Quality of sleep in relation to sleeping hours

So my parents were talking about something and I'm wondering what you all think about it. They were essentially saying that depending on when you sleep (not the duration of sleep, but like if you go to bed early or late) you sleep more or less well, and are less tired the moment if you wake up: eg, you go to sleep at different times but sleep a same number of hours, but the quality of sleep is different.

So, what is it all about, and is it true? Maybe it could be related to sleeping in the dark vs daylight or something. And could you possibly have more dreams or more REM depending on when you go to sleep? (Could help for LDing)

I think this depends on a number of things. If you measure quality of sleep in how you feel in the morning, then I think it depends on where you wake up in your REM sleep pattern.
E.g. if you wake up without an alarm, usually it'll be at the end of an REM period and you'll feel great.
If you wake up with an alarm and have a similar pattern for a few weeks your body will start waking up just before the alarm goes off (end of REM cycle) and you'll feel pretty good.
If your alarm wakes you up in the middle of an REM cycle then you'll feel pretty crap even if you've had many hours sleep.

Anyway, those are just theories etc. :)

Anyone else?

Sorry but I do not agree with that theory.

I am a very deep sleeper and i sleep for very long hours. I also do not have a set time that i go to bed... i work nightshifts every odd day so my sleeping pattern can be quite erractic, always sleeping at different times. But as long as I get a solid 10 hours sleep, without being woken early, I feel great. Doesn't matter what time i go to sleep as long as i get that 10 hours. I think its bullcrap how they reckon 7 hours is the perfect amount, maybe its just me but I notice a big difference from getting 10 hours and 7 hours. I feel really tired with only 7 hours, and usually my eye's will hurt. Whereas with 10 hours, I feel completely refreshed. I did ask a doctor about this and he said "some people do need more sleep than others, you are probably just one of these people".

I've heard it from multiple resources (teachers, a sleep seminar). They agree with your parents in that the quality of sleep is dependent moreso on the consistency in which you sleep/wake than on the number of hours slept. This deals with your body's internal clock (circadian rhythms). If you go to bed at 9:30 every night and wake up at 6:00 for five nights (weekdays), then crash twice at midnight and sleep until 11:00 (weekends), your body will have trouble adjusting once more to the weekday schedule. That is precisely why people lag on mondays (as their body was getting used to the sleeping in that the weekends provided, and had trouble adjusting).

So yes, consistency has a great deal to do with the quality of sleep, as well as functionality in the following day.

You need an adjustment period. You can't just switch a sleep cycle overnight.

(Well actually I've experimented thanks to college, and staying up an entire night and holding off until your desired sleep time the next night is the fastest way of reseting your sleep cycle).

Personally, my optimal sleeping time is about 9 hours (age 19, turning 20 very soon). I'll wake up and not deal with the horrible feeling I deal with Monday-Friday.

I don't start to feel the ill effects of lack of sleep until I drop to about 6 hours and less of sleep.

Now during the work summer I probably average 6.5-7 hours of sleep a night and I function fine. Waking up always feels terrible, but after that first 5-10 minutes I'm fine. I'd much prefer 9 hours of sleep but waking up at 5:30AM does not allow for this!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Abra

I've heard it from multiple resources (teachers, a sleep seminar). They agree with your parents in that the quality of sleep is dependent moreso on the consistency in which you sleep/wake than on the number of hours slept. This deals with your body's internal clock (circadian rhythms). If you go to bed at 9:30 every night and wake up at 6:00 for five nights (weekdays), then crash twice at midnight and sleep until 11:00 (weekends), your body will have trouble adjusting once more to the weekday schedule. That is precisely why people lag on mondays (as their body was getting used to the sleeping in that the weekends provided, and had trouble adjusting).

So yes, consistency has a great deal to do with the quality of sleep, as well as functionality in the following day.

---

This doesn't agree with what the parents said... you are talking about having a regular sleep pattern. Although it is good to have a regular sleep pattern because of the internal bodyclock, this is not what Wildman was asking. He was asking if you get a better quality of sleep and feel less tired if you go to sleep at a particular time i.e. go to bed at 8pm, or 9pm or 10pm, etc, etc. He is asking what is the best time to go to sleep, does the time you choose to go to sleep have any impact on your quality of sleep. As if it is someway better to sleep at a particular time during the day/night. This question relates to astrophysics, the effects of the sun on the earth and our bodies. I do not have a great deal of understand on astrophysics so I can't say what would be the perfect time to sleep, but I would say it would be during night-time and not day-time, because you need more energy to function properly during the day, not the night, and you will recieve a boost of this energy during the day when the sun is up, due to things like Vitamin D from sun exposure.

