How would you feel with 5 1/2 hrs sleep for 2 nights in a row?

I get about five to six hours every week day. It used to make me feel like shit, and I even got sick from it a couple of times, and blacked out once at work. Over time though, you get used to it. That’s probably not a good thing though.

Vitamin B12! That’s how I deal with it. I’m a Redbull fiend. I normally get about 7 hours sleep. Sometime 4 or 5.

That is fairly normal for me. I feel how I think you are feeling when I go a couple of nights getting 2 hours or less. I get kind of a light-headed headache and my limbs are tingly and heavy. I usually try to take a nap if possible, otherwise caffeine keeps me plodding along. I agree with @Deja_vu – B12 helps a lot. I use a sublingual liquid.

@Supacase I have Vitamin B complex. Lately I’ve been getting the Redbull shots (surgarfree) they work really well.

I thought I’d hear that others couldn’t deal with so little sleep. But instead I hear take B12. OK: I will !! I bought a bottle of the sublingual. now where the heck are they?

I usually do fine on 6–7 so 5½ isn’t much of a drop for me. I’d feel it after a week though.

I do it nearly every weekend when I have my grandsons. They are a handfull, and I usually end up with 6 or less hours. It doesn’t seem to bother me, but I regularly sleep 9 hours or so the rest of the week.

Those hours are normal for me and if I sleep more than 6 hours I tend to get a headache. But whenever I feel I need more sleep, I don’t hesitate to take a power nap during the day for about half-hour.

That is normal hours for me also. I have tried the 5 hour energy shots, but it seems to make me cranky or weepy when I drink those, so I just get by on little sleep.

I would feel awful. I need 7–8 hours a night, or I won’t function well the next day.

Meh I’ve had less.
Or none at all
So I guess I’d be fine

I’m used to it. Since I started working the morning shift, I’ve been getting closer to 3–4 hours of sleep per night, supplemented with naps in the afternoon.

I’d be tired. I usually get 6 hours. Not much difference, but I am tired even with six.

It doesn’t matter to me if I get a few hours of sleep or ten. I’m still tired, no matter what—and the same amount of tired. I have no idea what that’s all about.

If I managed to sleep solidly and soundly for five and a half hours two nights in a row, as I did when I was younger, I’d probably feel great.

Tired but I could function. But for more than a few nights in a row I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

NOW, since having a baby (read: cat) 5½ solid hours would be wonderful.

You’ll probably feel better if your sleeping time is some multiple of 90 minutes.

@Nullo what does that mean?

@deni Say you sleep 90 minutes, then another 90 minutes, then another 90 minutes then another 90 minutes, only all together.

I’ve found that I’m happier with 90 minutes of sleep than I am with 2 hours, and that 3 hours of sleep (180 minutes, or 90 minutes + 90 minutes) is better than 4, but not 4½.

That was my undergrad life. It was crazy…

@Nullo does that have to do with sleep stages or something? Or does it just normally happen that you personally feel better when you get those increments of sleep?

@deni I suspect that it’s a sleep cycle thing. Though it’s late after a long day and insufficient sleep, so I wouldn’t trust me on that. :D

I’ve had the experience of only having four hours of sleep a night for several weeks. Not pleasant. I saw guys falling asleep standing up.

5½ hours for two consecutive nights would be a blessing.

I average around five hours a night anyways, so it wouldn’t faze me the slightest bit. My Navy years pretty much deleted my circadian rhythm and hardened me against the effects of sleep deprivation to the point where I have sometimes gone 70 hours straight without feeling drowsy and can survive for weeks on cat-naps.

No big deal when you are 22. It’s different when you are 48.

@mattbrowne I’ve found that as I’ve got into my 40s I need less sleep than I used to. I could handle 5½ hours now better than I could at 22.

@downtide – Yes, requiring less sleep is common, but I was talking about handling more extreme sleep deprivation, for example when babies keep young parents busy at night for months. The strain would be more intense for people, say over 50.

@mattbrowne thats a good point.