How much sleep do you get a night?

[Raw in Florida]

One thing that struck me about reading WWTL was the fact Aajonus said he would feel great and have an abundance of energy sleeping 4-5 hours a night.

I really do not function great with anything less than 7.

Overall I think I have been fairly healthy with very few ailments. I do gets bouts of insomina from time to time. I also rarely sleep well on Sunday nights (maybe its subliminal knowing I have to go back to work?).

Aajonus says many detoxes happen at night, which interferes with sleep.

How have do you folks sleep, and how have the patterns changed since doing your raw diet?

[Guittarman03]

I love sleep, it's one of my favorite things to do.  I do best on 8.5 to 10 hours every night.  I've read that before the lightbulb, we used to sleep 9 hours a night.

[goodsamaritan]

I get 6 to 8.  I do best if I do 8 hours a night regularly.

I am wondering if our paleo ancestors slept really long nights, who would have guarded them in their sleep?  Did our early ancestors live in secure places where no predators could harm them?  Or were our early ancestors just like lions?  At the top of the food chain, you can sleep the whole day?

[Raw in Florida]

If I sleep 6 hours or less, I take a nap midday and feel recharged. Since I am a teacher I my sleep schedule gets really out of whack after summer vacation. I sleep a lot more in the summer. I go to bed late and wake up whenever nature tells me.

I too have red that 9 hours was far more common before electricity. Artificial light has obviously changed how hormones are produced and secreted that's for sure.

[TylerDurden]

I sleep 6 hours weekdays and 8 hours weekends, roughly. often sleep less than 6 on weekdays. Sometimes take a nap at lunch.

[SkinnyDevil]

I don't have a set number of hours, unfortunately. It seems to move in only milly predictable cycles. 6-8 hours for a few weeks, then suddenly I realize I've been getting by on 4-5....then it cycles back.

Also, due to my erratic schedule, it often varies wildly from day to day (8 hours one night, ten 5 hours the next).

[cherimoya_kid]

I do fine on maybe 5-6 hours a night.  Sometimes I'll sleep 8, maybe once a week.  I can function on 3-4 hours a night, but it's no fun.

[Raw Kyle]

I've been getting less recently, maybe an average of 6.

[Hannibal]

The best book about importance of sleep is "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival".
It's very important to live according to nature and go to bed after sunset and wake up after sunrise
Nowadays it's really hard to live that way 100%, but we could at least live near that way
I sleep about 7-8 hours a day, but I go to bed almost always before 10 P.M. and get up about 6 A.M. - these hours before midnight are extremely important

[Paleo Donk]

Who sleeps on the floor?

Ive found a few things online suggesting that its better and even this article below recommends it as part of the raw lifestyle. Im currently attempting to go sleep on the floor full time but have yet to do it more than 2 nights in a row. Its not the most comfortable at first and sleeping in my bed is so easy especially when Ive been out drinking. Im really going to concentrate on keeping this up consistently this week as it goes along with the simplistic nature of how I think human life should work. We never evolved to sleep in beds, why should we start doing it now. Im on the floor now as Im typing this just about to sleep. My brother has also been doing this as of late and is getting very good rest and vivid dreams.  Ive experienced the same things the times Ive been able to sleep the entire night on the floor.

http://www.beautifulonraw.com/raw-food-blog/raw-food-lifestyle/raw-food-lifestyle-sleeping-on-the-floor/

[TylerDurden]

Thanks very much for the link. I've been considering doing a "rawpalaeo" lifestyle article on rawpaleodiet.com, and this sort of thing would be very useful.

[William]

Floor is where the spiders roam.
Mine recognise my territorial imperative, so I rarely get walked on in bed.

I have no "steenking job", so sleep whenever I like, and it usually amounts to about 2 to 4 hours in daylight, more at night.

Sleep really is healing, those of us who need healing should get at least 8 hours, more if possible, and it should be on an empty stomach.

[Guittarman03]

I sleep on the floor for the last 2 yrs. Even got the gf to do it. Worked wonders for
neck and back pain. We do a modified version tho, sleep on carpet with a couple comforters thrown down. Still better than bed. 

[cherimoya_kid]

i usually sleep in a sleeping bag on a carpeted floor, unless I'm staying over at a girl's place.   

