How much sleep do you need?

The New Scientist is discussing a wave of drugs that help you go for days without sleep and offer a good night's kip in just a couple of hours, leaving you feeling as fresh as a daisy when you wake.

Do you snatch a couple of hours or hibernate for days?

We're always interested in finding out more about our viewers.

This time we're reaching out to the insomniacs and light sleepers amongst you - those of you who watch Newsnight online in the early hours and forward your thoughts to our inbox before dawn.

How much - or little sleep - do you need?

Would you take a pill that promises to deliver what feels like eight hours of sleep in half the time?

Is sleep best left to tortoises, while the rest of us cram ever more into our busy days?

THIS FORUM IS NOW CLOSED

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I manage well on five to six hours and I am three years short of 60 Nick Beacham-Watts

I would not take such a pill. That's like sending the spider to catch the fly. Yes, I prefer eight hours sleep but its absence should cause me to seek nothing more serious than the gentlest of herbal treatment such as eating lettuce in the evening, drinking limeflower tea, or going to bed early but managing to tire myself out first by adjusting my activity level. If that doesn't work - stay up on the computer, but try over a period of time to get the balance recreated.
Steve Bindman, Leeds

With a pill like this, I could work late and still get up at the crack of dawn with my wife N Barnett

I manage well on five to six hours and I am three years short of 60. 20 years ago I regularly stayed up most of the night; not partying but reading and studying, with no ill effects. No, I would not take any drug. Thanks for a truly great programme!
Nick Beacham-Watts, Coventry

It is clear such practices are detrimental to one's health Adam Erusalimsky

I'd love this pill. Being a teacher, I work until I've finished, which means late nights as often as not. My wife, however, needs eight hours sleep a night and she has to go to bed at 10pm to get up at six. With a pill like this, I could work late and still get up at the crack of dawn with her. Mind you, it would be DfEE policy to give it to teachers so we could do even more ludicrous paperwork and follow their management-speak gobbledegook.
N Barnett, Sheffield

Whether wannabe insomniacs use caffeine, wonder drugs or other tricks to sleep as little as possible, it is clear such practices are detrimental to one's health. For an example, just look at Margaret Thatcher now who was rumoured to sleep just four hours a night for the duration of her premiership.
Adam Erusalimsky, London

This is the stuff of nightmares - every employer in the country will be rubbing their hands at the chance of squeezing some extra hours out of their drones Richard

I wonder what we are we going to do with all this newly found time in place of sleep. Longer hours at work? Unfulfilled nights spent staring at the TV? No thanks! Time to hit the pillow...
Graeme Hopson, Cambridge

I think that this pill is a great idea - it would certainly help me with my life.
Gillian, Wolverhampton

This is the stuff of nightmares! Every employer in the country will be rubbing their hands at the chance of squeezing some extra hours out of their drones - sorry, employees! I actually enjoy going to bed at night and getting a good kip. What kind of nation are we turning into?
Richard

A pill that reduces the sensation of tiredness does not remove the need to sleep any more than a pill that reduces the sensation of hunger would remove the need to eat. Tiredness and hunger are ways for our body to encourage us to do something (sleep and eat) that we require for other reasons (memory processing and nutrition).
Stephen Morley, Torquay

There just aren't enough hours in the day, so why waste them sleeping? Richard Astbury

I think that in today's modern society, sleep is the least important pastime. If I could sleep less and be in the same mental state in the morning I would jump at the chance. Now, where can I purchase these things?!
Dan Edwards, Heathfield, East Sussex

I would definitely try such a drug, but I would be wary of any side-effects Rob McDougall

I think that using this pill could help many people - there just aren't enough hours in the day, so why waste them sleeping? I would definitely use this "super sleeping drug" it would give me plenty of time to myself.
Richard Astbury, Wolverhampton

