I was watching a podcast by an ex Navy SEAL who gets about 5-6hrs / night. I would love to be able to survive on so little sleep but I need 8hrs. I can get by on 7hrs but it catches up with me. Having worked shift-work for many years, I have often had a run of days with only 5/6hrs of sleep and it never works well with training. I guess like everything, sleep is very individual but I would be interested to know how much sleep others need?
Tubs
So… is your sleep time the thumb in the air self guess or something from a sleep tracker? People who Bert their sleep times from a tracking device often have much better accuracy and lower numbers.
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.
Thumb in the air. I have tracked my sleep with a Fitbit and Garmin watch for a couple weeks and it tallies with my thumb in the air but I’ve never tracked sleep for more than a couple weeks, or with a high end tracker.
I agree. I’ve read a couple of books quoting studies on sleep and performance. (Peak performance by Magness/Stulberg). All the studies indicate that more sleep=better performance but it does seem to be a badge of honour for people to exist on little sleep.
I agree. I’ve read a couple of books quoting studies on sleep and performance. (Peak performance by Magness/Stulberg). All the studies indicate that more sleep=better performance but it does seem to be a badge of honour for people to exist on little sleep.
Peak Performance, that’s the one that was on the tip of my tongue! Fantastic book with really good (and entertaining) citations.
Any suggestions for sleep trackers? I’ve been curious about my sleep stats but not sure where to begin.
I have used Fitbit and Garmin. I think Garmin does a little better for me.
I was interested in sleep trackers a while ago and the Emfit QS looked like the best one. I would still like one but other things have taken financial priority at the moment.
Thumb in the air.I get around 5:45-6:60 on weeknights according to my Fitbit. But Fitbit deducts around :45-:60 minutes of awake time. So, it is probably equivalent to 7:00-7:30 that most folks would self-report. I do about 8-12 hours of training with this sleep level.
Weekends I sleep bigger to catch up some.
I was watching a podcast by an ex Navy SEAL who gets about 5-6hrs / night. I would love to be able to survive on so little sleep but I need 8hrs. I can get by on 7hrs but it catches up with me. Having worked shift-work for many years, I have often had a run of days with only 5/6hrs of sleep and it never works well with training. I guess like everything, sleep is very individual but I would be interested to know how much sleep others need?
Tubs
I was kind of brought up in an anti-sleep cultural originally which I think now is horrible. I wouldn’t suggest anyone get less than 8 hours personally. My own personal equation is 8 hours + 30 minutes for each hour of exercise. I think you will find a common factor in any high performance athlete is that they sleep a lot.
I was watching a podcast by an ex Navy SEAL who gets about 5-6hrs / night. I would love to be able to survive on so little sleep but I need 8hrs. I can get by on 7hrs but it catches up with me. Having worked shift-work for many years, I have often had a run of days with only 5/6hrs of sleep and it never works well with training. I guess like everything, sleep is very individual but I would be interested to know how much sleep others need?
Tubs
I was kind of brought up in an anti-sleep cultural originally which I think now is horrible. I wouldn’t suggest anyone get less than 8 hours personally. My own personal equation is 8 hours + 30 minutes for each hour of exercise. I think you will find a common factor in any high performance athlete is that they sleep a lot.
sounds like a reasonable equation
i would add that i find sleep quality more important than quantity (and also harder to come by when you are stressed from work, life and training)
Sleep is honestly my absolute training enhancer AND limiter. I don’t have great sleep, so when I don’t sleep well, it definitely restricts my hard training efforts.
I’ve been optimizing my sleep in my mid 40s - CPAP machine (severe apnea on sleep study), benadryl to help me stay down (or else I’m wide awake after 4-5 hrs), bruxism mouthguard (the $20 kits on Amazon outperform the $350 dentist one !), antisnoring strap to help the CPAP work optimally, and if I’m napping during the weekend, I’ll even throw on a pair of noise-canceling headphone cans with white noise so my kid/dog won’t interrupt my sleep (my naps are always naturally <40 mins long, usually 20 mins without alarms).
I wish I could eliminate and simplify this regimen, but every piece was hard-tested over the last 5 years, and only added after numerous attemps with and without, and I’ll still go from time to time to remove one of them and then realize I do need it to optimize sleep.
I’ve definitely noticed amongst my 40+ year old peers, that sleep quality seems to be a hard task - half my peers definitely seem sleep deprived, some severely so. I’m definitely farrr from ideal but I’ve improved my sleep enough from pretty terrible (as confirmed on sleep study) to decent and sometimes very good.
It is DEFINITELY a huge part of training - I take it as seriously as the training itself now - if the sleep isn’t happening, the training quality and recovery definitely will not be happening.
I like that formula 8hrs + 30mins per hr hard training, but for me it’s realistically closer to 7hrs + 30 mins/hr. I try to always err on the safe side, and will literally lie in bed for 30-60 mins after I wake up, trying to put myself back to sleep until I’m sure it’s no longer happening.
Which mouth guard are you using? I’d like to try a cheap one…I’m convinced I clench my teeth when I sleep even though my dentist sees no evidence of it.
I was kind of brought up in an anti-sleep cultural originally which I think now is horrible.
I think a lot of people have this issue. So many people see getting by with minimal sleep as a badge of honor and that sleeping 8-9 is a sign of laziness.
But lack of sleep eventually has to be paid back somehow or from somewhere. Lowered performance at work, in workouts, health issues down the line, crappy attitude towards others, etc.
Were you listening to Jocko? I think part of it is that his body clock just adapted to that over time. I wake up every day at 5:30 without an alarm because of waking up at 5:30 for 8 years of my life in Service to the Pharaoh. I truly wish I could get 8 hours every night.
I track it pretty closely with both my Garmin and a Fitbit. I generally average around 7.5 hours/night and I’m basically dysfunctional on less than 6.5-7 hours. I definitely feel better when I get closer to 8 but I haven’t been able to do that consistently in years (pretty much since we had a kid!).
Which mouth guard are you using? I’d like to try a cheap one…I’m convinced I clench my teeth when I sleep even though my dentist sees no evidence of it.
On Amazon it’s the CONFIDental.
Totally lives up to the 5 star reviews. Comes with 5 pieces bith thick and thin, and it was a cakewalk to mold it to my teeth on the first try. Material is dental grade and malleable which was way more.comfortable than my hard dentist made.$350 piece that I stopped using quickly as I hated it.
Definitely try it, you can’t go wrong for $20.
More than I get.
But it’s better since my kids are grown up now.
Rule of thumb: if you need an alarm clock you don’t get enough sleep.
Wow, you’ve been through the mill with your sleep.
From other threads, I believe you are a Vasa owner. I am most likely going to buy one in the new year and the main reason is to help with sleep. At our local pool I can only swim at 0630 or 2000hrs. Both of which have a significant impact on sleep quantity and quality. I already have to get up 3 x /week at 0515 to take my son to swim practice, so the last thing I need is a 0545 start on all my days off as well.
Waking up at 0600 to swim in a pool vs getting up whenever I like and getting on the Vasa would be a game changer.