Is it realistically possible to get 8 hrs of sleep most nights in med school?

[Astra]

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[ChrisMack390]

Years 1, 2, 4 - yes.

Year 3 - lol.

 

[eteshoe]

The real question is does one actually need 8 hrs of sleep?

My answer is no (5-6 works for me). Others will have different answers

 

[BamaNicole]

In my first two years, I averaged 7 hours of sleep a night. Some people needed less but that was my sweet spot.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

People actually get 8 hours a night? I can't remember the last time I consistently got that much.

Anyway, yes. It's highly possible to get 8 hours a night through most of med school.

 

[studentdocftw]

Yes, but if you can skate by with 7, why not try? See how you feel..that extra hour may seem like nothing, but over a 4 year period, it'll add up. You could allocate towards exercising, studying more, etc. Of course, if you feel like crap, opt for that extra hour.

 

[mimelim]

Yes, you can absolutely sleep 8 hours most nights in medical school in every single year.

Even on the busiest services in MS3, you will not be working more than 80 hours/week, unless you make yourself. The system is simply tending toward better protections for medical students and residents. A strong and very real argument can be made that it is shifting too far and ends up harming their education. But, you will not be forced or expected to ever work more than that. If you work 80 hours/week, you have 88 hours/week left over for the rest of your life. However, most services function such that you get a 24 hour block off, so really you work 80 hours in 6 days. So you have a 24 hour block off and 64 hours spread between 6 days off. That translates into 10.6 hours/day of time to get everything else done. Everything else includes, eating, sleeping, commuting, time with family, time with friends, physical activity, etc.

As with everything, it all comes down to priorities. Your time is precious. If you need/want 8 hours of sleep, it is absolutely attainable. But, you cut into your "everything else" time. That is the sacrifice you make by committing to the years of medical education and it is not to be taken lightly. The average American millennial (and the majority of non-millennial as well of course) balks at the idea of only having 4.5 hours of discretionary time available to them per day. Which is why the majority will not consider medical school or shouldn't consider medical school. Everything comes down to what you care about most and what you need.

Few rotations do students actually work 80 hours/week and unless you are planning for a career in a surgical discipline, it will only be for a few months at most in MS3. Otherwise, it will usually be much less.

 

[ewax]

definitely first and second year you can.

3rd year might be tougher to do on some services( surgery, ob), but on the chiller rotations like psych or fm you can def get 8+ hrs.

 

[jqueb29]

Can only speak for the first 2 years, but yes, you can.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Yes, you can absolutely sleep 8 hours most nights in medical school in every single year.

Even on the busiest services in MS3, you will not be working more than 80 hours/week, unless you make yourself. The system is simply tending toward better protections for medical students and residents. A strong and very real argument can be made that it is shifting too far and ends up harming their education. But, you will not be forced or expected to ever work more than that. If you work 80 hours/week, you have 88 hours/week left over for the rest of your life. However, most services function such that you get a 24 hour block off, so really you work 80 hours in 6 days. So you have a 24 hour block off and 64 hours spread between 6 days off. That translates into 10.6 hours/day of time to get everything else done. Everything else includes, eating, sleeping, commuting, time with family, time with friends, physical activity, etc.

As with everything, it all comes down to priorities. Your time is precious. If you need/want 8 hours of sleep, it is absolutely attainable. But, you cut into your "everything else" time. That is the sacrifice you make by committing to the years of medical education and it is not to be taken lightly. The average American millennial (and the majority of non-millennial as well of course) balks at the idea of only having 4.5 hours of discretionary time available to them per day. Which is why the majority will not consider medical school or shouldn't consider medical school. Everything comes down to what you care about most and what you need.

Few rotations do students actually work 80 hours/week and unless you are planning for a career in a surgical discipline, it will only be for a few months at most in MS3. Otherwise, it will usually be much less.

I've had a couple rotations where ive worked >80 hours per week

 

[markovchn123]

8 hours! I don't understand how anyone can sleep that long. I think 7 is ideal. 6 is manageable 5 is headaches all day. Anything below is just gonna be hard to function

 

[mimelim]

I've had a couple rotations where ive worked >80 hours per week

Oh, I know they exist. But, the trend is definitely going away from working relatively long hours. Generally once you get a complaint or two about "abuse", regardless of reality, things get scaled back. Also, were the other students working 80+ hours with you? I have found that on the same rotation, students will work entirely different hours based on their interest level.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Oh, I know they exist. But, the trend is definitely going away from working relatively long hours. Generally once you get a complaint or two about "abuse", regardless of reality, things get scaled back. Also, were the other students working 80+ hours with you? I have found that on the same rotation, students will work entirely different hours based on their interest level.