From my experience (I have a crazy sleep schedule I know it's everywhere) here is what I have found.

Duration of Sleep:

1 hours: Wake up tired, feel like I didn't get enough rest, easy to get going.
2 hours: Wake up tired, feel like I didn't get enough rest, easy to get going.
3 hours: Wake up feeling ok, feel a bit refreshed, easy to get going.
4 hours: Wake up feeling ok, feel a bit refreshed, a lil' hard to get going.
5 hours: Wake up felling sleepy, feel a bit refreshed, hard to get going.
6 hours: Wake up feeling sleepy, feel refreshed, once awake good to go.
7 hours: Wake up feeling good, feel refreshed, easier to get going.
8 hours: Wake up feeling good, feel refreshed, easy to get going.
9 hours: Wake up feeling well rested, very refreshed, easy to get going.
10 hours: Wake up very rested, very refreshed, a little groggy.
11 hours: Wake up very rested, very refreshed, a little groggy.
12 hours: Wake up very rested, very refreshed, a little groggy.
13 hours: Wake up very rested, very refreshed, somewhat groggy.
14 hours: Wake up very rested, very refreshed, somewhat groggy.
15 hours: Wake up very rested, very refreshed, easy to get going.
16 hours: Wake up very rested, very refreshed, easy to get going.
17 hours: Wake up Extremely Rested/Refreshed, easy to get going.
18 hours: Wake up Extremely Rested/Refreshed, easy to get going.

So from this it seems to have some lapses as in to little sleep feels like you havn't slept at all. Insufficient sleep not to little, but not enough feels just like that didn't get enough sleep. Recommended sleep leaves you feeling pretty good and ready to go. A little bit over the recommended leaves you feeling well rested, but you could go for some more sleep possibly. A lot of sleep leaves you well rested, but you might wake up and be slow moving. And a lot a lot of sleep leaves you well rested and ready to go for a while.

Now lets say sleep for 8 hours I will also you give you my experiences upon when I fell asleep and the quality of sleep I got.

Time Falling Asleep:

12:00 AM: Pretty easy to go sleep, but wake up tired.
2:00 AM: Pretty easy to go to sleep, not as tired.
4:00 AM: Very easy to sleep, not tired when waking up.
6:00 AM: Very easy to sleep, not tired when waking up.
8:00 AM: Very Very easy to sleep, not tired when waking up.
10:00 AM: Kind of easy to sleep, somewhat tired when waking up.
12:00 AM: Kind of easy to sleep, somewhat tired when waking up.
2:00 PM: Easy to sleep, not tired when waking up.
4:00 PM: Easy to sleep, not tired when waking up.
6:00 PM: Easy to sleep, not tired when waking up.
8:00 PM: Kind of easy to sleep, somewhat tired when waking up.
10:00 PM: Kind of easy to sleep, somewhat tired when waking up.

Now their are many factors that play into the time that you fall asleep. These are Room Lighting, Duration Of Sleep, and Random Factors that play in, as well as activities performed during the day. If your room is dark you will have a easier time getting to bed, but if it is light then it will probably be harder. If you played a sport or did an strenous activity you will get a better rest. So as you can see this is not a very good way to bring up an argument as when you go to sleep and the kind of sleep you get to many factors play a part.

I myself have quite a reversed sleep pattern and I have a cover over my window so it usually dark in my room. I go to sleep from 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, and I usually wake up around 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM. And from this I usually have 3-4 dreams which 2/3 or 3/4 of them are lucid.

These are just my own personal experiences and I know that everyone is different I am just giving what I have experiences. Also the amount of time one has spent awake affects sleep as well. The longer you are awake obviously the better you will sleep.

Funny how you go up to 18 hours. If I go past 12 hours I feel extremely "burn out" the entire day. Not physically tired - but my mind is just in a haze the entire day.

Thanks for the responses all, especially Brandon Heat with detailed answer. Eonnn is right that I meant the time at which you go asleep, not regularity of your sleep schedule. Apparently not too much research has been done on the subject, but it could be interesting to use it in conjunction with LDing (more vivid dreams, longer REM?).