
Ask HN: Longer sleep during the weekend compensates short sleep during weekdays? - gazarullz
On top, if one is constrained to sleep less during the week (6-5 hours per night) how can he&#x2F;she increase the stamina&#x2F;energy levels without having to sleep 12 hours during the weekend  ?
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kojeovo
Not really possible to 'catch up'. Matthew Walker's book 'Why We Sleep' goes
in depth on this. It really made me re-think my life and ensure I'm getting
enough sleep daily.

I can't do it justice, but sleeping 8 hours > sleeping 6 and napping 2 later.

So sleeping 5 hours 5 days a week and 12 hours on the weekends just doesn't
cut it.

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matt4077
There is considerable debate over the question of “sleep debt”, with current
thinking tending towards the idea that it doesn’t exist.

As to sleeping less during the week, the three major ideas are polyphasic
sleep (doesn’t work), cocaine (works, may kill you), and “rethinking your
priorities”.

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SamReidHughes
People say you can't catch up, but your body definitely thinks it's doing
something useful when it gets that extra sleep.

The simple matter is, if you're sleeping extra on the weekend, you aren't
saving any time by sleeping less during the week.

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fpalmans
I used to be a serious workaholic, sleeping 3-5 hours a night during the week-
days and, as you suggest, catching up in the weekends. I also used to be a
moron. In retrospect, both states were correlated.

The first wake-up call was when I moved from Belgium to the US. In Belgium,
one enjoys much more paid vacation than in the US. This discrepancy showed me
that I did not truly recover in the weekends - I needed my vacation days to
recover.

Though I consider the work-life balance a misnomer (you have one life; part of
the time you 'work,' part of the time you do other things), it is still
something you need to regulate. First of all, assuming you are what I would
like to call a 'knowledge' worker, you need to do other stuff to keep your
mind fresh.

Secondly, as a rule of thumb, I would suggest that if your job requires you to
work 10+ hours a day, you are doing your job wrong. Though it might sound odd,
this is a useful rule of thumb. Whenever you find yourself in such a situation
- STOP. STOP and reconsider.

EDIT: changed to 10+ hours... (btw: this includes transit)

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drakonka
I did this for years and learned both from experience and later from reading
the works of people who know much more about sleep than I do (highly recommend
the book "Why We Sleep" that this kind of catchup is not possible. I found
myself being exhausted and sleeping most of the day on weekends and over time
this just kept getting worse and worse. I felt fine during the work week
getting 3-6 hours of sleep, but on weekends I'd just crash. No, I was not
catching up on my sleep debt by passing up for 12-14 hours on weekends
instead. Now I make sure to give myself at least an eight-hour sleep
opportunity per day. As a result I feel more alert more consistently, and my
weekend sleep/wake schedule looks very similar to my normal weekday schedule.

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petee
Its important to have a consistent sleep pattern; trying to regain sleep on
the weekend will just throw your sleep cycle out of whack. Personally, I get
about 5 hours on average during work, and I am often far more tired after a
super-sleep on the weekend.

Other things that help are not eating just before bed, and ensuring you have
enough time in the morning to actually wake up! Oh, and get the best mattress
you can afford

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tabhygfr3
Cocaine?

More seriously, sleep is physiologically essential - but so are other things.
So make sure you optimize the hell out of the other things, starting with diet
& exercise. (I'm guessing that "optimal" exercise under sleep deprivation is
less than with adequate sleep but more than zero.)

Try to take naps. If you have enough downtime take a chance to nap rather than
e.g. surf the web or futz with your phone.

Spend time on weekends preparing so you can sleep more during the week. E.g
prepare food and have it as close to ready to eat as possible. Minimize the
errands or cleaning you have to do on weekdays by doing it on weekends and
spend the time saved on weekdays (if any) sleeping.

Also try to figure out how to get out of this unhealthy situation.

