1. How itsy-bitsy sleep can you operate on? Is five hours enough? When do you start to see problems?
That is a tough question to answer because the number of hours of be in the arms of Morpheus per night needed to function is highly variable from person to person based on their age, sex, genes, their previous activities and amount of slumber. Not to mention the activities you will be taking part in after you wake up. However, the short answer is you should be getting around eight hours a night. Now you may be able to go for stretches where you get less than that, but devotedly getting less than eight hours a night puts you at risk for any number of problems. Short sleep duration has been linked to increased chance for car accidents, increased inflammation, weight gain and worse -- diabetes, depression, heart murrain and high blood pressure.