How much should I sleep?

How much should you sleep?

This question has been long debated, and people have a different view of when and how much to sleep to have a productive day. Sleep is the single activity taking most of the time in one’s day after work.

Recently, we were in a social gathering and discussing when and how much one should sleep to have maximum productivity during the day. So, I started talking to people about their sleep pattern and their work throughout the day. I have been reading about successful people (by the world’s definition) and what they do as far as sleeping is concerned for quite some time now.

I saw a wide variety of answers and logic from people. While Jeff Bezos claims to sleep 8 hours each day, people like Mark Zuckerberg sleep 5 hours. Many people credit their sleep cycles for their increased productivity, and hence, one question always remains. How do I measure productivity, as it is very subjective from one’s perspective?

According to me, the standard of productivity is based on one’s past performance. So, your one hour of work can never be equal to my one hour of work. Moreover, what I may call a non-productive hour can be a productive one for someone else. So, one of the best ways is to introspect and conclude what’s best for you.

While people have quite a difference of opinion on how much to sleep, they seem to agree on when to sleep. During my talks with my friends and family and hearing about successful people on the mentor box, I couldn’t find a single example where someone said sleeping late is good. So they all tend to agree that sleeping early and waking up early is the best thing. , So yes or No, let’s keep that discussion for some other day.

I follow a different theory that works for me. I believe in “Sleeping whenever necessary.” This has helped me increase my productivity to levels I couldn’t think of a few years back. Some people could call it irregular and non-productive, but this is something that works for me. There are times when I sleep at 7 in the evening, waking up at 1 in the morning, and then start my day. My sleep cycles are based on my physical work for the day, and hence I adapt. It helps me to be alert at all times I am awake and working. I follow the principle of

“Sleep as much as you need, but as little, as you can.”

It makes sure that I get enough sleep to recover my body, and at the same time, it tells me only to have as little sleep as possible, thus making sure that I maximize the amount of work that I can do during the day. This means when I work hard during the day on my startups, gym, etc., I sleep 9 hours, and when I just lay around in my home, I sleep for only 6 hours.

What works for me is getting to sleep when I am least productive and being awake when I am the most effective, and hence I get to business as soon as I am up.

That’s my sleep story.

What’s yours?