For one of my MBA assignments (leadership), I came across some research that showed a decrease in performance after 5 days of only getting 6 hours of sleep*. In their research, Ferrara & De Gennaro point out that although 6 hours is a much touted figure, we in fact need 7 – 8 hours’ sleep a night. Their paper goes on to mention studies that have shown that after 5 nights of 6 hours sleep, neuro-behavioural defects occur!

I realised that I have been feeling “hazy” and not performing very well in the past 2 weeks. I reviewed how much sleep I have been getting, and realised that it had been a while since I had gotten 7 hours sleep, let alone 6.

So I have forced myself to get 2 nights of at least 7 hours of sleep and I feel great. This is something that I really need to remember going forward, get 7 hours of sleep.

Soli Deo Gloria 

* Ferrara. M. & Luigi De Gennaro, L., (2001). How much sleep do we need?, Sleep Medicine Reviews, (5) 2, 155-179. Doi: 10.1053/smrv.2000.0138.