[evilmushroom]

I have never slept well my entire life. 4-6 hours a night is my average. It doesn't seem to impact me... I have always felt great, and I have always coded on complicated things without issue.

There has to be a ratio difference for people.

[Jtsummers]

Sleeping little != sleeping poorly. I only sleep 5-6 hours in a normal night. But usually very restful (not fitful or waking up a lot) hours.

[alphydan]

I second this statement. I did polyphasic sleep for months with a very rigorous schedule, sleeping 4.5h/day, eating well, doing exercise, coding a lot, learning lots with great retention. After the adaptation period I felt great.

Otherwise, I usually sleep 7h - 8h, and that's restful. However, I once had to endure 2 months of pain, waking up every 1h - 3h and having to walk around at night. In total, I slept 7h - 7h30 ... but felt extremely tired, I had trouble remembering words, had no energy, was confused, and found it hard to think ...

[clessg]

Same here. In fact, when I sleep for 8-9 hours, I am profoundly less sharp and productive.

That said, I'm only 20, and I don't want to wreak havoc on my future health. Difficult stuff.

[anarazel]

Similar here. These days I usually sleep around 6 hours (used to be 5.15ish). If I sleep longer repeatedly I start to get migraine like headaches. Weird, but at some point I decided it's not worth worrying about.

[funkyy]

Have a large glass of water before sleep (real water, no soda or juice). A lot of issues and tiredness after long sleep is caused by dehydration.

[clessg]

Sadly I don't think that's the case for me. I drink too much water if anything.

[thewhitetulip]

yes, even I have observed this to be a phenomenon, I have seen people who sleep barely few hours a day but they are energetic and can solve tough problems and stuff like that.

[usaphp]

do you sleep during the day? When you sleep 4 hours for couple days straight do you wake up easily with no fuzzy head or anything like that?