   Programming vs Sleep ratio
  The programmers worst enemy and best friend is sleep. Programmers hate sleep because it means they aren't getting any programming done (unless you are also programming in your sleep, which has happened to me once or twice). On the other hand, programming without any sleep ends up having some sort of "diminishing returns" effect on (code quality and time spent) vs. progress made. The best way to reset the diminishing return is to actually get some sleep. So, what's the optimal amount of programming to sleep ratio for each individual person, and what external factors (over time) can influence that? (burnout?) Does taking short breaks have the same (but weaker) cognitive restoration effect as sleep?Note: Pardon the universal generalization of "all programmers" instantiated from my personal experiences.   
  For myself, I usually sleep between 7½ and 8 hours which is pretty average for an adult male. Personally, since I code all day at work, I don't usually do marathon coding sessions when I get home (maybe 1-2 hours on personal projects, but not every day either) because there's so many other things I like to do as well :-)   ;  I say:1) Hating sleep is a characteristic of malfunctioning workaholics or insomniacs and has nothing to do with programming. (Hi reltham!)2) There are things other than programming and sleep to do.If I'm really into a project I'll do maybe 10 hours of work in a day, twelve if I have a job and project at the same time and I'm really going for it. I don't typically sustain that, as it's a very boring way to live life. Sleep's about 6-8 hours, depending.   ;  It's more like programming is sleeps worst enemy. Might be sometimes hard to get some sleep if there's a particular problem on you mind. On the flipside, usually you know the solution to your problem when you wake up. I once had to code every waking hour I had in a day for five days, and I swore I'd never do it again. All my dreams were about programming that week, and that was horrible. I'd rather take bad dreams than programming dreams   ;  I've done very little programming on my own time since returning to a programming job. I'd just rather do other things when I get home. I sleep about 6-8 hours a day, depending on how disciplined I am about getting to bed. I tend to oversleep on weekends to "make up" a bit, but I'm trying to get out of that habit.I should go to bed now...   ;Quote:Original post by OluseyiI tend to oversleep on weekends to "make up" a bit, but I'm trying to get out of that habit.Isn't everybody? lol.   ;Quote:Original post by OluseyiI've done very little programming on my own time since returning to a programming job. I'd just rather do other things when I get home. I sleep about 6-8 hours a day, depending on how disciplined I am about getting to bed. I tend to oversleep on weekends to "make up" a bit, but I'm trying to get out of that habit.I should go to bed now...Hah, I do the same thing.  This schedule makes waking up on Mondays hell.. since it's hard for me to fall asleep on time on Sunday nights.I program at work, so that's 8 hours of programming every workday (Monday - Friday).  When we're getting close to a deadline I will sometimes do 9 or 10 hours.  I don't really do much programming in my off time, besides little experiments here and there when I read up on new things.  When I get off work the last thing in my mind is writing more code.  Funny how that works, because before I got a programming job and when I was still involved with developing games, it'd be very easy for me to put in 14 or sometimes even 16 hours of programming.I usually get 6-8 hours of sleep, depending on which day of the week it is.  7 to 7.5 hours of sleep is ideal, any less than that and I'm a bit groggy for a few hours.I don't really drink much coffee.  I'll go grab some coffee maybe once, sometimes twice in any given week, but that's about it.   ;  I have historically (since I left college) slept 9-10 hours per night, nearly every night.  I find that I operate significantly better with that extra hour or two.  Meaning, 4 hours of coding after 10 hours of sleep is worth 8 hours of coding after 6 hours of sleep.However, with my first son being born some 6 six weeks ago, I'm down around 4-6 hours per night (exemplified by this 1AM post...)   ;Quote:Original post by WeetbixQuote:Original post by OluseyiI tend to oversleep on weekends to "make up" a bit, but I'm trying to get out of that habit.Isn't everybody? lol.Me not. Or better, I try to not sleep too long (when I get up at 6 in the week, I am usually up at 8 o'clock at the weekend). I hate getting out of the sleep-wake-rhythm too much. Sleeping much longer at the weekends, I am actually more tired over the day when compared to getting up soon in the morning. Further, I do most of my spare time coding saturday and sunday morning :)edit: My sleep time is generally 6hrs a day. I am used to being a bit tired the over the whole week, but sleeping 8hrs at the weekends is enough relaxation. One thing I like about getting older is that you need lesser sleep with increasing age (my grandparents are/were sleeping something between 4-6hrs, I think that's cool).Sidenote: Yes, I also have a life in meatspace, which is actually several hours a day :D   ;  2:1 ATM, and when I dream, it's mostly coding related. :|   