How much sleep do you get?

[Neil D]

Before the advent of electric lights, people typically got 10 hours of sleep.

Now studies have shown that many are getting as much as 8 hours and some even as little as 5 hours a night.

[Amelia]

It's hard to really say what my actual average is. I try to hit the hay around 9pm but don't always drop off right away. Then If I don't take a pill, I am awake at 3am. Fall back to sleep after some wrestling with the covers. Then up with the alarm at 5:30am. I feel tired all the time. On weekends I sleep late and nap. I know it's not good to change sleep habits on the weekends but I love to sleep!!

[cricket]

My schedule is to go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake at 7:30 a.m. That's 9 1/2 hours and is generally enough. Some days I stay up later than that though and can really feel the difference by the end of the week. On weekends the schedule is the same, but I rarely follow the schedule. I tend to go to bed around midnight on Friday night and get up at 8:00 a.m. on Sabbath. Saturday night I usually am in bed by 11:00 p.m. but don't get up until 9:00 a.m.

I know of an Adventist family who does NOT use alarm clocks. They go to bed when they are tired and get up whenever they wake. Interestingly enough, the father has never overslept and missed an appointment at work; the mother and children have never overslept and missed being prompt with schoolwork and other obligations. They have identified their internal clock and follow it.

[Dottie]

A hint for staying asleep through the night, and feeling rested: No lights on at night, not even a small nightlight. Taking melatonin will help you go to sleep, but then your brain will determine that you have enough and will slow down its melatonin production. Lights on, of any kind, will also slow down melatonin production.

(learned at a therapy camp our family attended last week)

[phkrause]

we have nightlights throughout the house and I have no problem sleeping. I can sleep with any lights on for that matter. Now that doesn't mean that what you learned at your seminar isn't true, it could be that i'm the exception to the rule. pkrause

[Dottie]

the camp was for families with severely emotionally disturbed children.

You're not one of those, are you?

[Liz]

I have to check my son at 12:00a.m and 3:00a.m, so I don't ever get an uninterrupted night's rest. It is also difficult for me to go back to sleep once I am awake. Weekends are no different than weekdays, but I do take a nap on Sabbath afternoons. For some reason, that Sabbath afternoon rest lasts me all week long.

[ChildofChrist]

There was a study done that showed most people do not get enough sleep. That many 'get by' on 6 to 7 hours but then they eventually begin to suffer from depression and other emotional and mental disorders.

A few years ago, that was me, averaging 3 to 5 hours of sleep. From such a low amount of time, I never had a dream and it took it's toll on me.

While I sleep 7 - 8 hours nightly now, there have been days that I feel sleepy and would love to take a nap but then that disrupts my night sleep.