To sleep 5-6 hours a night?

[hopsalong]

OK, maybe it's not unreasonable. But I've spent much of my adult life conceiving of myself as a 'poor sleeper'. I have spent years of my life attempting relaxing bed-time routines and/or taking mild sleeping aids but still taking an hour to fall asleep. Also (not usually the same day!) lying awake grimly from 5am waiting for it to get like. As a child in primary school I used to go to bed at 8, lights out 8:30, and not only did I always hear the 9 o'clock news come on, but often the 10 o'clock too.

Have always aimed to get about 7.5- 8 hours of sleep a night. When I was younger I usually managed it, at one end or the other. I'm now 44, and it's harder than ever.

But... It occurred to me last week, after five days of going to bed at 1am (work) and getting up at 6:30am (work), that I wasn't tired. At all. In fact, I had been sleeping well, falling asleep within 10 mins, waking just before my alarm.

Definitely am not one of those legendary (Margaret Thatcher!) four-hour sleepers. But wondering if anyone has decided, maybe in mid-life, that they are a short sleeper and gone with it? Am I increasing my likelihood of heart disease / dementia / depression / something else?

I think trying to get to sleep when you can't I'd far more stressful than accepting you only need 5/6 hours.

Yep, just accept you don’t need as much sleep. Keep going till you’re tired then sleep. When you wake, get up and do something. You’ll then be tired in the evening and want to sleep, then the cycle keeps going.
I’m happier on 5-6 hours sleep.

I believe 7-8 hours is best for an adult. You're getting 5-6 uninterrupted hours, which seems to be enough for you. I get between 5-7 hours, mostly uninterrupted sleep, and feel OK on that. To be honest, I don't actually want to sleep more than that and have recently found myself resisting sleep - not sure why, it might be an age thing?

I think that there's no point fighting sleep for hours and that every body is different. If you're not tired, I'd go for it.

Sorry to mention the name, but Maggie Thatch lived a fairly busy life and was known to only need 4 hrs sleep a night.
Embrace it and make use of the time.
I find I get loads (quietly) done between 5 and 6am and when the rest of house wakes up I am much more able to deal with the busy-ness. Especially with the lighter mornings.

After years of menopausal bad sleep I’ve found what works best for me is to stay up as late as possible, conk out and then get to as soon as I wake up. I enjoy having the house to myself early in the morning and this routine avoids the hours of laying in bed awake, I feel good. Every so often it catches up and I have to go to bed early and the whole bad cycle starts again. I then have a night out so I have to stay up and start the good pattern once again.

I don't talk much stock in how much xyz someone tells me we need. My body will tell me when I'm tired, thirsty, hungry etc...

If you well on 5-6 hours sleep then just go with it. If I have only 5 hours sleep I feel physically sick, headache, over emotional and heart palpitations. I think that is where the additional health stresses come in, not if you feel fine.

I've always needed a lot of sleep though, so the advent of 5 hours sleeps during menopause was a nightmare.

I need six solid hours, much better going to bed later when I'm actually tired. I think 8 hours is akin to the arbitrary 10000 steps.

For someone who is currently on only 2-3 hours per night, I can say it's not healthy. You are at a much higher risk of dementia and other diseases if you don't get enough sleep. Right now I'd kill for 5-6 hours!

Read Why we sleep by Matthew Walker. If you’re giving yourself the opportunity to sleep then it’s fine but chronic lack of sleep will put you at greater risk of lots of things.

You can't force yourself to sleep. If 5-6 hours is all you can get, and you feel okay, then it seems fine to me.
I have the opposite issue, due to depression and anxiety I sleep too much. I struggle to get up and often sleep 9-11 hours in a 24 hour period. Which is equally unhealthy and increases risks of various things. But it's difficult to change what your body naturally wants to do.

I sleep for 6 hours and wake up ready to face the day. Some people need more sleep than others. I've never worried about it.

How would you even force yourself to sleep for 7-8 hours if your body doesn't want to?

I'm certainly not of the Thatcher mould but I get 3-4 hours a night ☹️
I've just been inspired by @trulyunruly01 and I'm going to start getting up and don't things.

Ugh l feel awful on 6 hours. Gritty eyes and mouth, emotional, dehydrated, headache, achey all over. Horrible taste in mouth.

Im so jealous of those who can sleep for a few hours.

Your post mirrors my life, especially the being awake as a child. I think I'm best on 6-7 hours, if I do sleep longer on the weekend for example I feel rubbish all day.

As a pp said, I tend to follow my body and sleep 6-7 hours for a week or two then I'll need one early night, then go back to 6-7 hours until I feel the need for the next early night.

I come from a long line of "short sleepers". My mother slept 4-5 hours (lived into her late 80's with very few health issues), same for my older brother. My sister and I feel best at 5-6.

If you wake up feeling rested and refreshed and don't require a nap during the day (or lots of caffeine) then it isn't a problem. Sleep needs are very individual and can't be summarized by "everyone needs 7-8".

Well I feel like a slob, I need at least 8 hours, 9 hours is where I'm happy. 💤

If you're getting the sleep you need to feel well-rested then there's no issue whatsoever!

Now if you were getting 8-9 hours nightly and needing caffeine and naps to get thru the day, then that would be something to investigate further.

I think the problem can be that people take the "adults need 7-8 hours of sleep" as gospel and believe that anything that falls outside that must be abnormal or unhealthy.

On a planet with billions of people there are bound to be those that fall (happily!) outside a statistical "norm".