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RaptorChrist on 17 February 2018
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DizzyBinary said:

Do you guys know how there's that one thread that convinces you to finally transition from being a "lurker" to being involved in a conversation?


This is that thread for me, I'm an RPSGT, and I work in Sleep Medicine at a large hospital. 


Anyone getting less than 6 hours of sleep is going to have a severely shortened life-span. The normal amount of sleep a person needs can vary between 6-10 hours. 

VGPolyglot said:
Depends on my mood. When I'm depressed I still feel tired even with 12 hours or more, but when I'm really up I am fine with like 5 hours. I generally try to get 8 hours in a day.

When a person is depressed, they tend to sleep for longer periods of time, and have a much higher REM density. (Percentage of REM in TST or Total Sleep Time)

Sleep is divided into 4 separate stages with their own unique functions and features. These stages are as follows: N1 N2 N3 and REM. If anyone has any questions I'd be really happy to provide insight into how sleep works. 

Welcome to the forums. I was a lurker as well for many, many years, and I still tend to lurk the majority of the time.

Does it really shorten your lifespan? I would think that if you got very little sleep, you would be more likely to die in a car crash, so that would increase your risk of death, but the moment you change your lifestyle and start sleeping adequately again you would be fine. Not something I've ever gotten curious enough to research, but now I'm interested.

I suppose sleep should be a major concern for me, as I am on medication that is a major sedative (commonly abused for it). But on the other hand, I'm more of a night owl myself, so I like to stay up late, but am forced to wake up early for work, so I usually get only 6.5 hours of sleep (which isn't too bad), but then I'm often finding myself tired during the day. I know I need to get to bed earlier, but I haven't the discipline, as until now I've not known about any negative health problems it could be causing.

Edit: And it's 2 a.m.; I have to get up at 8 (maybe 8:30 if I sacrifice a leisurely morning for more sleep) to drive my wife to work, then take my daughter to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese at noon. So at best I'm looking at 6.5 hours of sleep tonight if I fall asleep six minutes ago.