Am I getting enough sleep?

Another newbie question....

I've read that it helps a person to succeed if they get at least 8 hours of sleep per night.

I'm an early riser and on days that I work, I get up at 3:30am. This after going to bed at around 10pm. I usually average about 6 hours of sleep per night and almost always dream. I also usually have no problem recalling my dreams in the morning. And yes, I'm keeping a dream journal. I haven't had any lucid dreams yet so I am working at doing reality checks and increasing my awareness of my surroundings.

My question is: Should I try to go to bed earlier so that I get closer to 8 hours of sleep at night? Would that increase my chances of being able to have a lucid dream? Or would it be a moot point because even with only 5 or 6 hours of sleep I usually have and can recall about 2 or 3 dreams per night.

Another thing I've thought about is my age. I'm 49 and am in that wonderful stage of life where a person has to get up and go to the bathroom once or twice during the night. Could that be having an effect as well? Like maybe I need to cut off liquids x hours before I go to bed at night?

Same age as me.

Also pretty much the same amount of sleep per night as me. I used to get a lot less - averaging probably 4 hours per night a few years ago.

I also usually wake once or twice a night and have for as long as I can remember - though it's not usually for a bathroom break in my case unless I drank something shortly before bed. I just wake up - most likely because we supposedly wake after every REM cycle anyway but only very briefly and then fall back asleep and don't remember it at all the next day.

But it's actually a GOOD thing to wake up in the night. Waking from or immediately after REM means you're a lot more likely to REM-ember the dream (sorry :biggrin: ).

More sleep is better - but I suspect some people just don't need as much as others. Though one factor to consider... REM periods get longer and closer together the longer you sleep. So you have a better chance after 7 or 8 hours' sleep than 6. But if you're like me, I'll wake up after about 6 hurs and then just can't get back to sleep.

I'm sleeping 6-7 hours every night (8 hours when it's weekend). Before that, it was 3-4 hours (because of insomnia), and that wasn't good for me. I think you can say it best. :)