How much should a young person sleep? What do you do about sleep when you’re trying to get lots of work done?
“Scientists know embarrassingly little about why we spend roughly one-third of our lives asleep.” — Tim Ferriss
I’ve struggled with sleep over the years. I have a very difficult time falling asleep. There have been times during college where I barely slept. Then there were also times where I slept way too much and it affected my productivity.
How much should you sleep every night?
I didn’t just want to share anecdotal advice here so I looked for something a little more scientific. I found this little tidbit on the Time website:
“Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hr. or more, or less than 6.5 hr., they don’t live quite as long. There is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping too short.”
I wanted to throw out some random thoughts on sleep that have worked for me while I was getting lots of work done:
It’s always critical to have a “sleep-in” day.
If you work long hours during the week because you have a full-time job and are building a side business, I highly recommend a sleep-in day where you sleep in as long as you want and catch up on your rest. This gives you something to look forward to in your sleep-deprived state during the week,
Cut out the distractions.
If you focus more on your work, you can get more done. Ultimately, leading to more sleep! I found that I didn’t need to stay up late so often. I was doing so because I was foolish and wasting time on distractions that were cutting into my sleep.
Take power naps.
If you didn’t get much sleep at night, I strongly suggest that you take a power nap during the day. This beats that 7th cup of coffee or walking around like a zombie. A quick 30-minute snooze can do wonders for you.
Work with your body.
I can get by on 6 hours of sleep just fine. I do realize that when I’m older, I’m likely going to need more rest. It always makes sense to work with your body. If you can survive n 4 hours of sleep, then all the power to you. If you need more rest, go for it.
That’s what I think about getting sleep in when you’re working hard.
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