Expert Says You're Deluding Yourself If You Think You're Productive On Six Hours of Sleep (chicagotribune.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Chicago Tribune: Getting through the workday on little sleep is a point of pride for some. But skimping on shuteye could be shortening your life and making you a less than stellar employee, according to Matthew Walker, founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. "Underslept employees tend to create fewer novel solutions to problems, they're less productive in their work and they take on easier challenges at work," said Walker, author of "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams," out Tuesday. Operating on short sleep -- anything less than seven hours -- impairs a host of brain and bodily functions, said Walker, who is also a professor of neuroscience and psychology. It increases your risk for heart attack, cancer and stroke, compromises your immune system and makes you emotionally irrational, less charismatic and more prone to lying. When asked, "What do you say to people who sacrifice sleep to work?" Walker said: "I often ask the question in return, 'Is the reason you've still got so much to do because you haven't gotten enough sleep and so you're inefficient while you're working?' We know that efficiency and effectiveness are increased when you're getting sufficient sleep and it will take you longer to do the same thing on an under-slept brain, which means you end up having to stay awake longer. So goes the vicious cycle."

Comments

In all fairness....

[Vermonter]

I'm no more productive with 8 hours of sleep than I am with 6.

Re:In all fairness....

[TheRaven64]

There's a lot of wiggle room in that phrase. The first is the 'well regulated' part. At the time the constitution was written, 'regulated' meant more or less the same as 'efficient' (as in, a well-regulated machine is one that runs well). The second is that most militias were fairly informal in times of peace and were, often, more of a deterrent than an actual force. Native tribes would be less inclined to attack if everyone in a town owned a gun, and the fledgeling Federal government would be less inclined to send representatives to try to enforce overbearing laws if they'd run into an armed militia (even in theory).

That said, if you want to reduce gun ownership in the USA, then the easiest (and completely legal) tactic would be to class all gun owners as members of a militia and call them up at random to fight in whatever foreign wars are going on at any given time. I bet gun ownership would drop off pretty quickly if people realised that owning a gun meant that they might actually have to be somewhere that people would shoot at them...

Wow, that's clueless with the power of an Ox

[rsilvergun]

the folks I know losing sleep to work are doing it because the wage stagnation that started in the 80s and's been going strong since decimated their wages so that they work two jobs to make ends meet. Even the folks who don't have two jobs put in extra hours in a desperate bid to move up because companies stopped giving cost of living raises in the mid 2000s.

Sure, the extra work they do might not be the best but good enough is always good enough. People are losing sleep because they're being taken advantage of and made to work longer hours. As an added benefit if you're doing the work of 1.5 employees that's less people your company has to hire, meaning more competition for your job, driving your wages down further and leading to you working harder. See where this thing's going?

Experts say

[JohnFen]

Experts actually say that if you think everybody requires the same number of hours of sleep, you're deluding yourself.

Re:I like being more productive

[Anonymous Coward]

Especially with the current traffic. I need to be at work at 8 in the morning. But to arrive at 8, I've to leave at 5:30 which means I've to get up at 4:45-5:00.

If I could start at 10 in the morning, I would only drive 45 minutes and could leave home at 9 and could sleep until 8:15. I wouldn't even need an alarm clock because I wake up around 7:00. This would mean I could even go out for a walk, or do some exercises. I could spent some family time and even bring my children to school.

But nope, 8:00 is set in stone. And all bosses think like this, which is why the traffic is so dense before 8:00 and why people spend more and more time in their car.

The consequences would be worse

[Anonymous Coward]

Not getting 8 hours sleep a night has nothing to do with work. It has to do with having a life outside work. In order to get 8 hours sleep a night I'd have to be in bed by 7:30pm and asleep by 8:00pm, because I get up at 4:00am, do physical training for a competitive sport, then go to work by 8:30am. If I make no stops on the way home from work I'm home at 5:30pm. 2.5 hours is damned little time during a weekday to get things done you need to get done at home to prepare for the next day. I can't give up training, and I certainly can't afford anything without working. Even if I gave up my training I'm supposed to call 'work, eat, sleep, repeat' a life? That'd kill me faster than getting 6 hours sleep a night (plus a short nap at lunchtime). It's all well-and-good for some researcher to waggle a finger at everyone and tell them "You're going to DIE, SOON, if you don't get 8 hours sleep a night every night!", but it's not realistic unless you're either independently wealthy and don't have to work, or are so dull that work/sleep/eat/repeat is somehow enough for you.

