My chronic fatigue vanished when I abandoned the eight-hour sleep dogma

I clung to the eight-hour rule... but my personal data told a different story. Now I thrive on six and a half hours, and I'm never going back.

4 comments

4 Comments

lee5910h ago

Read a BBC piece on that biphasic sleep thing last year.

flores.patricia16h ago

For years, I used a sleep tracker that insisted eight hours was optimal, and I felt guilty on short nights. I was convinced that less sleep meant worse health, no exceptions. Then I tried cutting back to seven hours after a friend swore by it, and my energy levels actually improved. Now I'm curious about finding my own sweet spot like you did. What kind of data did you track to make that decision?

avery_ross13h ago

Seriously, I came across this podcast episode where a sleep researcher was talking about how sleep quality TRUMPS quantity every time. They mentioned that tracking things like heart rate variability and REM cycles can show when you're actually rested, not just clocking hours. @flores.patricia, your experience with cutting back to seven hours and feeling better totally aligns with that. I started paying attention to how groggy I felt upon waking versus how many hours I logged, and it was a game changer. The data from my own basic tracker showed I was spending too much time in light sleep after hitting my deep sleep targets. Now I aim for sleep completion, not a set number, and my energy is WAY more consistent.

nathan_allen13h ago

Actually reading "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker was what initially made me question the rigid eight hour rule myself. He discusses how historical records show humans naturally tended toward segmented sleep patterns before artificial lighting. That got me tracking my own deep sleep cycles versus just total hours, using a basic fitness watch. Noticed I was hitting all the restorative stages within about six and a half hours, and any extra time in bed was just light, fragmented sleep. The data showed my body was done, so I stopped fighting it.