I can't function without 8 hours. It's the worst feeling getting yourself out of bed when you haven't slept. I think the people who are rude about those who get enough sleep are just jealous.

I am the same way.

But then, I'm ancient, rickety and RETIRED, and I don't ever have to set an alarm clock!!!

I can go a few nights with less, but then I am tired during the day and/or taking a nap, even it's 5 p.m.

Occasionally I need 10 hours, but that's usually the max.

I've never slept straight through. I wake up about 2 or 3 times, glance at the clock, roll over, and fall back asleep within a minute

sometimes it bothers me, as in "I need to sleep less so I'll have more time to be a productive Mormon."

But wait, I don't need to be a productive Mormon.

My husband used to get 8 hr a night and then catch up on weekends! I used to tell him that God simply would not create anyone who needed that much sleep. That was until I had a son who was the same way! That kid was the BEST baby. I think he slept 23 hr/day!! AS a kid he would go and put himself to bed much earlier than the other kids!

Maybe slept 8 hrs. straight three times in the last yr. I say More power to ya.....keep it up. Guess you don't have back problems, huh?

I remember my first child who slept 11 and a half hrs. beginning at 3 wks of age. I had it so good then and I slept 9 of those hrs. It was heaven.

I'm totally jealous of people who are able to sleep long hours. DW can sleep 8-10 a nite.

I have to make do with 6, and often less. But I crave more. But without morphine, it ain't gonna happen.

If you can sleep long, go for it!

I keep a timer by my bedside. When I get in bed and turn out the light I start the timer.

If, when I wake up, it says 4 1/2 hours I'm miserable because I know I won't be able to get back to sleep but will be wiped out all day. If I get 6 hours that's a good night. I am VERY jealous of those who can get 8 hours a night. I'd LOVE to get 8 hours more than twice in one month.

Like a lot of the insomniacs here, I feel lucky to get 5-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. 7 is great and 8 is heaven. The only times in my life I get uninterrupted sleep were/are the first two weeks of swim season, when I start a new, harder workout, and days I go for a 4-5 hour hike. Then I'm back to waking up every 1-3 hours.

People require different amounts of sleep to function, just the same way people feel good at different times of the day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2012 09:33AM by Itzpapalotl.

I have a friend who loves telling you how she never watches TV, because she never has time. Problem is, every time I go over to her house, she is sitting in front of the TV. She doesn't count this, because in her mind, the TV is on in the background, and she is working on something else, but she will frequently stop what she is doing in order to comment on what just happened on Real Housewives just now.

I think people who complain about those who get too much sleep are much the same way. They want to make themselves sound more morally superior, because of some supposed martyrdom, that may or may not be true.

Yes, so true. I need like 8-10 hours of sleep and can't stand when people give me crap about it, like I am lazy. I am the pun of many people's jokes...when the subject of sleep arises...like oh did I wake you? You are not funny...but your face and wrinkles are from years of sleep deprivation.

I also find it humorous when people pretend like they don't 'waste' time watching TV too. Have you guys ever noticed that a lot of Mormon ladies...my oldest sister included, like the show Desperate Housewives? I am not saying anything against anyone on here that does like it...cause it's a decent show...I guess. I've only seen a couple of episodes...it's like they live through that show and probably other shows much like it. All the drama!

I'm a terrible insomniac ... I manage to sleep from 4am-Noon if I'm lucky, sometimes with a break in between. I seem to get to sleep around dawn.

Real, restorative and learning sleep occurs between the ninth and eleventh hours of sleep. Any thing over twelve hours is a blank coma. But ten and eleven hours are where the real intelligence breaks through. Those of us who sleep forty percent of our time are privy to universal knowledge. We can't tell you what we know, but if you sleep into the early double digits you will find out.

I don't know what it's like to sleep like that anymore. Since having my first child almost seven years ago, I hardly ever sleep through the night. I'm lucky if I get eight hours.