I've been sleeping on the floor for at least 12 years.

[Raw in Florida]

Yeah Tyler your sleep schedule is almost a mirror of mine as of late.

For you guys who sleep on the floor, all I can say is, I'll stick to my bed 

More power to you if it makes you feel better.

[vernon]

Heres my 2 cents on sleep:

1) I sleep 8 hrs per day
2) Theres a saying that the more healthy you are, the less sleep you need. I think this is true.
    Because when you lie down, the blood circulates to the tonsils and your lymph nodes and gets detoxed.
    THus if a person is sick, he really needs to lie down and sleep.
3) Yes, the hrs before midnight are important. They are for liver healing purposes.
4) It is also mentioned that one sleep in a totally dark environment. Your bedroom shd be private, dark &
    quiet.

Vernon

[Python]

I can get by on 5-6 an feel awesome if I actually stick to the diet perfectly and have something to do. Otherwise, I sleep because I'm bored and want to pass time.

[Guittarman03]

I do like total dark when I sleep, but I'm not sure how "paleo" that is.  If you've ever been out where the stars are abundant, you will find the sky to be surprisingly bright.  There's also the moon 1/2 the time.

I'm a pretty healthy guy and I need 8.5-9.5 hrs every night.  Even when doing the diet perfect for months on end.  I'm sure if I got 6 or 7 hrs/night for a few months that I would adapt to it, but not sure if it would be ideal.  I just don't buy in to the whole detox thing.  I mean, yes, it is a possible factor for needing more sleep, but I think being athletic/active factors in, as well as studying and internalizing new information.  Studies show that you recall new information better if you have slept.  I tend to think it's possible that learning may necessitates extra sleep.

[Hannibal]

I do like total dark when I sleep, but I'm not sure how "paleo" that is.  If you've ever been out where the stars are abundant, you will find the sky to be surprisingly bright.  There's also the moon 1/2 the time.

But paleo people didn't sleep directly under the sky. They had some dark places - e.g. cave, wooden hut

[majormark]

I belive that in order to reduce sleep time one could pursue some type of mental training.

"Time distorion" comes to mind... I'm not sure if that is effective on the long term but some people claim they sleep 3 hours a day and they are fine.

I dont have that skill and I sleep 5-8 hours a day unsually.

[magnetic]

I have been sleeping only when tired, and getting up when I feel awake (not forcing myself back to sleep).  I have fallen into a biphasic sleep pattern of sleeping for 4-5 hours plus an additional, shorter sleep (1 cycle).   

Normally I sleep from 9pm-1am if I am sleepy early, or 11pm-3am/4am if later.  I don't use an alarm clock and I turn on a soft-light lamp at night (and my monitor brightness is very low).  When I wake up I am active in these low light conditions.

Monophasic sleep is assumed to be "normal" for humans (among the medical and scientific community), but I think biphasic sleeping produces higher levels of alertness, requires less time and may be more natural (the result of free running sleep).

An excellent article on sleep:

http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm

Scroll down for the section on free running sleep.  Interestingly, the log suggests that wakefulness/sleepiness can occur at anytime of day.  The sleeper had a long "core" sleep time and a very short siesta.  My sleep of late has been the reverse.  A short core with a longer siesta, and fewer hours overall.  If I miss my siesta, my core sleeping time will be longer, but it is never more than 6 hours.  Falling asleep never takes more than a minute or two. 

Also notable in the article is the section on the physiology of sleep and the mention of Francis Crick's theory that the purpose of REM sleep is reverse learning (i.e. forgetting). 

The 21 myths on sleep made me grin.

[achillezzz]

sounds like a bad idea for people who have a job ..
For best health teach your body a regime.

[magnetic]

sounds like a bad idea for people who have a job ..
For best health teach your body a regime.

I work 40 hours a week.  Works fine.

[raw-al]

http://www.beautifulonraw.com/raw-food-blog/raw-food-lifestyle/raw-food-lifestyle-sleeping-on-the-floor/

Thanks for the link. I've often thought about sleeping on the floor. Maybe will try it

I remember reading a book about a woman who travelled on a Walkabout with some Aussie Aboriginals. She mentioned sleeping on sand as it allowed your contours. Sounded like a great idea.

We have a memory foam bed. Not bad but way too expensive and it doesn't last that long.