superman]

Work where I work. The maniacs in my office are at their desks at five.

I started taking Paxil a couple of months ago, and it has me WIRED. I sleep a fitful 3-6 hours per night, and don't feel tired. And I can't get enough orange juice. I've never cared for OJ before in my life.

[masraum]

uh, yeah, drugs are the answer to everything. hahaha

Start dating a stripper, when they get off work at 2/3am they are wired and ready to start their day.

[klaucke]

I'd be concerned with the ill-health affects of reducing your sleep. I try for 8 hours whenever possible.

If you're tired during the day, drink more water.

[djmcmath]

You might try taking up a career in nuclear submarines. After a qualifying deployment, you learn to consider 2 hours at a shot a long time. 4 hours is considered a lot of time. 6?! Ha! This kind of inhuman sleep cycle is maintained by fantastic quantities of caffeine. Submariners are actually just a little famous for the hyper-caffeinated twitch.

If you are inexperienced at this, you may find that less than 6 hours a night will cause serious problems. When I first started sleeping like that, I was ok for the first month or so, then I started passing out routinely. It was a real bummer. I'm much better now -- I did 22 energetic hours last weekend before I realized I should have been tired, then slept for 4 hours to recover. For serious starting points, I'd recommend a good exercise routine and a really healthy diet. I'm always amazed at how much more alert I am when I cut back on greasy foods.

BTW, what's your motivation?

[lendaddy]

Set your alarm 1-2 hours earlier. My invoice is in the mail.

[Superman]

That's just great! We've got nuclear submarines running around being operated by a bunch of over-caffeinated sleep-deprived young men.

[singpilot]

The only guy without the twitch is the guy with his finger on 'the button'....

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by djmcmath
You might try taking up a career in nuclear submarines. After a qualifying deployment, you learn to consider 2 hours at a shot a long time. 4 hours is considered a lot of time. 6?! Ha! This kind of inhuman sleep cycle is maintained by fantastic quantities of caffeine. Submariners are actually just a little famous for the hyper-caffeinated twitch.

If you are inexperienced at this, you may find that less than 6 hours a night will cause serious problems. When I first started sleeping like that, I was ok for the first month or so, then I started passing out routinely. It was a real bummer. I'm much better now -- I did 22 energetic hours last weekend before I realized I should have been tired, then slept for 4 hours to recover. For serious starting points, I'd recommend a good exercise routine and a really healthy diet. I'm always amazed at how much more alert I am when I cut back on greasy foods.

BTW, what's your motivation?

Good advice Dan, thanks. I'm drinking a lot of water, not as much excercize as I would like, at least out of the bedroom that is, and I do eat relatively healthy. What are the next steps? When I was younger, I was the head coach of Brandeis Crew, worked a 40 hour/week job and got Modern Dad magazine going all at the same time. I slept maybe 4 hours every night for months, but never felt it.

Now at 38 (next week), I'm slowing down, but believe reality is based on perception, and am sure I can get back to that level if I can train myself to. It's all about strengthening neural pathways, at least that's the theory. Would like to make it real.

Motivation? The list is long and I really forgot how much time a girlfriend can take up, especially when you'd actually rather be with her than: 1. G9Girl 2. the cars. I'm shocked at myself. Partial list:
1. Girlfriend
2. G9Girl
3. Cut targa bar off the 84 and make it a cab
4. Ground up restoration of the E. Harvey Weidmann called yesterday and said my wheels were done... deep 6's finished a la RSR, the rears widened to 7Rs. I've collected parts for 2 years to make the E an ultimate sleeper and just need about 400 hours to make it a reality.

It was Harvey's call that did it.

[Argeo]

Shaun,

Cut out Pelican Off Topic and use that for work. You would probably gain two hours of labor a day and not miss any sleep.

David

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by Argeo
Shaun,

Cut out Pelican Off Topic and use that for work. You would probably gain two hours of labor a day and not miss any sleep.

David

Too true David, I did just put Mul on ignore, so I'm feeling pretty good about OT.

See you tonight.

S

[CJFusco]

Why do you want to cut down the number of hours you sleep?

I notice a DRASTIC difference in how I feel, and my overall mood, when I get 5 hours vs. 7 hours.

[M.D. Holloway]

Shaun - I get between 3 to 4 a night. Been that way for 25 years or so. Anymore and I am sluggish the rest of the day. Its just the way I'm built. Find out what feels right and stick to it.

[klaucke]

Sell the E to me... problem solved.

Side note, we really have to organize a NE gathering, too bad the fall run fell through.

[Milu]

Reduce your sleep in phases - try ten minutes less for ten days then reduce it another ten minutes and so on.

Much better to establish how much sleep you need and work with that. Not enough sleep and performance suffers, one becomes increasingly short tempered, poor concentration etc. etc.