Great story! The key thing to learn seems to be that while you CAN 'get by' on 5 or 6 hours of sleep, your brain isn't able to operate nearly as well and perform as well as it COULD BE, so what' s the point of doing all kinds of other things to help your brain and body if you're greatly diminishing your performance just by not sleeping enough?

I slept a full 8 hours last night after reading this article (for the first time in a long time) and I feel SOOOOO much better. I had forgotten what I could feel like.

-KG
anonymous | 02.05.07 - 4:59 pm | #

I'm trying to get more sleep, but with a baby in the house, I get what I can get... ;->
Jim | 02.08.07 - 11:05 am | #

I dont agree with this blog. While this may be good info for some people. Others need less sleep in order to function. In fact 8-9 hours can be even harmful. That is true in my case. 7 hours is perfect for me. Once in a while i might sleep in but thats rare. Also going to bed early dosnt necessarily mean youll fall asleep right away and wake up early. This strategy fails most of the time. What really matters is setting a sleep schedule for your body, which gives your body a biological routine.
Mike | 06.18.07 - 11:22 am | #

I agree with Mike on this one...I work late evenings and often do not get home until midnight. I then take time to wind down, and fall asleep around 2 or 3 in the morning, but get a full 8-9 hours of sleep.
Wade | 09.20.07 - 10:39 pm | #

Since I started to work until midnight or even later sometimes, and thereby falling asleep around 2 or 2.30, I don´t have the energy I had when I was able to go to bed at 22 or 23. This makes me feel kind of drowsy during the day.
But anyway, getting something like 8 hours of good sleep is key, no matter how early or late I go to bed.
Anders | 04.20.08 - 3:30 am | #

The article is spot on for me as I regularly try to be very healthy in every way, but still have a great deal of trouble sleeping enough, well, consistently, for years. I've tried everything from supplements to foods to pre-sleep calming practices and sleep meditations and so on but still have trouble. Some prescription meds have helped a bit but I now live in a country where they are not available.

So what would be most useful for me are some brain ready exercises and really effective ways for calming my brain and body and getting enough great sleep. I feel lack of sleep has aged me more than anything else and has been the biggest detractor to the quality of my life in a multitude of ways.
Anonymous | 05.17.08 - 8:31 am | #