I literally can’t stay awake beyond 10pm and I’m out till just after 6am (no alarm).

I feel knackered/tired and wonder – do I actually need 8hours sleep still at 40?!

How much sleep is enough for you?

I think I’m still trying to catch up on all the sleep I lost when my kids were young.

I need less sleep than my wife but 7 hours is the minimum.

Worse thing is trying to stay awake. Go out for a drink and I’m nodding off in the pub by 10:30.

I need 8 hours.
If I go to bed at 10:30 I wake at 6:30. If I go to bed at 12 I wake at 8.
Mrs Stoner needs about 30 minutes apparently. Im getting a bit worried about her…

When going to sleep, you should always aim to do a set amout of sleep cycles (one cycle is 90 mins long). Rather than sleeping for 8 hours, try doing 7.5 instead. When waking up after a full cycle, you’ll feel refreshed and full of energy, if you wake up in the middle of one, you’ll feel sleepy and tired.

I always aim for 5 sleep cycles – 7.5 hours and it’s working great 🙂

I reckon 8.5 hours for me. It’s best if I wake without the alarm, but that will depend on the next day’s workload etc. At 60 I feel I’m entitled to my rest.

With regards to Jedi’s “sleep cycles”: there’s a fair amount of variation from the 90 minutes he quotes, so if yours is 96 minutes then the 5 cycles would be 8 hours, if it’s 80 minutes then 6 cycles is also 8 hours.

Much of it depends on how active you are too I reckon. So probably most on here need more than average. During a heavy training load I need 9 but can usually get by on 7. Don’t often get that at the moment though with a toddler and a newborn 🙁

Much of it depends on how active you are too I reckon.

Did a 30mile ride last week- got back at 8 and I was struggling to keep awake after 9. pissed me off tbh.

Should I start drinking coffee after 4pm?!

The best tv doesn’t come on till after 10pm as well.

8 hours always feels too much for me. I never seem to make it past 6am either, regardless of when I go to bed! I always set an alarm, but never need it. Can never stay in bed once i’m awake either, which makes horrible winter mornings seem a bit long.

6-7 hours tends to feel about right, but if I am particularly busy then I start naturally sleeping a little bit longer.

i tend to have about 5 or 6 hrs a night during the week then have a catch-up at the weekend. i think i would sleep more but just dont like going to bed, i have to drop off watching or reading something.

Well I could have gone to bed at 8pm last night, but stayed up till 10 to keep the wife company.

What’s really weird is that come 7am when the alarm goes off I’m fast asleep Monday to Friday and feel tired, but at the WE when the alarm is off, I wake up at 7 on the dot feeling really awake!

Need 3 to get through a day.

Like 6 to be able to cope.

8 is perfect.

10 is greedy.

7 hours seems to work for me

mrsmonkfinger usually needs 8 or 9 hours

I nod off at about midnight and the alarm goes off at 6:15. I’m often awake before the alarm.

46 here, I usually get around 7.5 hours.

op
If you’re sleeping 8 hours and still knackered it sounds like quality of sleep rather than quantity is the problem.
Maybe new mattress time, or black out blinds, temperature- summer duvet, switch off tv an hour before bed

What is your diet like? This can have an impact on your energy levels.

I usually get 5-6hr sleep a night. In bed around 1am, up at 6am or 7am, depending on the day. This includes weekends (I get restless!).

I get 4 hours roughly a night, it’s not enough. 6 would be heavenly.

hora – Member

Much of it depends on how active you are too I reckon.

Did a 30mile ride last week- got back at 8 and I was struggling to keep awake after 9. pissed me off tbh. – Normal, you will find more excersize makes you tired until your regime is embeded, say 3-4mths

Should I start drinking coffee after 4pm?! – No, your body clearly is telling you to sleep, so guess what? Yup, Sleep.

The best tv doesn’t come on till after 10pm as well. – Wrong, if you miss stuff record it or OD/iPlayer it.

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FIFY/HTH

8 hours a night sounds like heaven to me. Doesn’t sound excessive at all, especially, if you’re riding a decent amount. Just think of all that good recovery time you’re getting.

Between kids, working, “training” and maintaining domestic equilibrium, I’m lucky to get 7 hours a night. I can (and often do) function on less, but I start to fall apart pretty quickly, turning into an angrier, less-funny Norman Wisdom.

About 6hrs usually. 8 is lovely though if I can get it. If pushed due to work/kids/other stuff then I can do about a week on 4hrs a night, but then I’m not going to be in great shape for riding at the weekend.

You’re probably going to die soon, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Try doing something “with your hands”.