Yes, and I think it is "on topic" because the Mormons especially like to brag about requiring less sleep than the mere mortals.

Sleep deprivation is one of the tools of brainwashing! We all know about the pioneer treks that go on almost all night, and YW/YM camps, youth conferences, and marathon testimony meetings for teens.

Mormons like to drag their growing teen-agers out of bed at 5:30 AM for 6:00 seminary. I was one of those unfortunates, and felt sleep deprived all through high school.

Naps are only for the weak. My Mormon friends still like to brag that they never take a nap. Even the elderly.

Mormons don't get extra sleep, even when they are sick. They go to sacrament meeting, sick or well. Their fever-infested children are put to sleep on the pew next to them.

My father the bishop genius slept 4 hours a night.

Joggers especially like to brag that they get up at 5:30 in the morning. You will find them asleep on the couch long before the 10 PM news.

My daughter's MIL wakes up her children an hour before school (in Utah, seminary is mixed in with the daytime classes) to read scriptures for an hour. This MIL babysat my daughter's children, who live in California, while we were on a trip. She bragged that she had all the kids on their schedule of getting up at 5:30 AM sharp, and how wonderful that was. All my daughter said was, "That's 4:30 California time."

I think Mormons consider sleep-deprivation to be as holy as fasting. It is mind over body. It is self-discipline. It is obedience. It is a test. Reading the BOM at 5:30 AM is so much more speshul than reading it, say, in the evening. The early-bird LDS have risen above the bonds of the flesh.

No, I take it all back--they catch up on their sleep in the meetings.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2012 02:50AM by forestpal.

That's true. I've noticed it's only my mormon relatives who are rude to me. I had early morning jazz band in high school so I'd wake up at 5:30. I'd get home from school to take a nap because I was so tired. Now they say I take naps everyday. I never take naps anymore because I'm not that tired. I sleep well through the night by going to bed early. But now I'm ridiculed for going to bed early because I have work at 7 am.

Yeah, what business is it of theirs how much sleep you require? Maybe they are like my family, and find any excuse to criticize you and make you unhappy.

There's nothing wrong with napping. Many top executives feel that a "power nap" helps them perform better. Some U.S. Presidents have taken naps.

I can't sleep worth a poop.

I'm definitely not frowning on it - I'm envious! My brain has an internal alarm clock - anything over six hours, and I feel sluggish as if I overslept. I know that's definitely not the case, and I really wish that my body would allow me to sleep more. Preferably to get to bed earlier - but my brain is too wired to one schedule.

The only time I get more than six hours is when I'm ill, and usually only then because I've drugged myself into being zonked out.

Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, but there's a growing trend among those who don't need as much sleep (or who think they don't) to criticize those who need more. Lazy, unambitious, self-indulgent...

Everyone has different sleep cycles, and those cycles change over time. I remember a study where people lived for weeks in controlled spaces where there were no indicators of time. They were told to sleep and eat whenever they felt like it. Most people settled into a pattern of shorter sleeping and waking periods, like up for twelve hours, sleep for four, up for twelve, sleep for four.

There's also some research to suggest that at least some insomnia isn't really a matter of people being unable to sleep, but, rather, that they just can't sleep at the expected times. Their circadian rhythms are off by hours.

Me? I sleep in two-hour chunks but usually fall right back to sleep. Each of those two hours feels much longer. We don't know how long we're sleeping when we sleep. I work at home and I'm single, so my schedule is very flexible. I can usually run by my own internal clock, which includes a half-hour nap in the late afternoon.

I got out of a religion that wanted to make everyone the same, so I give the middle finger to people who try to tell me how much I should sleep and when. ¡Viva la siesta!

If there wasn't so much fun stuff to do at night, and so much work to get done during the day, I'd sleep 10 hours each night.

I need 10 hours every night. I never take naps.
I used to sleep 7 to 8, but never felt rested.

My circadian rhythm thinks I should go to sleep about 3am and wake up at 1pm. And the rest of the world refuses to accomodate me. Imagine!