8, minimum. In really heavy weeks or race weeks I go for 9 to really feel light and fresh.
We've somehow gotten to a place where it's a point of pride to say "look how much I can do on 5, 6, 7 hours of sleep" when they are actually saying (usually) "look, I can function at a level that doesn't classify as brain dead while sleep deprived!" I say usually because there are some that can do okay with 7-7.5 hours, but most can not.
Americans in general, and many other cultures, are chronically sleep deprived, and a small amount of research makes it clear that adding sleep makes people happier, more productive healthier, and for us: faster.
Is post some books/studies but I'm on mobile on the move, but I'm sure others will have a mountain of data that I don't even know about yet. Going from "look how will I do on 6 hours" (used to be me) to "I'm actually averaging 8 hours per night" .. hard to describe. It's like slowly waking up to your real potential.
Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
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