how much sleep do you get per night?

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pinkzebra

pinkzebra

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we all seem to be juggling so much here - full-time jobs, post-baccs, MCAT prep, volunteer work, kids/spouse.

how much sleep do you get, on average?

for me, it's about 6-7 hours depending on what i have to do that night.

i find that if i get TOO much sleep (nine hours or more, like on a weekend) im actually more tired than i am with just six.
 
pinkzebra said:
we all seem to be juggling so much here - full-time jobs, post-baccs, MCAT prep, volunteer work, kids/spouse.

how much sleep do you get, on average?

for me, it's about 6-7 hours depending on what i have to do that night.

i find that if i get TOO much sleep (nine hours or more, like on a weekend) im actually more tired than i am with just six.
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6 Hours per night except on the weekend where I sleep 10 hours a night.
Between taking 8 hours of sciences, prepping for the MCAT, working 50 hours a week, shadowing and volunteering that is about all I can handle.
 
up until this semester probably 5 hours a night, less before exams. This semester there is much less stress in my courses and I sleep probably 7 hours, anymore and I'm worthless the next day.
 
I am trying to get 6 hours a night. My MCAT is in about 5 weeks, so I am keeping the studying at a break-neck pace. I WAS studying 10pm-2am, then I switched to 5am-7am (and tried to make up the extra 2 hours in the evenings). Now I realize that I have to go back to night studying, so yeah, I sleep from about 2am to 7am, then off to work, then volunteering, then Kaplan class, then dinner, then spend 97 minutes with my SO, then study. Craziness. I feel like a resident already...
 
4-6 longer on certain weekends, 26 credit hours + clinic + Mcat studying eep. All i want to do is sleep.
 
6-7 hours usually, even when I was taking classes. I delayed my MCAT until after finishing my prereqs (delaying my application cycle in turn) because I didn't want to over-burden myself.
 
I'm lucky if I get five hours most times; but I do a lot of shift rotation. Sometimes I don't know what day it is. And more recently my time at the track and all exercising has been on hold. . .and that's going to hit my health if I don't get it together with my schedule soon. On top of that my schools does the quarter hour system, so the terms keep my spinning as well.

I just wish the spring would get here already, cause I'm sick of the freaking snow. If you have to work, you really can't enjoy it.
 
pinkzebra said:
we all seem to be juggling so much here - full-time jobs, post-baccs, MCAT prep, volunteer work, kids/spouse.

how much sleep do you get, on average?

for me, it's about 6-7 hours depending on what i have to do that night.

i find that if i get TOO much sleep (nine hours or more, like on a weekend) im actually more tired than i am with just six.
Click to expand...
Seven hours on non-call days. Zero hours on call days.
 
6-1/2 to 8.

7-1/2 is the sweet spot. Any more and I feel a little groggy. Any less and I want a nap around 3 p.m.

Two days a week I get up at 7 am, work til 1, study for prereqs or MCAT til class starts at 6 pm, get home by 9. Eat dinner, chill with roommates and watch TV for an hour, then study til midnight.

On other week days I still get up at 7 but I study til noon when I go to class. At 4 pm I take a dinner break and review a little until MCAT class starts at 6. Home by 9 and same routine, unless I go out with a friend for a beer or two.

Basically I let myself do what I want from 9-11 p.m. If I had a spouse or boyfriend, I'd probably spend it with that person.

On Fridays I work, volunteer and than take the night off. Weekends are a study marathon, but I will take Saturday night off too if I can find something fun to do.
 
Per night? 0 hours.

Alas, such is the peril for night shift workers. However, I am in bed between 8:30-9 a.m. and up at 4:30 p.m. every day.

Your body needs 7-9 hrs of sleep. There is a very clear difference in memory recall for those who sleep less. The "second sleep" period is necessary to get sufficient REM.

Trust me; I'm a sleep-tech-who-will-shortly-be-a-doctor.
 
5 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends - since I am studying for the MCAT now.

After March, I will at least add a couple of extra hours of sleep.
 
I've been completely taking off all activities including work to study for the DAT, so I've been getting 7-9 hours a day. I think that's quite helpful when trying to retain large amounts of information. Of course this is the ideal situation, not always the one available.
 
7 hours.

I think that number has been key for me while I studied for the MCAT. Too much=tired. Too little=fatigued after a few hours of studying..
 
In a perfect world, I sleep 8 hours, but alas the world is not perfect. I word night so I sleep during the day and even on the nights I am not at work I am usually up til about 4 studying for the MCAT...I am lucky to have a job that when I am not busy, I can study at work, which frees up time for other things when I get home. However, even on the nights I don't pull out a book, I still study 2-3 hours before pulling the covers over my head, and that drops my sleep time to about 6 hours...
 
For about 4 years I slept about 3-4 hours a night, but for the past few years I've been forcing myself into a more regular sleeping pattern of about 6 hours. I don't really like sleeping, which my husband doesn't understand at all. I swear he'd sleep 20 hours a day if he could 😉
 
I would say it averages out to 6 hours, but it's usually two 3-hour naps. I work 3rd shift, so I have to sleep during the day, getting a few hours here and there between classes. I try to catch up on sleep on my days off of work but a lot of the time I have trouble sleeping because all I can think about is how I should really be studying or doing laundry or spending time with my husband/kids. Last semester I cashed in some of my vacation days so that I wouldn't have to work the week before finals and that was a lifesaver. If anyone is working full time and has paid time off, I would highly recommend using it to buy yourself some extra time to study (and sleep!).
 
