Comments on: Should You Go to Sleep an Hour Earlier?

By: Susheel

Susheel — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 04:08:15 +0000

Hi John,

This is an excellent topic. I have been thinking about this aspect of my life for quite some time.

I think, two very general rules could be:

> Going to bed as early as you can – 9 pm to 10 pm seems good.

> Sleeping about 7 – 8 hours.

Of course, people vary a lot in this and so it is best to respect your unique personality and feel your own body-rhythms. I have noticed that I start feeling sleepy after 9 pm. If I allow myself to sleep soon after that, I fall asleep effortlessly. And I feel better, lighter, fresher the next morning.

However, many times I force myself to stay awake for hours, even though the body has started sending those initial signals. And when I do that, I do feel sluggish, heavier and not-so-fresh the next day.

So listening to your body seems to me the best way to decide when and how much to sleep.

Thanks for the thought-stimulating post. 🙂

Susheel.

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By: Egmante

Egmante — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 06:10:09 +0000

I definitely have this problem. I plan to go to sleep and then spend a lot of time on twitter or work or Facebook.

By: Pau

Pau — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 20:36:07 +0000

Hi John! I would definitely like to go to bed earlier. It is a tad difficult at the time because of my girlfriend’s work shifts, but we are usually in bed around 10pm.

I have heard that every hour you sleep before midnight counts as two, and I have experienced there is some truth to this. Even if I sleep the same amount of hours, going to bed at 9pm instead of 10pm makes a big difference in how refreshed I feel in the morning. I think it has to do with hormones, we rest and heal much more efficiently that way.

Once my girlfriend and I can, we want to start going to bed some time between 8 and 9.

By: Ally

Ally — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 14:53:22 +0000

I definately have this problem. I plan to go to sleep and then spend a lot of time on facebook or work.

By: Sander

Sander — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:44:26 +0000

Great tips and definitely worth it. I always need at least 7 hours of sleep to be productive.

Nowadays my smartphone and tablet keeps me awake though…

By: Ragnar

Ragnar — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 00:31:59 +0000

I actually wrote a post about improving on your time investing a while back, and sleeping more was one of the ideas that I probably should have emphasized a little more.

There are an overwhelming amount of little things you can do to improve your daily life, and this is definitely a solid idea. I especially appreciate the concept of getting an extra hour to work, taking into consideration that it’s easy to lose focus towards the end of the day.

By: Arbaz K

Arbaz K — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 13:42:06 +0000

Hey John,
Right Now I am able to pull up around 8 hours of sleep in a day. Going to bed at 11 and rising at 7 gives me a good night sleep and a refreshing morning.
Though I am planning on getting to bed more early to get more time to sleep 😉

By: Mitch

Mitch — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 12:50:58 +0000

I wish i could go to sleep earlier, even if my schedule sometimes allows it, i’ve tried it on countless attempts but i just cannot fall asleep,
i would turn and turn in bed and i just can’t sleep!
some people are just lucky, the sec they place their heads on the pillow they fall asleep, i cannot do that, even if i’m tired i need at least about 30 mins in bed so i could fall asleep.
maybe they should make tutorials how to fall asleep faster or something !:P
Many thanks and Best wishes!

By: John Soares

John Soares — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:02:43 +0000

In reply to Jeevan Jacob John. Jeevan, it sounds like you have a good system. What is important is what you do with your time in the evening before bed. If it is watching hours of mindless television it's better to just turn the television off and go to sleep earlier. But if you're doing something useful or important in your life (and this includes appropriate amounts of down time and relaxation), it's fine to stay up 'til midnight and get up at 7.