Sleep, Continued

My experiment with getting less sleep ended last week. Overall, the results won’t surprise anyone at all — I felt a little more tired each day. There were a few physical symptoms as well, such as an increased heart rate. But overall, it was not a terrible experience.

I should also mention that I was not militarily strict. Out of the ten nights, there were three were I slept 6 hours rather than 5. And one other night I got 6.5 hours.

In the end, I realized two things. First was that I could get by on 5 hours of sleep, but not for extended periods of time (week after week). But it was obvious that my more regular routine of 6.5 hours of sleep serve me well and I could probably throw in one more shorter night a week and not suffer for it.

Second, and more important, I realized that it’s just too easy to spend a really long day working. Earlier mornings included spiritual time, exercise, and pursuing other interests. But it was much too easy to spend the majority of the time I gained from sleeping less on work. And I ended up not wanting to work on the projects that I was excited about.

Too much of a good thing, right?

And Now?

I actually decided to keep on experimenting. In order for this exercise to be fruitful, it’s probably a good idea to try the opposite. And so I’m taking two weeks to sleep more, shooting for 7.5 hours per night.

So far, it’s feeling great.

Mar 3, 2011