How much sleep at minimum do you need as an entrepreneaur

[Jayden Hamilton]

Hi guys, I wanted your advice on how much sleep entrepreneurs should be getting; I want to use the most time to my advantage. I think I'm going to try only getting 4-5hrs of sleep a day to have an additional 4-5hrs to work throughout the day. Do you think this is reasonable or unhealthy. 

[Jim K.]

I think sleep flushes beta-amyloid and tau proteins out of your brain. When you don't sleep enough over a period of years, the proteins build up and build up and significantly raise your chances for adult-onset dementia.

[Jayden Hamilton]

Jim K. Handyman from Pittsburgh, PA

replied less than a minute ago

I think sleep flushes beta-amyloid and tau proteins out of your brain. When you don't sleep enough over a period of years, the proteins build up and build up and significantly raise your chances for adult-onset dementia.

That's a pretty savvy way of phrasing it, Jim. You're definitely more intelligent than I am, lol; I have no idea what that is and never heard of it. Thanks for the tip though, I learned something new! In terms of hours of sleep, that's more of where I was leaning though when mentioning how many hours of sleep should an entrepreneur get... I'm shooting for 4-5 hours max. 

[Jim K.]

Originally posted by @Jayden Hamilton:

Jim K. Handyman from Pittsburgh, PA

replied less than a minute ago

I think sleep flushes beta-amyloid and tau proteins out of your brain. When you don't sleep enough over a period of years, the proteins build up and build up and significantly raise your chances for adult-onset dementia.

That's a pretty savvy way of phrasing it, Jim. You're definitely more intelligent than I am, lol; I have no idea what that is and never heard of it. Thanks for the tip though, I learned something new! In terms of hours of sleep, that's more of where I was leaning though when mentioning how many hours of sleep should an entrepreneur get... I'm shooting for 4-5 hours max. 

Oh, OK. What I'm trying to say is that's not a good idea from the point of view of what science tells us about the human brain and how thinking works. You may not have heard of adult-onset dementia. Have you heard of Alzheimer's disease? Alzheimer's is one form of dementia. Not the worst form.

Lose enough sleep now and you'll have a much higher chance of ending up in adult diapers because you'll forget how to control your bowels and bladder. You may choke to death as someone feeds you because you'll forget how to swallow.

I would aim for 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

[Chris Szepessy]

I would probably get as much sleep as you possibly could while still accomplishing your goals. Just because you get less sleep, doesn't mean you'll be successful. Someone who gets 4 hours of sleep, but scrolls tik tok for 20 hours a day obviously isn't going to be as productive as the one who gets 8 hours of sleep, but is actually working in the other 16 hours. I don't sleep a whole lot personally...5-6 hours a night. Just never have. @Jim K. has me nervous now for whoever has to take care of me in the future. lol

[Jim K.]

Originally posted by @Chris Szepessy:

I would probably get as much sleep as you possibly could while still accomplishing your goals. Just because you get less sleep, doesn't mean you'll be successful. Someone who gets 4 hours of sleep, but scrolls tik tok for 20 hours a day obviously isn't going to be as productive as the one who gets 8 hours of sleep, but is actually working in the other 16 hours. I don't sleep a whole lot personally...5-6 hours a night. Just never have. @Jim K. has me nervous now for whoever has to take care of me in the future. lol

Those tau and beta-amyloid proteins just keep building up and up in the brain, Chris...

[Account Closed]

I'm 71-years old, started several businesses businesses and there are times when I am involved with developing software, or I need to put together documents for a lawsuit and I have worked as much as 3 days without one minute of sleep, but I know for a fact that lack of sleep does a lot of damage to the body and brain. I ended up with long-term vertigo spells that made me go to a hospital emergency room several times because I was not getting enough sleep.

Sadly, the only time I can focus on many business tasks is during the evenings when everyone else is sleeping and I get pumped up and hate to go to sleep. The human body needs a good 6 to 9 hours of sleep to do what is has to do to make the brain and organs remain healthy.

[Jim K.]

@Account Closed

Went blind once after 100 hours awake with no sleep, Jack. You're not alone.

[Account Closed]

Some people naturally sleep less, others just operate under a caffiene/nicotine fog for most of the week. 

Force it short term to get to your next step, but only out of desire and not necessity. Running half awake all week long is an overall piss poor strategy for life, and affects more then just your long term health. 

[Michael Ablan]

@Jayden Hamilton - 7-9 hours or I'm a piece of garbage for the day.   Sleep is something I refuse to sacrifice.  

Go read the book Why we sleep by Matthew Walker.

[Ian Walsh]

Everyone will be individual here. If you are getting less sleep because you are burning the candle at both ends, it is likely that you are not working smart enough.  

[Owen Dashner]

This is highly personal and everyone's body and mind require different amounts of downtime.  Listen to your body and see how you feel mentally to gauge how much sleep you need.  I average about 5 to 6 hours a night and still have lots of energy, but not everyone functions at a high level with that amount.  Diet, exercise and overall health play factors as well.

 

[Anthony Angotti]

Originally posted by @Jayden Hamilton:

Hi guys, I wanted your advice on how much sleep entrepreneurs should be getting; I want to use the most time to my advantage. I think I'm going to try only getting 4-5hrs of sleep a day to have an additional 4-5hrs to work throughout the day. Do you think this is reasonable or unhealthy. 

