If you have 4 or 5 hours sleep regularly, how well do you function the next day?

[IComeLastInAllTheRaces]

I'm wondering this and trying to work out what is simple tiredness, and what is caused by my chronic illnesses or other stuff. I mean, in one way they are entangled completely but to see what other people are like.

After sleeping from 1am to 6am last night, I did my volunteer shift at a food bank and I've honestly been so wiped out for the rest of the day. It is just 2.5 hours long and making sandwiches, so standing up which I do find difficult so I get that but it feels COMPLETELY pathetic. I stayed an extra 15 mins to finish what I was doing.

My brain is completely blank. I cannot think properly in terms of organising or problem solving or tackling tasks - it's just a stream of consciousness of thoughts floating by. So, it's kind of easy to write this post because it's not mentally taxing, but I can't do anything productive that requires thinking through steps. I know I need to do stuff but it's so overwhelming. I l did lie down for half an hour but didn't sleep, as trying to get to bed at 10.30pm after I take last medication. Hoping to get a longer block of sleep tonight.

How do you feel energy wise if say half your week you are on 4 or 5 hours sleep? I shouldn't be this useless should I?

My ferritin and folate are really low and wondering if this is partly why.

I get 3-5 mist nights. I do not function well ,some days I look like crap as well.
It's soul destroying.

I don't think she's doing it on purpose? It's a killer.

I regularly manage on that, often less. It is unusual for me to have more than 6 hours. My Mum and brother are the same. I am used to it now. I function well enough when I am doing things but when I stop and rest I feel so tired I feel I could sleep. I try not to though as even a 10 minute nap would mean little to no sleep that night. I do have tablets to help but I don’t take them often as they make me a bit groggy and I don’t want to rely on them.

I have been getting about 5 hours sleep a night (mostly broken sleep) for the past 4.5 years since DS was born. DD was also born around the time his sleep got better so sleep has always been an issue.

Honestly, it's shit but my body is used to it. I'm grumpy all the time, eat crap and generally feel quite miserable. Unfortunately DD likes to wake up screaming her head off at 4:45am and nothing I have done for the past year has been able to change it.

I know I should go to bed earlier but I just can't. I'm either working late or need to sort the house out or just want a bit of time to myself.

I can function but I run off caffeine, sugar and adrenaline.

That's my normal and has been for years. Although some nights, I might get 6 hours. Not that it makes a difference to how I feel, with so many nights with even shittier sleep.

I am mostly used to it, but some days are harder than others. I always feel tired, and a bit run down. I can become a bit muddled when I am also feeling stressed or anxious.

Today has not been great. I have functioned but I've felt quite lightheaded.

I know by the end of the working week I feel more tired, which increases my anxiety, but thankfully I have a short day on Friday and don't book much in at work to help me manage that.

I imagine my mental health would be so much better if I slept more.

I function pretty well, but I'm not too sure what it feels like to feel completely rested. I do sleep in on the weekend (if my grandson doesn't wake me up early by crying), but it never feels enough to make me not feel tired.

I regularly get by on 4 to 5 hours (mid 40s, youngest child is 4 and a horrible sleeper plus I have mental health issues) and I'm fine. Got roughly 5 hours last night. Was out from 9am til 9pm today. Plenty of energy. Definitely have a caffeine addiction though. Would like to sleep more but without proper sleeping pills I can't.

I can function but not well. Five hours is ok, four and I would be seriously struggling. I usually get about six, preferably more like seven.

I sleep for around 5 hours each night and I manage. I’ve always been someone that manages on little sleep. I have 3 kids and I work FT so I often stay up until midnight or 1am, just to have some quality time with my husband. We really enjoy our evenings together. Sometimes we read, sometimes we chat, sometimes we watch a bit of telly. The next day I function okay. My husband sleeps in until almost 9, because he needs it more than me (and works from home). He does all the dinner and bedtimes at the other end of the day.

5 hours is okay. I understand from talking to others that most find this not enough. I don’t think you’re unusual.

I don’t function very well!

When I work from home I can have a nap in my lunch break and then I function fine in the afternoon.

I skin problem that makes it hard for me to sleep

I regularly do this, due to anxiety & watching films late 😳

But, I don't have kids to tend to so can nap whenever I want, & I only work part-time for a few reasons so have- generally- a lovely, quiet, easy life so probably don't need as much sleep as someone with kids who works full-time tbh.

