Ask HN: How many hours do hackers sleep?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4914115

by james-singh • 14 years ago

18 43 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

7.5h-8.5h. There's nothing glamorous about being sleep deprived...

9 hours is my sweet spot. Anything less than that, and I don't think as well. Below 8 and I'm generally a bit of a zombie, and operating at 50% speed. Above 10 and I tend to get groggy and depressed.

maratd• 14 years ago

We seem to be cut from the same cloth. I would add that my sleep requirements vary based on my work load. If my work requires me to really think things through, definitely 9 hours to get back to normal. If its routine stuff, I can get away with 7 hours.

staunch• 14 years ago

I'm with you guys. Do we all not exercise? :-)

I ask because during times when I get regular strenuous exercise this number comes down to about 7.5-8 hours.

w1ntermute• 14 years ago

As much as I need, but I try to go to sleep at 11. I usually wake up (naturally) between 6 and 7:30.

redspark• 14 years ago

I typically get between 5 and 6 hrs (with 2-3 times getting up for the kids). If I get more than 8, I feel slow and groggy all day. 6 uninterrupted hours seems to be my sweet spot.

rymith• 14 years ago

I sleep 6.5, and usually I do not use an alarm, this is just my natural sleep schedule.

arikrak• 14 years ago

There was a poll on this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3479410

selectout• 14 years ago

Weekdays between 5.5-7 hours per night

Weekends around 8-9 hours per night.

logical42• 14 years ago

I think you're likely to get a variety of ranges from the answers here, due to natural biological variation. I can't say for sure, but I suspect that the common theme here will end up being that people do feel that the number of hours that they sleep is important in how it affects their work (which is reasonable, since the act of coding is a mentally strenuous act).

I'm a bit curious now, I wonder how many people here try to wake up naturally.. personally, I consider that to be pretty reliable in forecasting my day's productivity.

DigitalSea• 14 years ago

I wake early and go to bed late, it's a bad routine I can't get out of. So I get about 5.5, sometimes 6 hours of sleep a night. Believe it or not, the human body can adopt to sleeping patterns remarkably well. I always have energy, never feel tired or have any health problems as a result of sleeping so little. Anything under 5 and no doubt I'd feel like crap, but I seriously doubt anyone out there can survive on less than that without feeling tired.

par• 14 years ago

Same here

ishbits• 14 years ago

7. When I get over 8 I feel like crap.

Icylicious• 14 years ago

Around 6 hours or so, due to school.

ajdecon• 14 years ago

6.5-8.5 hours, depending mostly on how obnoxious the cats are that morning. :)

bkanber• 14 years ago

My girlfriend makes such an effort to get up and go to work quietly. And then my cat starts meowing at me and clawing at the bed. Damn obnoxious morning cat.

therandomguy• 14 years ago

8.5 hrs weeknights and 10.5 hrs weekend nights. I would like to reduce weekend nights to 8.5 hrs and invest that in tennis or racquetball.

chriswitts• 14 years ago

If I'm smoking, 7 hours. If I'm not smoking, 5 hours. If I'm not smoking and exercising, 6 hours. If I'm not smoking and exercising strenuously, 7 hours.

DanBC• 14 years ago

I prefer waking at around 6am. I'm a lot more productive if I get good sleep and wake early.

Recently I've been falling asleep at about 5:30am, and dozing through the day, and waking properly at 13:00ish.

Zopiclone and sleep hygiene is helping to kick it back into a sensible rhythm.

james-singh2• 14 years ago

Geez, I thought the regular sleep duration would be 5-7ish hours for the hackers here ;) :D

polskibus• 14 years ago

What is the purpose of this question (i really am curious)? Everyone has their own sleep needs ,they depend on so many factors (age, stress, health, exercise, etc.),that a base stat will not tell you much. There was once a story on bbc about a research that claimed that in the middle ages people slept 2x4h having 1-3hrs of activity in between, and the popular 8hr sleep is a fairly recent habit, forced by ungrounded theories 2-3 centuries back.

pooriaazimi2• 14 years ago

I don't know about OP's intentions, but I upvoted it because I think it might be useful to others. So many people (including me, until a few months ago) think that it's good to "pull all-nighters", stay awake for 20-30 hours straight if you can and finish the code (some people literally cannot stay awake for more than 20 hours. I can - I routinely stayed awake for something like 40 hours in the weekdays and then would drop dead for 15 hours).

5 or 6 months ago, I recovered my senses and changed my sleeping habits and now sleep a good 8-10 hours every day and feel I'm so much more "productive" that sometimes I feel sad about the "lost time".

So, this topic might bring others who were deluded (like me) back to sanity (or I hope so)!

bbissoon3• 14 years ago

3 - 5 hours is my norm. I'll wake up around 6-7am for my day job and program at night until 2am.

dmg83• 14 years ago

That does not sound healthy. How long have you been doing this?

bbissoon3• 14 years ago

2 years, my wife says the same but I don't feel a thing .... yet lol.

pooriaazimi2• 14 years ago

8-10 hours. I used to sleep 4-6 hours in weekdays (for the past 3 years) and sleep 10-15 hours in weekends, but have changed my schedule for the past 5 months and can't believe how much better everything has become. Much less stress, getting much more done, learning faster and better :)

srik• 14 years ago

I can't find my paper in time, but I did some study on this and apparently many (long) studies have shown that the ideal sleep time is 6-6:30 hours a day. Any variation either way of that duration affected 3+years longevity if I remember correctly.

(This is not a scientific study ,so take it with a grain of salt - http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1812420,00.ht... )

snotrockets• 14 years ago

not enough.

aleprok• 14 years ago

I sleep around 6-7 hours, but I have really hard sleep pattern problems. So it might be 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening or anything like that. :/

goyalpulkit• 14 years ago

Around 7-8 hours

james-singh2• 14 years ago

I've been sleeping around 4.5 hours in average since last few weeks, working on a tech startup idea. I think I should go for at least 6 hrs now. 8 hrs sounds more appropriate though.

Riddle4045• 14 years ago

8 hours is a very good number , given i dont spend all day in front of a computer screen .. prefer some exercise to loosen yourself , i cant believe how much this little routine helps ! operating at 150% now a days !

BESebastian• 14 years ago

Depends on how much stress I have on my plate. On a good week, 8 hours, on a bad week, closer 4. I seem to operate as a real human being in either case though.

codegeek• 14 years ago

8-9 hours ideal. Anything over or under makes me crazy.

taf2• 14 years ago

Don't have kids then

dmg83• 14 years ago

Why not?

computerslol• 14 years ago

9. Any less has a negative productivity impact.

dirktheman• 14 years ago

Usually less than six hours. I don't need much sleep, and never feel tired.

scottbartell• 14 years ago

I've been averaging about 4hrs/night for the past month or so.

Ask HN: How many hours do hackers sleep?

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