Sleep: More than 6 hours?

I usually get 7-8 hours of sleep a night and 8-9 on the weekends, and 8 1/2 or so is my ideal amount. I'm in college, so most of my friends get a lot less sleep than I do, but I'm not productive without enough sleep. I start feeling tired if I get less than 7 hours of sleep for a few days in a row. If I swim when I'm tired, I don't have the motivation to work hard and end up doing lots of slow backstroke.

Plus, it's my own belief/experience that women in their 40s are often troubled sleepers because of hormones, stress, driving their kids to early am swim practice, etc. Unfortunately, I fall into that category. Shhh... I tell my wife it's because she has some guily secret(s), whereas I sleep like a log due to no guilt, when I sleep. I am afraid that I am one of those who rarely gets more than 6 hours, but it is normal on my dad's side of the family. My parenal grandmother was down to 2 hours a night by the time she died at 90. My siblings are the same and I think we drove my parents nuts as kids, because my sisters were up half the night & then my brother & I got up very early. My parents never got any rest.

LBJ: Your poor parents. I don't sleep much either. (Obviously, it's midnight already and I'm on the computer instead of snoozing.) My daughter's the same way. She smiles when she gets up for early morning practice. Now, I've grown accustomed to not sleeping much (although I pine for more), but I dont' SMILE when I get up until I've had 2-3 cups of coffee. (I don't drink 20 cups like George.) How little sleep do you get before you swimming suffers? Do you sleep like a baby before meets? And, please, don't make your poor wife feel like she had a guilty secret. Unless she wants to be a "desperate housewife." Leslie (er, Alison; I keep forgetting I changed my name because of Geek.)

I get 6-7 during the week and it's not enough. I'm always tired. When I don't have to wake up for anything on the weekends I'll sleep 9-10 hours. I'm also a big fan of naps whenever possible. I wish I was one of those people who can get by fine on 6 hours, but clearly I'm not.

SCY freestyler: I don't think we're "supposed" to need less sleep as we get older unless we are significantly less active. I think it just happens. It may be that you're working more, and, as you know, kids get in the way. I still feel like I need more sleep, but if I went to bed at 10:00, I'd lose my mind because I would have no time to myself. I also think, at least for women, hormones play a role/interfere with sleep. And I've heard that we produce less melatonin and whatnot as we get older, so we're missing the stuff that helps us sleep. There must be an MD on here that could tell us what that "whatnot" stuff is. I'm just a boring lawyer.

"And I've heard that we produce less melatonin and whatnot as we get older," One thing that I definitely know is that I produce less whatnot now that I'm older. That and a bunch of other stuff as well.

I still feel like I need more sleep, but if I went to bed at 10:00, I'd lose my mind because I would have no time to myself. That's my main problem, too. I swim after work so get home around 7:30 p.m. After I'm done eating it's 8:00 or 8:30. If I went to bed at 10:00 that wouldn't leave much time for anything else at home, so I usually don't get to bed until after 11:00.

I need a ton of sleep - more than anyone I know. If I only get 7-8 hours during the week, I will typically sleep 12-14 hours on Friday, with a nap on Saturday and another 10-12 hours on Sunday. I have found that I do much better at swimmeets on Sunday after I have had the long Friday night's sleep than meets on Saturday. Anyone else need a ton of sleep? I personally hate it, but I've always been like that.

wow that's a lot of sleep! how old are you, may i ask? scyfreestyler: i feel like i could go on four or five hours of sleep in high school but as I'm getting older I need more and more. It hurts to only sleep five hours and get up and swim or go to work. Whereas when I was younger I could pull all nighters and be just fine the next day. at least for me, as i'm getting older (granted i'm only 24) i need more sleep, i'm getting too old for late nights and early mornings! :D

Definitely an 8 hours a night or more girl. Partially because I think it's just my nature, and partially because after finishing 3 years of residency where I was averaging 4-5 hours sleep/night and up on call for a 36 hour stretch straight every 4th night, I am frankly just bitter if I get shortchanged these days! :joker: