how much sleep do you get?

It's funny how some experts tend to say you need 6 to 8 hours sleep whereas others say you need 8 hours a night. I wonder how we can find out which is the truth?

Yes, I have heard of some individuals that seem to need less sleep than most of us. I have heard people on a raw food diet are so healthy they need a lot less sleep than most of us. I don't think anyone has every done a proper sleep study on if this affects them though, most of them just feel so good that they don't need as much sleep.

i read something in the daily mail recently, which is the newspapers in the uk that everyone says you should never believe. but anyway, i read in it recently that there was some research that said that sleeping for less than 6 hours a night over a long period could be damaging to our health. and that seems to make sense. though our former prime minister margaret thatcher apparently only had four hours sleep a night, but she's not an example i would recommend following. i think it depends on the person, but i think staying in the 6 to 8 range is best. that just makes sense, though 8 hours a night every so often is nice.

Yes, I think for the last couple of nights I haven't been sleeping enough. Today I went swimming and then I felt very tired afterward. I think the exercise is helping my body catch up on it's sleep and tonight I should sleep soundly.

Yes, sometimes I have had very little sleep, when I used to study and you wouldn't be able to think as clearly. I think it also can affect your self esteem if you miss out on lots of sleep because you don't feel as good about yourself.

Yes, because there are really interesting studies on the health effects on people with this type of sleeping, if you search for some of these studies on the internet you may get worried enough to stop playing games a little earlier. Search for "sleep debt". I just looked it up again - some of the side effects of getting a big sleep debt are heart problems, foggy brain, insulin resistance, obesity and worsened vision. It is probably a lot worse than you imagined. I can understand the addictiveness of online games, maybe force yourself not to get online at night if you can't control it, or ask someone that lives with you to make you get off the computer at night until you can control it a bit more.

Wow, it sounds like we have similar sleeping patterns. I don't have as many sleeping problems as I used to, I think worry really affects my ability to get to sleep. I also know what it's like to wake up and not be able to get back to sleep, so I sympathise, then you wake up feeling terrible to go to work. I found exercise, often helps me sleep better later and helps me deal with stress more.

Well it sounds like you are getting 7 1/2 to 8 hours sleep a night, if you go to sleep at 10:00 you would be getting the right sleep for you, so you are doing pretty well, especially on the 10:00 nights :)