How much sleep do you need is a question I have never actually got an answer to. This question has become very important at this point in my life as I am studying for one of the hardest certifications in IT the ccie lab exam.
The exam itself is 8 hours long so I will need to be awake and alert for the duration. As the exam date gets closer I am putting more and more time into studying and buring the midnight oil. Not getting to bed before 1am most nights.
Now my question is where is the point between getting enough sleep to function and utilising my study time to the max. So firstly the big question is;
How much sleep do you need a night?
Taken from a study by Time Magazine, full article here.
Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hr. or more, or less than 6.5 hr., they don’t live quite as long.
How much sleep is healthy?
This brings us onto the topic of how much sleep is healthy? i.e are you affecting your health by not getting enough sleep? There does not seem to be as much research about this as it seems to be all relative you as a person and what works for you.
Napping
This brings me to my final bit of research and that was to discover that something I have been doing for many years is actually very good for you and is probably the way to go! This article here says that a 20 minute nap during the day is very benefical and is something everyone should be doing.
I would be very interested to hear from not only anybody who is studying for an exam and struggling between getting enough sleep and doing ennough studying. But also anyone with any tips on how to sleep better. Please reply in the comments below.
How much sleep do you need?
