do more with less... sleep

Recently I have come across several articles about how much sleep we need every night.  I am probably a rare breed in that I make sleep a priority and usually get about 9 hours sleep a night.  I have always been jealous of my husband who can sleep for 6 hours a night (every night) and not feel groggy during the day. I just think about how much MORE I could get done if I didn’t need to sleep so much. 

With that being said – I am starting a sleep experiment! I am going to see what it would feel like to reduce the time I spend sleeping every day and what more I can accomplish if I give myself the gift of MORE time. My goal is to get to 7.5 hours a sleep a night (and be comfortable with it.)

• Current sleep hours per night: 8.5-9
• Planned sleep hours per night: 7.5-8

Nightly gain = 1 hour * 7 days = 7 hours more free time per week

Week One Results

Day one:

• Set alarm for 7am when usually wake up @ 7:45 am
• Hit the snooze button several time and finally gave in – got up at 7:50 - no gain

Day two:

• Up at 6:40 out of necessity for kid drop off responsibilities  – no gain

 

Day three:

• Alarm went off at 6:40 and I gave up the first time.  Deleted alarm and reset for 7:45 am (normal wake up time)
• Remainder of the week was a bust - sleep challenge fail

 

Week Two Results

• Monday – set alarm for 6:40 – got up at 7am (45 min gain)

• Tuesday - Set alarm for 6:00 – got up at 6:20 (20 min gain)

• Wednesday - Set alarm for 6:40 – got up at 7am (45 min gain)
• Thursday - set alarm for 6:00 - got up at 6:15 (15 min gain)
• Friday - set alarm for 7:00 - got up at 7:15 (30 min gain)
• week two I would call a success!! total time gained 155 min :) 

What did I do with all this glorious free time??? Cleaned my office – made coffee before the work day started – took a shower – finished reading my Real Simple magazine – cooked and ate a hot breakfast (egg white omelet) and sat down to breakfast with my kids on a day I usually wouldn’t see them in the morning.

So far so good - I would consider this a success.  What about you - how many hours do you sleep a night? do you wish you could sleep more? sleep less?

Most importantly - what would you do with 7 extra hours per week?