How Much Sleep Do I Really Need?

It has come to my attention that one thing I do a lot more here than in the US is sleep. Not sure if it is a good thing, a bad thing, an adjustment thing, or just the new way of life. In the US I would try (and usually fail) to get seven and a half to eight hours of sleep each night. The goal was always to be in bed by about 10pm or 10:30pm and then get up around 6am. It was hard to do this in the winter when it was dark for longer and I would want to stay in bed in the morning. It was hard to do this in the summer when there was no school and no real reason to pop out of bed at 6am. I think in reality I got about six hours of sleep a night. I don’t specifically remember feeling tired all the time, but I certainly remember having bags under my eyes. Here, it is almost impossible for me to get less than eight hours of sleep, most nights I get nine, and I can recall a few ten to twelve hour nights as well. Without electricity, when it gets dark there is really not enough light to keep me fully awake, and by about 8:30pm I’m truly exhausted. I actually try to keep myself awake until 9pm most nights, but there are days when that is simply more effort than it is worth. My wake up time is consistently 5:30am and it has gotten to the point where the sun is up so early that I don’t even need an alarm. And most importantly, I have this routine every day – not just Monday through Friday when there is school, Saturdays and Sundays run the same way. There are occasionally still days that I feel tired, but I can say with confidence that there are no more bags under my eyes. I can’t even imagine being able to sleep this much when I return to the US. The lifestyle almost doesn’t allow for it. So I’m going to enjoy it while I can, and see what happens 21 months from now.