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Comment by y-c-o-m-b | Hacker News Reader

> Some people are early risers, wide awake at the crack of dawn. Others are night owls who can’t seem to get to bed until well after midnight and prefer to sleep in

I am neither one of those? I hate waking up early and I dislike going to bed late. My preferred hours awake are 8:00AM-10PM; I found this to give me the most optimal amount of physical and mental energy throughout the day. Not sure why 10 hours of sleep works best for me, but I've experimented with that number and always come back to it.

Side note: I do have sleep apnea and sleep with a CPAP, but my AHI is below 3 on average (down from 43 before treatment!).

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There might just be some people who need 10 hours, but I would still look at sleep quality issues. The CPAP thing sounds like a good step, but there could be other causes.

Do you wake up feeling well-rested? I know that when I used to always sleep 10 hours/night, I still wanted more sleep when I got up.

Somehow I managed to change that, though, and now I wake up after 6-6.5 hours. And I feel more well-rested than I did before after 10+ hours. I'm not completely sure of the reasons, as I wasn't seeking it out, but the timing correlates well with starting to exercise regularly. Finally getting a mattress that works for me might also be part of it.

At any rate, the main thing is that it happened. I didn't really know it would or could, which is why I didn't aim for it, but I'm glad it did. And I'd hope for the same for anyone else in a similar position. Sleep quantity only goes so far to make up for quality, and life is too short to be struggling to get proper rest.

> Do you wake up feeling well-rested?

Only after about 10 hours yes. I get by with 8 hours, but feel exhausted by around 8PM. Anything less than 8 hours makes me feel physically ill, irritable, and nauseous for most of the day. More than 10 hours makes me very sleepy. I told my sleep doctor about this, but she just shrugged and suggested some people need more sleep than others.

I'm the same way. 10-12 hours of sleep is optimal for me. I also have apnea.

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