I'm a university student. My hours can be very irregular. Some days I need to be up and alert at 9am, other days I have nothing until 3pm. I find it hard to maintain a regular sleeping pattern. I would definitely try such a drug, but I would be wary of any side-effects and I would be sceptical on the validity of any such claims. If the drug were to suddenly wear-off whilst I was driving, for example, that could cause a very dangerous situation.
Rob McDougall, Stafford

What if you take two tablets - will you then sleep for double the time? Wahab

If the story is true, then everyone will be forced to take the pill to remain economically competitive. Of course, the story is an exaggeration, and long term use of such a pill will lead to health problems.
Matt Blackler, Sale, Manchester

I would definitely welcome something like this and would gladly take part in any trials. I have always needed very little sleep. A normal working week, Monday-Saturday, I will have 25 hours sleep in total and still function as normal. (At weekends I will have 7 hours each day.) I find when I have more sleep than this I feel sluggish, even over-tired, until about 10 am. I don't drink coffee or caffeine to help me function, I just simply have a lot of energy. I also have trouble sleeping most nights as I don't ever seem to get tired. Strangely enough, though, a cup of camomile can sometimes do the trick! I'm not sure how well universal sleeping patterns are understood. As in the same way that we are different heights and weights, subject to our own individual DNA, surely the amount of sleep we all need as individuals has been predefined before we even understand what sleep actually is? My twin brother is quite similar in sleeping patterns to me, yet my other three brothers all require significantly more sleep.
Ben Waite, London

OK on rare occasions. Not for regular use. Must be bad for you.
Sandra Day, Scunthorpe

We would have a much healthier, happier and less materialistically, highly strung country if far more people spent much more time sleeping and bonking!
Martin Egan, Torbay

The idea of uninterrupted consciousness lasting for two or three days has disturbed me as much as the physical effects of sleep deprivation Marcia Surr

What if you take two tablets? Will you then sleep for double the time or half the time compared to taking only one? What if you overdose on the tablets? Can you overdose on them? Can you become dependant on them like regular sleeping tablets? What will "cold-turkey" feel like if you wanted to come off the tablets?
Wahab, London

I found Steve Smith's comment about the despair when "even Newsnight won't do the trick" in inducing sleep very pertinent. I do watch Newsnight to send me to sleep and depending upon the severity of my insomnia and the interest of the reports, sometimes it works. I've personally found items on the EU and CAP most helpful and recently pieces about the cartoons of Mohammed least helpful. I cannot imagine any insomniac was involved in the development of those drugs - the idea of uninterrupted consciousness lasting (in my case) for two or three days has disturbed me as much as the physical effects of sleep deprivation. But your dream analyst was right - you do dream when you're awake if you don't sleep.
Marcia Surr, London

I think that a drug that makes you feel like you've slept eight hours in a couple of hours would be life changing Chris Tomlinson

Take a sleep pill? Not on your nelly! One of the most wonderful moments of the day is when I switch off my bedside lamp, slither down under the duvet, pull it up round my ears and slip off into a world where I have the most wonderful dreams - I live a whole other life in that world, often following a story to its end. Even if I wake in the night, I know that I can slip back into my dream world again whereas, if I took a pill to give me only two hours, it would probably be time to wake up and return to reality, which is not always as interesting. Register my vote as a decided thumbs down for THIS pill. Warm regards - love the programme, even though it keeps me up late and cuts into my dream-time.
Nancy Richards, Leominster

The use of sleep reducing pills will be disastrous. Sleep is the mind/body's way of restoring itself after the days' exertions. We can do without it for a while, but we need a sufficient amount of dreaming time to mentally recover. The day dreaming predicted is likely - in fact it will be worse; there will be a big increase in psychotic illness, psychosis being wakeful dreaming.
Roger Gordon, Gateshead

The earliest I can get to sleep is 3am and I am often in work at 7.30am. Even after three or four hours sleep I still don't sleep until the same time the next night and am always drained. I think that a drug that makes you feel like you've slept eight hours in a couple of hours would be life changing.
Chris Tomlinson, Birkenhead

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THIS FORUM IS NOW CLOSED