We have twins and a single all under 3 I would love 4 hours unbroken sleep haha

I've spent the past 14 months on 4/5 hours of sleep. I've got insomnia and I've had a baby, with the sleep initiation insomnia, I was alright because the days where I was wiped out, I'd eventually sleep and really make up for the amount of sleep I'd lost if I needed to.
No such luck with the babu who doesn't really sleep.

In those 14 months, I've gone from someone who's alert, it feels like my brains fried.
My memory is absolutely shot.
I'm hungry like a bear. I swear my body is looking for energy to make up for the loss of sleep and my MH is affected.

It's fine for a few days but much longer than that and it really wears you down. It's not enough long term

I've always had no more than 4-5 hours of broken sleep.
I thought having kids would tire me out enough to sleep more but I'm sleeping even less. I went to sleep around 2am and was awake before 4am today.

I have no energy, feel generally unwell most of the time, am short tempered with the kids and since returning to work full time after maternity leave I find my stressful busy job wipes me out. I'm very negative and pissed off at everything all the time.

It worries me that sleep only gets worse as we age and also through menopause/peri.

I need a good 8 hours but I function better on 9 hours.

In reality when I don't get the sleep my body needs I really don't function well at all and I spend the days feeling ill I am so tired. I happily go without evening time to myself just to try and get all the sleep I can.

Even on 8 or 9 hours sleep if I have a busy day I feel completely wiped out at the end of it. I would still struggle to get up and make food and everything else that needs doing.

I wish I could survive better on little sleep. Little sleep also triggers my migraines off amongst other things.

I'm just getting up after being awake for the last hour and a half and I probably average between 4-6 hours most nights. I was broken by one of my dc who slept it 45 mins cycles. It got to the point I was hallucinating although I don't have that anymore.

I'm fine out of the house and then I get home and just slump. I don't feel productive and I don't think my family get the best of me. I feel like I waste a lot of time. Like this morning. I should have got up - I was awake but I just couldn't face it.

I need to get some sleeping pills and try to reset but I've always been afraid of not waking up for the children. I'm going to do it on my next holidays though. I also will have a new job later in the year which I'm hoping will help as I have the dread driving into work all the time.

Sympathies to anyone missing sleep whatever the reason is. It's horrible.

I regularly get only 4-5 hours sleep (4 last night). I function fine as I'm used to it and have to with working full time. However it does mean that I tend to crave carbs and sugar throughout the day so is detrimental to my general diet/health.

4 or 5 hours is not enough and will make you feel like complete shit. Even 7 hours makes most people feel crappy. If my son wakes up three nights in a row, I am absolutely destroyed for about 2/3 days whilst I catch up. Don’t underestimate how bad for your body lack of sleep is!! X

I managed to catch up on the weekends. I sleep too little during the week 4-6h and feel tired but it's fine in general. I have some red bull and do the work. Then sleep in 10h during the weekend

It's the amount of sleep I get, and I function just fine on it. I don't tend to feel tired until about midnight, and then go to bed at 1am. Usually wake up between 5 and 6 am and am on the go all day.
Tbh I think this is probably more unusual than feeling shattered and needing more sleep.

Minus the grandson bit, I could have written this word for word. I’ve never slept well. You get used to it, up to a point, but I don’t know what it’s like to not feel tired. I also have a chronic illness which complicates things, adds to the insomnia and exacerbates the fatigue.

I've always been a 9 hour a night woman. But my first kid 4.5 years ago was horrific, slept in 45 minute slots and then screamed for 2 hours, then another 45 minute sleep, for the first year (there were health issues). He's much better now although still waking. Add that to the breastfed 16 mo and I'm still only getting 5-8 hours of broken sleep, every night.

It's horrific at first, nausea, confusion, dizziness. Now it's kind of normal for me, to the extent that my only issues are a kind of long term mild exhaustion and lack of memory. Oh and weight gain of course. I snack when I'm up that regularly in the night. I have a full time job which fortunately doesn't require me to retain any information and I use a lot of lists. I used to have insomnia and take hours to go to sleep - now I can literally close my eyes and I'm gone!

I know some people who do and then wonder why they are tired.

So I don't actually struggle- have regularly had 2.5-3hrs sleep since LG was born. I feel worse once I have had a good night's sleep. I can have 3hrs be up at 2am and function though till 8/9pm the following night including lots of difficult decisions at work (nhs worker). But 9hrs the following night and I struggle to function the following day... its weird....