Not everyone pulled the 80+ hours, it mostly depended on who your resident was. For those specific rotations it was more when the resident let you leave that mattered as opposed to interest level

 

[songl4a]

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[sliceofbread136]

How do you train yourself for 6-7 hours of sleep? What are some good sleep tracking/sleep cycle apps? I usually try for 8, but it takes me almost 20 minutes just to fall asleep. How can you train yourself to fall asleep quickly and have more REM sleep?

Trust me, when you are getting 4-5 hours a night you will fall asleep as soon as your head hits the bed

 

[Medschoolornah]

8 hours! I don't understand how anyone can sleep that long. I think 7 is ideal. 6 is manageable 5 is headaches all day. Anything below is just gonna be hard to function

its one more than 7...

 

[Astra]

I said 8 hrs because I usually have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. I seem to wake up every hour after each REM cycle 🙁

Remedies would be appreciated if you guys know any

 

[DrDarce]

I probably could get 8 hours of sleep but I'd rather unwind and watch a TV show/play video games for 2 hours and sleep for 6. There's plenty of time to get enough sleep so don't worry

How do you train yourself for 6-7 hours of sleep? What are some good sleep tracking/sleep cycle apps? I usually try for 8, but it takes me almost 20 minutes just to fall asleep. How can you train yourself to fall asleep quickly and have more REM sleep?

Whenever I'm not very sleepy but I need to wake up in the morning, I count down from 500 in my head and usually fall asleep within a few minutes. I didn't think it would work but it's worked like a charm for me.

 

[Premedgirl27]

Some people need 8 hours of sleep, it depends on the person


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[Medgrant]

I said 8 hrs because I usually have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. I seem to wake up every hour after each REM cycle 🙁

Remedies would be appreciated if you guys know any

Not the place to be asking for or giving the type of medical advice in this paragraph, but magnesium seems to help me fall asleep quicker. Also, a very small dose of melatonin helps. I almost never take it, but store bought melatonin tablets that come in huge doses are said to give you the opposite effect desired. Around 0.3-0.8mg is good. I used to try melatonin occasionally, because I always had sleep issues.. At the regular dose, it never worked. Years later, I found out about proper dosages for sleep. I tried 1/5 of a tablet a few months ago and it seemed to work. I don't recommend on relying on something like that, though.

Forcing myself to get off of my phone/computer/laptop early in the evening and actively thinking about how I need to be in bed earlier helped a lot. It's amazing how well convincing myself that I should be sleepy works.
Even when taking certain supplements, following routines, diets...etc; I think the majority of the help just comes from the placebo effect. Just work on a routine, that way you're always winding down at a certain time, and in bed by a certain time.

I have come to realize that around 6-7 hours is best for me, though. Less or more makes me tired both mentally and physically. I'm not a believer of the general 8 hour rule anymore. I spent a long time trying to get "enough" sleep because its always implied that 8 hours is the golden rule, I finally quit thinking like that. Each night of sleep will vary in quality, everyone has different needs.

 

[ilovegrapesoda]

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[piii]

8 hours! I don't understand how anyone can sleep that long. I think 7 is ideal. 6 is manageable 5 is headaches all day. Anything below is just gonna be hard to function

I wake up in the morning, I work hard, at night I get tired and I go to sleep, and then I wake up 8 1/2 hours later and I feel great. Day after day... Is it really that difficult for you to understand?

 

[summergirl]

I'm a pre-med so no actual med school experience but I guess some super smart and diligent person can do it. I personally can't even sleep >7 hours in undergrad so I will definitely be out of luck sleep-wise in med school

 

[Psai]

Oh, I know they exist. But, the trend is definitely going away from working relatively long hours. Generally once you get a complaint or two about "abuse", regardless of reality, things get scaled back. Also, were the other students working 80+ hours with you? I have found that on the same rotation, students will work entirely different hours based on their interest level.