About 7 hours a night and then a couple of hours in the afternoon a few hours a week.

Also, I feel better on an even number of hours sleep. Odd doesn’t do it for me for some reason.

Dude. Are you snoring at night?

I had a similar problem, 8, 9 , 10 hours and still could snooze after lunch. It was identified as mild Apnea (sp.?).

I was offered a CPAP machine or gum shield type thingy (holds your jaw forward stops the snoring). I took the gum shield I feel miles better since. 7-8 hours is enough for me now.

Regarding getting the right number of “cycles”, I’m fairly sure this has been dis-proven now. Although if you wake up in the “wrong” bit of the cycle you can feel bad initially, once you have fully woken up there is no difference when compared to waking up in the “right” bit of the cycle. Granted that it does feel better if you wake up in the “right” bit of the cycle, in my experience its almost impossible to do consistently.

As for required amount of sleep, it took me till my 40s to find out that I need close to 9.5 hours to feel fully refreshed. Can get away with less, but only for a night or two before productivity drops and grumpiness increases dramatically. FWIW the extra time spent in bed, is easily offset by the increased enjoyment of days when I get enough 🙂

Probably need around 8 hours, but I’m not very regimented about when I go to bed, so it varies from night to night. My fitbit tells me I average 6-7 hours, but that’s often broken by a small child’s nocturnalism.

Dr North is useless on less than 8 hours and ideally needs around 10 hours. Often more.

Over 6 hours is enough for me in general, although another hour if I can get it puts me into supersonic/happy zone for the rest of the day

The more active I am the less I seem to sleep!

I’m 36, I need 8 hours sleep or a feel terrible(can get away with 7 but no less). Have always been like that. will always be like that I’d imagine, if that changes, then i’ll start getting concerned. I’m fairly consistent about the sleep I get, if i’m not I can start getting insomnia, which is a pain till I normalise my sleep pattern again.

Worked shifts for 30 odd years or so. Tomorrow I start my 4 day(2 days+ 2 nights),12hr shift cycle.

My sleep pattern will be something like;

Tonight, bed sometime between 10 to 12. Up @ 5. 5ml cycle to work for 6.
Repeat for Fri.
Sat, up around 8/9am or whenever grand kids decide to get up. Work @ 6pm – 6am.
Sun, sleep till 12/1pm ish if kids are quiet 🙄 Work @ 6pm – 6 am.
Mon. If no an non phone calls might sleep till 1pm but rarely any later.
Then off for 6 days, usually up around 7/8am with MrsT and bed anytime between 10-12pm.

MrsT can’t get enough sleep but there are medical reasons for this.
Son is like me and as well as 2 kids to look after he tends to do work at nights. Finished a 5yr day release degree recently and is talking about doing another now that he has changed jobs!!
Daughter is a primary school teacher with 2 kids and also can’t get enough sleep. If I pick her up in the car for any reason first thing she does is roll up a jacket, tucks it against the car door and falls asleep ❗

3 or 4 hours normally for me. If I’m lucky.
I tend to lie in on Saturday morning so that will be about 6 hours but only because I deliberately stay up as late as possible on Friday night.
Any longer than 6 hours and I feel terrible.

Samuri how old are you?

Use to be about 3 or 4 hours too but now it’s around 6 or 7 hours. Not sure I feel any better for it.

As for the sleep cycles, well as a night shift working sometimes I get cycles like that coming off nights. Don’t do it it’s bloody awful and throws you all to pot for a day or two.

hora – Member
Samuri how old are you?

How old are YOU? Utilising your hands yet? Just for a change?

I’m 43 I typically sleep from around midnight till 6.30 Saturday/Sunday. I’m getting old, sod sleeping through what’s left.

After 30 years of an average 4-5 hours a night over that time I make every effort to go to bed once I feel tired and wake up naturally after about 8.5 hours to 9 hours a night and it’s the best feeling in the world! Never feel jaded or tired anymore, but then I’m a retired 49 year old.

Loum, Freestyle and UrbanHiker have it.

Unfortunately the rest of the advice is unhelpful.

The amount of sleep you need now should be the same as it was 10-15 years ago but you should be both falling asleep and waking earlier because you are getting older.

If 8hrs used to feel refreshing and now doesn’t its time to get yourself referred for assessment.

The mattress is old and…an Ikea mattress. I snore once a week apparently. The other issue is my 4yr old son sneaks into bed about 2ish nightly.

Samuri how old are you?

mid-40’s

I sleep more now than I did when I was younger. At 20 I would go a couple of days without sleeping without any obvious ill effects. Can’t do that any more.