Re:I like being more productive

[sexconker]

I like how the "9-5" job standard is actually "8-5" now.

A few decades ago it really was 9-5. And on that a regular Joe could afford a house, a car or two, a spouse who stayed at home, 2-3 kids, a dog, and retirement.

Reagan was a terrible president

[rsilvergun]

a momentary blip in oil production shouldn't have caused 50 years of declining wages. Trickle down economics did. Here's a good list of reasons Reagan stunk on ice. And yes, I'm aware Clinton carried on Reagan's legacy to win the presidency. I never said I liked him either. A Republican's a Republican. Even with a D next to their name.

So what do I do?

[Ol Olsoc]

I've always slept arounf 5 hours a night, unless I was sick - which happens about once every 5 years.

I go to bed, fall asleep, and then 5 hours later I wake up feeling refreshed and rested. So should I drug myself in order to get the "correct" and healthy amount of sleep? Or do I go to a doctor and tell him that some expert told me I was killing myself. so I need treated for insomnia. I really don't want to just lie in bed for three extra hours.

I call Bullshit. I know what I feel like when I'm tired, I know what I feel like when I have had enough sleep.

Re:I like being more productive

[houghi]

And here I am in communist Belgium with their stupid Unions. Where I work the IT SCRUM meeting is at 10 and you need to be there. Some start a lot earlier, so they can go home earlier. Some start at 10, and they walk right into the meeting.

Other departments will have flexible hours as well from 7:30-10 to start. Depends a bit on the department how flexible they can be. Some are extremely flexible, others are not flexible at all. e.g. call center is not flexible as there needs t be a predictable amount of persons available. Legal wants to start early and leave early, so they start at 8. I prefer to work late, so my hours are:
10-14 15-18:30, yes an hour lunch, so I can go and eat in peace and quiet. During my 15 minute break in the morning and the afternoon I do a bit of /.

Downside is that I have no idea what to do with my 35 paid holidays. I am also forced to use metric and can't take a gun to work.

Traffic? Company pais my public transport, so I am 50 minutes door to door of wich 30 minutes is a train that is not full at all (because I start later) and the rest is walking to/from the train.

Re:I like being more productive

[houghi]

This is how it is in Belgium and my hours:
10-14 and 15-18:30
Those are mu working hours and what the company pays. The hour lunch, they do not pay and I leave and do nothing for the company. Some people will have 30 minutes lunch (minimal amount by law) and a few more. So lunch is never company time.

We sometimes have a lunch meeting (2 times a year) and I could officially still take my hour break, but I do not want to be an asshole and the sandwiches they bring are nice. As long as it is an exception, nobody has an issue with it.

The 15 minute break in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon are paid by the company and you can do what you want. Many will vape or some or just stand outside or do some personal surfing. This is paid company time.

My travel time is also 2 hours per day. That is about average, yet some will go to 4+ hours. I have plenty of time to go out with friends during the week and go to a nice restaurant or have a few beers. Weekends are free. But most of the time it is: coming home, prepare some food and do some online stuff or reading.

However I do not do that 52 weeks per year, 40 years in a row. I have 35 paid holidays and that makes a HUGE difference. That is 7 weeks per year or more than 1 week per 2 months. I HAD to take some holidays, otherwise I would lose them and pay so much taxes on top of taxes that I would be working for free. So going to Spain for 10 days in November.

What happens if 2 people can't do their job in 40 hours, but it should be 60? That is 120/40=3 people doing their job.

Disadvantage is that the CEO does not earn 300x as much as I do. Terrible, I know. He gets perhaps only 10 times as much. Poor guy.