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Comment by gloryjulio | Hacker News Reader

'The don't sleep too much and reduce to 7h' is such a horrible take. It really depends on the ppl. It's possible to do all the positive things (having great wlb, workout regularly, eat the healthiest food) and some ppl just need to sleep 8-9 hours. This is self help's guru level of advice

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In my experience: Sleep as much as you can. Most probably don't have the luxury, but best is to not use alarm clocks. Your body knows exactly how much sleep it wants and needs, and your thinking brain has no business coming up with arbitrary hours of how long that should be.

Piotr Wozniak advocates a similar formula [0]:

> There is only one formula for healthy and refreshing sleep: Go to sleep only when you are very tired. Not earlier. Not later. Wake up naturally without an alarm clock.

[0] https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Formula_for_good_sleep:_free_run...

The title is “worked for me”, that should be self explanatory.

I mean it's wrong in principle. You don't optimize to shorten ur sleep. U optimize ur sleep in various aspects(or rest in a broad term) which might happen to shorten ur sleep in the process. This in turn optimizes ur throughput. The goal is just wrong. Sleep debt is real

>You don't optimize to shorten ur sleep.

Hmm. Don’t you think that anyone can do what they want?

It's a figure of speech. U can do whatever u want

I actually don't think it's a bad take. Everyone theoretically falls somewhere on a spectrum of "optimum sleep requirements". That's a given. What I take from the advice is that you may be well above your optimum. In my experience, it's easy to get in a habit of sleeping beyond what's needed. I, for one, feel terrible all day if I let myself sleep too long. Waking up earlier is harder, but my body consistently feels better for it. YMMV.

I have checked myself with 23andme, apparently, I am in the 99th percentile of night persons, and I need at least 8.5 hours of sleep to feel healthy.

Well, that explains things!

tbf OP did mentioned it varies from genetics to genetics. 7-7.5 hrs is actually good spot. Mostly 8 hrs is recommended. For me 6 hrs is enough, but it also depends upon the work you are doing in your day to day life.

The goal is just plain wrong. You don't optimize to shorten ur sleep, u optimize to improve ur sleep and rest pattern which might happen to shorten ur sleep.

> 7-7.5 hrs is actually good spot. Mostly 8 hrs is recommended.

That is correct. The goal is to find ur best. Not defining a number and going backwards to justify it.

Glorifying sleeplessness is extremely bad. The author might be in sleep debt himself. Also we need to consider the throughput as the performance varies. When I was tired I would not be able to code as efficient.

> The goal is just plain wrong. You don't optimize to shorten ur sleep, u optimize to improve ur sleep and rest pattern which might happen to shorten ur sleep.

Totally agree with this. I'm surprised how even health professionals prescribe an average value as something to work towards. Heck, they even give the same 8 cups of water a day advice to 50 kg females and 90 kg males. What an absurdity. Anyways, people should find the optimal amount for them by observing the outcome.

My sleep sweet spot is also around 7-7:30 hours. I am typically a good sleeper as in don't wake up etc. On days where I sleep more or lay I I often feel less energetic. Then there are also the cases when I go to bed early and wake up early by myself 'ready to go'.

I also like the suggestion to do the important thing first in the morning. So far I have not found a way to get around the morning chores, lunch prep, kids, dog etc. I know the theory (pre prepare, do it fast, be organised) but doing it is something I need to work on.

There is also a giant fallacy in this advice that you "gain an extra 2 hours". no, you start working 2 hours earlier, but you will be just as beat in the evenings, and still unable to do more than slouch on the couch and watch Netflix. If you don't use that time for working already, than why would you ruin your sleep patterns? especially since 2 hours less sleep is a massive reduction for most people.

Also from what I gather, scientifically incorrect/dangerous. Sleep is incredibly important, and sleeping the correct amount leads to a healthier and longer life.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Sleep-Science-Dreams/dp/0141...

>> The don't sleep too much and reduce to 7h' is such a horrible take

I agree. You have to sleep late when you can. Then all your bad days will end.

It might be possible to train yourself differently. Since having kids my sleep is much more like a control knob - I can go more days without it before needing a recharge.

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