How much sleep do you need in school?

[theloathedone]

Hi all,

just out of curiosity, how much sleep did you get in school (high school, college etc.)?

I'm a high school student from Singapore, and I average under 6 hours of sleep per day. But in my school, I get more sleep than probably about 80% of the student population. I know some who get by on 4 hours of sleep on weekdays, and on particularly bad days with lots of homework the average hours slept is about 3-4 (of course that included people pulling all-nighters to counterbalance those who slept for a "normal amount"). Surely that isn't healthy.

So I wanted to know, is this kind of sleeping habits common or is it something unique to hyper-competitive Asian countries?


P.S. I'm kinda new here, this is my first post outside the homework section.

 

[DaveC426913]

Hi all,

just out of curiosity, how much sleep did you get in school (high school, college etc.)?

Ideally, none. Get your sleep done at night.

 

[theloathedone]

Ideally, none. Get your sleep done at night.

Ok to clarify I meant, how much sleep did you get during your schooling years... :)

 

[mcknia07]

I'm a fourth year college student and I get about 9 hours on average of sleep.

 

[Pyrrhus]

In Grad Schools, it varies. I usually get 5-6 hours or less on paper writing season during weekdays. On weekends a lot of sleep 10 hours.

Offseason, I get typical 8 or 9 hours.

 

[DaveC426913]

Everyone is different*. You should get the amount of sleep you need to get to function efficiently. It is irrelevant how much sleep other people get.

At some point - for you - there will be a point of diminishing returns, where the extra studying you do instead of sleeping will be useless because, in your fatigued state, you will not be able to concentrate both during the studying and during the tests.

* except me. I am not different.

 

[Disconnected]

I rarely get less then 9 hours of sleep, and when I do, I suck at everything. I suck at math, physics, walking without falling over things, knowing what time it is, talking to people coherently, EVERYTHING.

 

[EMFsmith]

From what I've heard 7 hours sleep is meant to be the recommended amount of sleep, people used to say 8 hours but that numbers been dropped, personally i work best on 6 hours, but i work alternating days and nights so id say it goes on an individual basis, as long as you feel alert then your getting enough id say.

 

[DaveC426913]

From what I've heard 7 hours sleep is meant to be the recommended amount of sleep,

No. That's an average.

Recommended is unique to each person.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I heard from a geneticist at uni that mutations in DEC2 shorten the average sleep cycle of a person from 8 hours to 6.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/325/5942/866.abstract

 

[ahsanxr]

I would say I got an average of about 6 hours of sleep as a freshman this year. It could go as little as 3-4 on weeks where I had a lot of stuff to do, but there have also been weeks where if I managed my time well, I could get the full 8 hours.

To be honest its all about time management, than the amount of work you have. Prioritize your work and you'd be able to get the amount of sleep you need. Like they say for college. Grades, social life or sleep. Choose 2.

 

[StevieTNZ]

I get a nice 12 hours of sleep each night. That can't be good for you.

 

[theloathedone]

Grades, social life or sleep. Choose 2.

Haha sadly this is so true

 

[Ryan_m_b]

. Like they say for college. Grades, social life or sleep. Choose 2.

Haha that's brilliant!

 

[Monster92]

Now is exam season so my sleep varies greatly which can't be good. Although usually it doesn't drop below 6 hours. `

 

[ideasrule]

In high school, I always had about 6 hours of sleep. This wasn't because I had a lot of work; it was because, at 1 a.m., I always wanted to finish doing "that one thing" before going to bed. I'd say that all of my friends who had semi-decent study habits and some motivation to sleep early could easily get 8 hours a day. The only time I really felt stressed was near the end of a semester/term. Teachers have the tendency to procrastinate and give last-minute assignments before report cards are due, while students have the tendency to procrastinate and start all 8 assignments at the last minute. The result is a lot of all-nighters for the students (and perhaps the teachers).

College should be less work overall. Sure, you have a lot more responsibility and the classes might be harder, but you also have 2 classes a day instead of 6, and the earliest class might be at 11 a.m. Go to the lectures, understand everything, and you should have plenty of free time for extracurriculars, social life, sleep, playing games, etc.

 

[Galteeth]

I usually needed at least an hour in school. It was between calculus class and spanish (both were in the morning.) Mostly slept in spanish.

 

[johncameron]

Students have a challenge in his life. Sometimes they sleeps more than ten hours because no work is there but sometimes they wake up a full night for the exam preparation. It is applicable on the students of school, high school and college. After completing college every one knows that what happens with the students.

 

[Topher925]

Studies have found that a lack of sleep leads to a shorter lifespan and an overall degradation of intelligence and comprehension skills. I personally get all the sleep I can get which is usually at least 8 hours on weekdays and 10+ hours on weekends.

 

[tedbradly]

During the week, I get 6 to 7 hours, which makes me feel horrible and unwilling to do work. It's not because I have stuff to do either. It's because I rather play video games and stuff instead of sleep so soon.

On weekends, I do all of my projects, studying, and homework with the about 10 hours of sleep that makes it all possible. (I'll do a few small assignments here and there when they are due the next day during the main week, though)

 

[l-1j-cho]

10 hours on weekdays and 12 hours on weekends. I am in IB, and I think I might be one of the samples that indicates that my grade is inversely propoertional to the amount of sleep I get.

And possible aenemia.

 

[HeLiXe]

I think it's really important to get as much sleep as you can. My life does not permit it really...so most of the time I'm half crazy and if I get 6 hours of sleep I feel like I've slept a really long time, and actually I wake. I'm hoping that changes soon because I know I cannot continue like this for 7 more years -_-

 

[Null_]

In high school, I got 6-7 hours a night due to sports/band/homework/games/friends.

In college (freshman year) I averaged about 8.5 hours a night. I never got under 6 hours a night. I keep my sleep schedule pretty consistent, even on the weekends. (11 p.m. - 7:30 a.m.)

 

[qspeechc]

Young people need more sleep than old people. The average adult needs about 7.5 hours of sleep. Teenagers need about 8 or 9. But it varies from person to person. The most common range for adults is between 7 and 8 hours a night.
Also teenagers and young adults are natural night owls. They prefer to go to bed later (midnight, 1am, etc.) and rise later, so school that starts at 8am or whatever, meaning you have to get up at 6 or 7, is not ideal for school kids, which is part of the reason they are so sleepy in class! It would be better if schools started at 10am, or even later, but that doesn't seem likely.

Losing sleep during the week is unavoidable; it happens to most of us. Catching up on weekends helps, but is not as good as getting a solid 8 hours each night. Chronic lack of sleep can shorten your life span, and has immediate effects on your health, like making you more susceptible to colds, flu, etc. Good sleep also gives you more energy and keeps you alert.

Moral of the story: try to get as much sleep as you can, but losing sleep is probably unavoidable, that's just life.

 

[DaveC426913]

Chronic lack of sleep can shorten your life span, and has immediate effects on your health, like making you more susceptible to colds, flu...

...and dramatically interferes with concentration, such as that involved in studying, homework, knowledge-rentention and exam-writing.

 

[Disconnected]

...and dramatically interferes with concentration, such as that involved in studying, homework, knowledge-rentention and exam-writing.

I have friends that pull all-nighters before each exam, doing past papers so that the information is as fresh as possible in their minds. Personally I think that they are moronic.

 

[ƒ(x)]

7 hours a night if I'm feeling lucky, and then I wake up tired. good times...:/

 

[elabed haidar]

6 hrs per day but sometimes i get lazy