How do you guys adjust to the unexpected? If you had to stay up late do you try to catch up the following night
 
8-9 hours baby! Gonna live it up till med school starts in the Fall...🙁
 
I got 3 last night. My kid was up coughing and throwing tantrums till the wee morning light.
 
Anywhere between 5-7 hours on weeknights. Weekends are a totally different story - I can sleep 12 hours if I go unchecked!
 
6-7 hrs most days, up to 8 hrs on the weekends. I usually can't sleep more than 8 hrs.
 
Up until Christmas I was working 40 hrs/week and taking physics and doing MCAT study so I was getting @5 hours/night.

Ironically, now that I have quit work to focus on MCAT and Physics, I am getting more sleep than ever (8 hours) and am more tired and less motivated than I was before! After reading the posts above, I am thinking it might be TOO much sleep for me. Perhaps I should try scaling back.

Strange how it is sometimes more difficult to get things done when you have more time to do them!
 
I've always required alot of sleep. For the past few years I had been 'getting by' on six hours of sleep. But as part of a new effort to take better care of myself I get about 7-8 hours nightly.

Of course, other than my workout breaks and an occasional happy hour, I have no life outside of school and volunteer work.... and sleeping 🙂
 
I'm at the standard 5-6 hours per night. With 5 boys, and my full time school schedule, I'm working hard to get that much lately.
 
I get 5 hours most weekdays, and a good 7 on the weekends. I do fine on 7 though.

13 credits (10 are bio/physics) and working 45 hours a week. Plus a weekend class for my EMT recert...

I'm less concerned about the sleep, I just wish I had more time to actually study well.
 
I force myself to get 7.5-8 hours, no matter what. I don't have children, but am working full-time and going to college. I just don't feel well without that amount of sleep and I figure it's helping my body in the long run.
 
sleep....we sleep?!?!?!?!?! 😴😴

honestly i would say i am about 6 hours a night most nights......
 
ShoTyme said:
I'm at the standard 5-6 hours per night. With 5 boys, and my full time school schedule, I'm working hard to get that much lately.
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I'm down to 3.5 this week and I'm fried. Really. I'm starting to lose it. I'm even dreaming about naming organic compounds so that when I wake up, I feel like I've been studying all night 🙁 Time for another Red Bull.
 
7-8 during teh weekdays, up to 9 on weekends, except when I have Saturday lab, then it's down to 7.
 
8 hours a night. I prefer 9, but we all have to make sacrifices. 😛
 
Sleep as much as you can before residency 😀
 
During M1/M2 I actually got a lot of sleep. 8-9hrs if I wanted it, even during exam weeks.
This year during M3. 2-5hrs is what I've been getting. If I get 6 I'm on cloud 9. I've got a 2 year old & a 2 month old so sleep isn't really forthcoming on weekends. Oddly enough the times I've gotten the most sleep is post-call because my wife usually takes mercy on me and tries to let me sleep. Unfortunately, post-call sleep is never really all that rejuvenating.

I never thought I'd be so grateful every time I'm allowed to "sleep-in" past 5am...
 
It ranges, but typically 4-8 hours. Tonight/today, zero so far. Woke up 10/3 at 5am... here it is, 10/4 2:45am. Class in a few hours, then a small break and another class, then another small break followed by another class. So today is looking like a no-go on sleep.
 
Since I'm not starting school until January, I typically get 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Sleep by ~'9pm wake up at 4:45am. (this is one of those nights where I'll probably get significantly less). I can easily sleep more on weekends 😀 Undergrad with a small child was an entirely different story. Postbac with a teenaged child will also be a different story. Although it'll be more enjoyable since we can study together.👍
:laugh:
 
I believe the reason you feel more tired when you sleep longer is because you woke up during the "wrong" stage of the sleep cycle. I believe if you wake up during the first or second stages, you feel more refreshed. Thats why power naps "feel" as if you slept a long time. Waking up in the later stages is when you feel the worst. Truth is though, your brain is still exhausted. The key is going through REM sleep, aka the 5th stage (also the deep sleep). I think optimal is going through REM sleep twice. And I believe it can take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours to reach this stage of sleep, depending on the person.. So it usually adds up to about 6-8 hours.

So I believe waking up within the first 45 mins, or the last 45 mins of sleep cycle is optimal (again, one sleep cycle is about 2 hours).

Theres more to it, but I completely forgot the rest. It's been a long time since I actually learned this stuff.. so I may be off. I believe this information is somewhat accurate. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I have been awake for 24 hours. Histology midterm in 1 hour.

I plan on sleeping for 12 hours afterward 🙄
 
Morsetlis said:
I have been awake for 24 hours. Histology midterm in 1 hour.

I plan on sleeping for 12 hours afterward 🙄
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Good luck!

That sounds like a bad idea, though >_<. Your brain is firing on fewer and fewer cylinders past like 20 hours awake.
 
I am not in med school yet, but I currently go to sleep around 1130-midnight and wake up at 0500 in the morning.

I am doing my junior/senior year of undergrad school at the same time (fast tracking to finish before the hubby gets his honorable discharge) prepping for MCATS, attending 2 colleges at the same time because my primary school does not have all of the science classes I need for med school, running an in home daycare business for military kids and everything else that being a mother/wife entails. I am busy.😀

I don't need a lot of sleep to function, my circadian clock has been set to 5 hours for a long time. I usually get in one day of good sleep on sundays since the hubby gets up with the munchkin that day.

I like my schedule though. I function better when I feel a sense of challenge. I drink a lot of coffee as well..coffee is your friend...buy yourself a nice,sexy coffee pot and use delightfully flavored coffee.
 
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