How many hours of sleep do you need?  

I think the amount of sleep and how you get it is a very person things. My husband gets along very well on 5 or 6 hours of sleep, if he can get that much in a row; often he only sleeps in 4 hour blocks. I can store sleep: I will sometimes get as much as 10 hours at a time -- but then I'll only get 4 or 5 hours for several nights running. I do best if I average 6 - 8 per night over a week's period.

our body really needs 8 hours or more

Unlike some people, I don't need just 5 hours of sleep- I can work on only 2. Because I get very busy during the day and night, I get very little sleep. I am used to it, though. I've been getting less than 8 hours of sleep since I graduated high school in 2003. I do understand that for some it's not healthy, but sometimes you just can't change it.

i know i don't get 8 hours of sleep a night! i probably could, if i put the kids to bed a bit earlier and went to sleep almost right after they did. but then there would be no time for my husband and i. also, i work 4 nights out of the week and don't usually get home on those nights until around 11. by the time i get home i am usually so wound up from work still that i cannot go right to bed. i end up staying up for a while on the computer or reading or watching tv. but that is also the only time of day that i really have to myself, since my husband doesn't stay up too late with me. usually i can function fine. it may take awhile to get myself up and going, but i am usually fine with about 5 hours of sleep. would i like to get more? sure... who wouldn't? lol but with 2 kids and more to come someday, i have resigned myself to the fact that i will not be getting a decent night's sleep until they are moved out of the house! :)

I do not think that the sleep of eight hours is required by all the people. I am of the opinion that it depends on an individual's nature as to how much sleep is required by him or her.
I have an experience of being quite okay with a sleep of just 5 hours constantly for more than ten days. However, I feel that the nature of work you are engaged in plays important part in deciding how much sleep is required by you. I had this cut out sleep during the time I was overloaded with some table work. The work did not require lot of mental stress and so I had to just keep doing the similar type of job for so many hours. At the same time I also had some free time to get myself refreshed. So I could do with this much sleep.
Another very important thing about sleep for me is that the nature of sleep. If I have sound sleep for about five to six hours, I think that it is enough for me.

Hi! From what I know, 8 hours of sleep is needed by younger kids and adolescents. Of course, babies sleep much more (like almost the whole day) because that's what they need. As we get older, the hours of sleep that we require every night lessens. During old age, we actually sleep the least. If you would notice, grandparents often wake up very early (sometimes at the wee hours) in the morning. The amount of sleep we need is based on need. Some people sleep less during the weekdays and sleep more during the weekends to keep up with the hours' loss of sleep. I am 41 and very busy at my job as a teacher, and 4 hours of sleep is the best for me.

gangus2 - hi. I can go three or four days on as little as 4 hours sleep. I can stay awake for 48 hours if I have to.

I like sleeping. When life is normal, I sleep somewhere around 8 hours, but I'm never rested, no matter how much or how little sleep I have.

It's sad that people don't have time for sleeping. What kind of crazy world is this?

travel lightly,
anawar out

I want to have more than 8 hours, but unfortunitely, I can only get 6 hours for sleep!

I really value my sleep well but sadly, I can't get my desired hours of sleep which is 8 hours or more. I have shifting skeds at work and usually I only get 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I can still function though but I can still feel that I need to recharge more. 8 hours of sleep is what I really want to have. Every time I sleep, I always yearn for that 8 hours but at times, I easily get distracted leaving me only shorter hours of sleeping time.

it depends on how tired i am.... i think i usually get around 7-8 hours of sleep a day. i used to only get around 4 hours and that was enough. although i feel so much better now getting those 4 extra hours of sleep.

just because you feel like your not tired doesn't mean you aren't.
i can see how people can sleep for 8 hours. I LOVE sleeping..... it feels so freaking good to sleep sometimes. i love it when i'm so tired and just pass right out and sleep hard. i end up waking up the next morning feeling so refreshed.