 6-8 is what they say. To be honest if you're not well rested everything else suffers. You can go on limited sleep for a few days or a week but if you keep going at that pace you'll get burned out, won't perform to your abilities, and will could honestly be taking years off your life from stress. 

If your whole day is that full that you routinely can't get the rest that you need then you need to find a way to outsource your most repetitive tasks through employees or technology. 

At the beginning of a new venture I think there's am element of hustle needed and working long hours is what you signed up for. But if a year or two in you're still doing that, then you need to work on better ways to do business.

This website, podcast, and lots of other similar stuff you're likely reading romanticize hustle culture. In my opinion hustle culture is a virus and is so obnoxious to the point that I'd actually say I resent it. Working 18 hour days isn't admirable, its stupid. Anyone that tells you otherwise likely doesn't lead much of a life of balance. There's no such thing as a perfect work life balance, but the pendulum should swing back and forth in a healthy manner. 

I find that tracking things that you want to be doing through an app like habits or something of the sort helps. I just put literally everything that I want to do routinely on a timer for number of days in a week, month, quarter, etc I want to do it:exercise, date night with wife, reading, language study, videos, blog, see a friend, record my podcast, promote my podcast, bigger pockets, and yes, sleep at least 7 hours on a night (I do that 5 days a week in case you're wondering), and probably 30-50 other things.

It sounds like it would be a lot to track but it's really not. The app just makes it simple checking things off. And when they pop up to do I usually do them. The blanker the list is generally the more in balance I feel. And if something gets out of whack I can usually just look at how frequently I'm taking care of the different areas of my life. If I'm accomplishing everything on my tasks then perhaps the frequency needs adjusted. 

Go to sleep, see your family, take care of your body, and the rest will fall into place. 

[Joe Splitrock]

@Jayden Hamilton you mentioned in another discussion thread that you are feeling stressed, so in your case I would not advise 4-5 hours of sleep. That is a sure sign that you are not getting enough sleep. 

That being said, everyone requires different amount of sleep to rejuvenate their mind and body. For years, I lived on no more than 5 hours a night and felt perfectly fine. Even today, I can't sleep more than 7 hours. I usually wake up before even reaching 7 hours. 

I have worked 17 hour days when doing rehab on houses, but that has been in short duration. I may hustle for a week to get something done, then have plenty of recovery time for a few weeks. Maintaining an intense schedule with little sleep for long periods of time will lead to stress and burn out. As I mentioned in the beginning, your comments about stress are a sign that you are pushing too hard. I never feel stress when I work 17 hours in a day, just tired. I sleep wonderful knowing I put in a good days work. 

[Frank Wong]

8hrs. There are 4-5hrs in each day which allows you to be the most focus and create the best work. Work on the most important tasks that requires the highest mental bandwidth in the morning. All small tasks later in the day. More time usually leads to poor quality work which will require you to go back and fix it. 

[Will Gaston]

As much as possible.

What you work on is way more important than how hard you work. 

[Joel Miller]

@Jayden Hamilton

When i was in college I was working 40-50 hours a week and going to school FT. I slept about 3-4 a nights for around 4 years. It really did something to my memory and I still don’t remember stuff my college buddies remember. DONT sacrifice your sleep. Nowadays, pretty much no matter what I try to sleep 7 to 8 hours and I’m a different person. 

[Account Closed]

@Jayden Hamilton Everyone’s body is different. I’d say the perfect amount is where you don’t feel tired throughout the day, and no more than that to maximize productivity. My perfect number is 6 hours.

[Bruce Woodruff]

@Jayden Hamilton Everyone is different, you'll have to try it and see what happens.

But your logic is flawed. If you get 4 hrs sleep, you will indeed have 20 hrs to work, 4 more than the average person...but if you are over-stressed and sleep deprived, ALL of those 20 hrs will be compromised. Every single one of them. That average  person who gets 8 hrs sleep and is firing on all 8 cylinders for 16 hrs will kick your ***, every time.....

[Jim K.]

Originally posted by @Ian Walsh:

Everyone will be individual here. If you are getting less sleep because you are burning the candle at both ends, it is likely that you are not working smart enough.  

Yeah, that was DEFINITELY me.

[Richard M Bachmann]

@Jayden Hamilton listen to your body. You may be able to get away with four to five hours a night or maybe you need eight.

[Gail K.]

Lots of interesting research has gone on with sleep deprivation.  Usually done on poor (as in broke) young college students as volunteers for a bit of money.  Most did well through the deprivation stage (although routine tasks they were to do periodically went downhill the longer they went without sleep).  However is some cases the "test subjects"  seemed to have long term negative effects afterward; some with mental health issues.

At times radio stations will hold a "sleep deprivation marathon" where an announcer will go without sleep for an extensive period of time.  One guy was able to pull himself together when "on the air" but otherwise began hallucinating; saw flames when he opened his desk drawer, thought a fellow DJ's sports coat was crawling with maggots.

I'm just curious on what Jayden hopes to accomplish with those extra 4-5 hours during the day when he would normally be sleeping.

[Jayden Hamilton]

Gail K.

I would like to use those extra 4-5 hrs to be analyzing and understanding what deals are in my market, and overall just educating myself more. Those extra 4-5 hrs a day can set me apart from others, and it will help me learn faster to buy more real estate and maybe develop my own business one day. 

[Jayden Hamilton]

Anthony Angotti

What app is this you're talking about Anthony, I'm interested in it now...