Zero interest in vascular surgery and i did 80+ hour weeks. Give me something interesting to do and I will do whatever you want. Not everyone shares my viewpoint though

 

[mimelim]

Zero interest in vascular surgery and i did 80+ hour weeks. Give me something interesting to do and I will do whatever you want. Not everyone shares my viewpoint though

My post is ambiguous. I really meant to say exactly what you did. Interest in being there, not interest in the specialty they are on. Even if you are going into vascular surgery residency, there is a ton that can be learned on a medicine service.

 

[markovchn123]

I just have never been able to sleep that long, even as a kid I barely could sleep. I guess it's genetics. people are pre-determined to sleep more or less than other

 

[Medschoolornah]

I just have never been able to sleep that long, even as a kid I barely could sleep. I guess it's genetics. people are pre-determined to sleep more or less than other

I sleep like a bear in January

 

[Law2Doc]

First two years of med school and some of fourth year you can sleep 7-8 hours a night. Much of third year you'll get less. Depending on the residency and career thereafter you may only sleep that much on vacations. Many studies suggest that 8 hours is probably more than an adult needs anyhow although the sweet spot is the subject of debate. Much of the notion that you can't function perfectly on relatively less is based on myth. Many people in medicine survive on very very long stretches of 5-6.

 

[cyanide12345678]

1st and 2nd year - Probably easily could pull off 10-12 if you really wanted.

4th year - You could sleep all day and just not show up at times lol 😛

3rd year - Most days yes. Maybe surgery is a little rougher, especially at my school which makes the med students do call. We were on a Q3 call schedule on surgery. Q5 call schedule on medicine. All other rotations were sleep friendly.

 

[Bergamot]

How do you train yourself for 6-7 hours of sleep? What are some good sleep tracking/sleep cycle apps? I usually try for 8, but it takes me almost 20 minutes just to fall asleep. How can you train yourself to fall asleep quickly and have more REM sleep?

Be mindful of caffeine consumption and electronic screens during evening hours (see Harvard's studies on how blue light affects melatonin secretion). The f.lux app and the iOS 9.3 update with 'Night Shift' for iPad/iPhone owners are both extremely helpful in this regard.

And there's no need to train; your body will easily adjust after 1-2 months.

...Lol as I sit here SDNing past midnight. *closes laptop lid*

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

I wake up in the morning, I work hard, at night I get tired and I go to sleep, and then I wake up 8 1/2 hours later and I feel great. Day after day... Is it really that difficult for you to understand?

Is it really that difficult for you to not sound like a total douchebag when the guy was simply asking how you sleep that much? For people with underlying undiagnosed sleep disorders, anxiety, ect, no matter how much they work, they cannot sleep well in the night.

 

[ace_inhibitor111]

Is it really that difficult for you to not sound like a total douchebag when the guy was simply asking how you sleep that much? For people with underlying undiagnosed sleep disorders, anxiety, ect, no matter how much they work, they cannot sleep well in the night.

To be fair, some of these posts make it sound like you have to be an alien or at least very lazy to want to sleep 8 hours a night. I also think it is clear from the previous post that he does not have anxiety and must actually be sleeping very well for 7 hours to be 'ideal'.

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

To be fair, some of these posts make it sound like you have to be an alien or at least very lazy to want to sleep 8 hours a night. I also think it is clear from the previous post that he does not have anxiety and must actually be sleeping very well for 7 hours to be 'ideal'.

I agree, but I still don't think that neccessitates to sound like an ass.

Also, he noted that 7 hours of sleep is "ideal", but that doesn't imply that's how many he's getting. But that's more of a moot point lolz

 

[piii]

Is it really that difficult for you to not sound like a total douchebag when the guy was simply asking how you sleep that much? For people with underlying undiagnosed sleep disorders, anxiety, ect, no matter how much they work, they cannot sleep well in the night.

Jesus you must read things on the internet with an incredibly aggressive inner monologue bc I don't think my post sounds totally douchey but sorry my post offended you so much...

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

Jesus you must read things on the internet with an incredibly aggressive inner monologue bc I don't think my post sounds totally douchey but sorry my post offended you so much...

#yolo

 

[caffeinemia]

3-4x/week I get 4 hours. Most days it's 5. On a good day, it's 6-7.

 

[virchow?]

I am in the 8-hours-needed camp 😴

8 hours! I don't understand how anyone can sleep that long.

For me, my productivity is so much lower if I go one day with 4-5 hours or multiple days with 6-7 hours that it is just not worth the extra hours of staying awake.
Here's hoping for 8 hours through most of med school