How much sleep does a male need?

Hello guys,

How much sleep does a male need per night?

I know this is probably individual and also dependent on your lifestyle, but there has to be some average guideline.

If I sleep 6 1/2 - 7 hours 5 days a week and then 8-10 hours 2 days a week, I should not suffer from too little sleep, right?

How much do you need to function properly?

Personally, I would love 8 hours every night. Without an alarm, I would probably easily sleep 9-10 hours every night.

Discuss! :)

PS: The main reason I`m asking is that I just recently read that to boost testosterone a male should get 6-8 hours of quality sleep every night. I thought that 6 hours sounded low? I`m still having some issues with my health and want to know for sure if I can eliminate my sleeping patterns as a possible contributor.

Renholder

This is a good topic. I’d like to hear from some of the MD’s on this site.

Ive always been told that to function to your maxium ability, you should get 8-9 hours of sleep a night. But, I think everyone is different. My father has always been a workaholic, and for the past 30 years he’s been just fine with 5 hours a night.

If I sleep less than 7 hours I feel very tired for that day. I’m at my “best” when I sleep like 9-10 hours, but this doesn’t happen very frequently. I guess the 7-8 hours rule is a good one and one should adjust from that by how he feels

I think the idea is to try and fit in two cycles of sleep and wake up in the lower end of the last cycle.

If you get interrupted at the wrong time from something like an alarm, it’s easy to feel drowsy.

7.5 Hours is perfect for me.

If I get only 6 or 6.5 hours, I feel really crappy most of the day, with headaches, stomach problems. If I’m at work, I usually have to go home early, telling the boss I am sick. A nap of an hour or two will fix most everything for me, however.

I have never met anyone who suffers from sleep loss like I do, to the extent of feeling sick. Not just tired and groggy, but sick and unable to function.

When I was in my early 20’s, I could easily sleep for 12 hours at a time. I was fairly depressed during those few years, so that encouraged increased sleep.

I have had a sleep problem in that I have difficulty STAYING asleep. I can get to sleep easily (within a few minutes), but wake up after about 90 minutes and lie awake for what is usually a couple of hours. I decided to try over-the-counter Melatonin capsules, and that works like a charm. No rude premature awakening anymore! The only problem is, I am a bit groggy when the alarm goes off, but that lasts just a few minutes.

-Damfino

A lot of that depends on age. As we age, typically we need less sleep to function well.

There are a lot of sleep studies. Check into them. It is recommended that we shoot for 8 hrs of good sleep.

Life often intervenes against that. :)

The quality of your sleep is as important and the duration. Vivid dreams can make you more exhausted than no sleep, and interruptions to your sleep are to be avoided. Light sleepers need more and heavy sleepers need less.

During the week I get about 4hrs or so a night. On the weekends I get about 10hrs a night. Even with the 10hrs on the weekends I still have to take 1 or 2 naps on Sat. or Sun.

When I come home from work in the evenings it’s a constant battle to try and not lie down on the couch and take a nap but I generally lose that battle and end up taking a one or two hour nap.

I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome a few years ago and I’m guessing that has a lot to do with my sleep troubles and the constant tired feeling I always have.

I think most doctors recommend 8 hours of sleep, but I think that is just to ensure that you get two full sleep cycles in. If you sleep cycle is less than 4 hours you can probably get away with less sleep.

Personally, I notice a significant difference in energy level and mental capacity if I get less than 7 hours of sleep as apposed to my normal 8.

I have personally noticed when I am consistent with my eating 6-7 meals a day I need less sleep. I am thinking this is due to my metabolism running optimally, when we starve ourselves and our thyroids turns down our metabolisms to conserve energy it makes you tired and I will sleep up to 12 hours when I am going through one of my moods where I starve myself.

That is kinda on your subject right? lol

You can never know how much sleep you need even different days you will have a slightly different amount needed. You should take the time to sleep naturally and wake naturally learn how many hours you sleep on average and then start going to bed early enough to wake when you need to. This is easy for me to do since I live alone and have nowhere to be but could be tricky if you need to be somewhere or live with someone that may disturb your sleep.

I will give you a tip that not many people know, if you want to boost your testosterone hardcore, get some sun light on your bare skin often.

I sleep when I’m tired and works great. I get throughout a day about 8 hours of sleep. I’m a big fan of half hour naps. I workout twice a day at 5am and at 4pm when I get home from work. I always feel wired and I never have soda or caffein or any pep type pills.

Lots of interesting stuff in this thread. So far it seems like everyone needs/would like 7-8 hours.

4 hours a night is nothing. No wonder you are diagnosed with CFS and are constantly tired?

Does your schedule not allow for anything more?

I used to sleep less in the past because I wanted to get more hours out of the day, but then I found that it did not matter because I was walking around like a zombie and did not do anything with the hours I got anyway.

I watched a program on the Science channel that discussed the body throughout the day, and broke down the body on an hour-by-hour basis. One thing it mentions were people’s body clocks. Some people’s body clocks are faster than a 24-hour cycle and they can get by with less sleep than those with body clock’s slower than a 24-hour cycle.

Also, the body is designed for sleeping twice in a day, not once. The program suggests the person wakes up around 6am or 7 am, and will become tired around 2pm or 3pm and should take a nap. Also, the program suggested the body can handle alcohol better at 5pm than any other time of the day.

I usually sleep 6-8 hours a night. I usually come home at 530 pm and take a nap until 8pm.

However much you need to feel well-rested and well-functioning. Scientific studies on “ideal sleep” are all extremely messy epidemiological/correlational affairs, so I think you should just do what works well for you and not worry about the science until it’s better developed.

I can say with certainty, however, that a man needs only six feet of land ;)