— How to reduce sleep time — guidelines. Not enough sleep, but right? Sleeping a little without harming your health

You need to sleep at least eight hours - we learned this axiom by heart. They talk about this from all sides and advise sticking to this magical number. But personally, such recommendations always seemed a little strange to me. I love strong coffee, I fall asleep best late at night and wake up refreshed not at seven, but at ten in the morning. I made a sincere effort to stick to a strict schedule, sleeping eight hours and waking up early. But as a result, I felt like a sleepwalker and suffered unbearably.

It became clear to me that the eight-hour rule does not work for everyone. Seven hours is enough for me to sleep and feel great.

The vast majority of studies and articles insist on eight hours of sleep. But perhaps this figure is the influence of the development of civilization, not biology. For example, if you study the sleep data of those who lived in the pre-industrial era, you will find that the average sleep duration is 5.7–7.1 hours per night.

Researchers are still trying to figure out how much time we need to spend sleeping. But it is absolutely clear that it is better to have little sleep than to sleep for a long time.

Less is more

Professor Franco Cappuccio analyzed 16 sleep studies involving more than 1 million people. As a result, he found out that those who sleep for a long time die earlier than those who are always sleep-deprived.

However, this conclusion cannot be relied upon entirely. After all, tracking the effect of sleep on a person is quite difficult. Diseases and problems hidden from the eyes of doctors make themselves known. For example, long sleep is associated with, and short sleep is associated with stress. But when Professor Shawn Youngstedt, recognizing the limitations of large group experiments, conducted his own study with 14 volunteers, he obtained the same results as Cappuccio.

Apparently, long-term sleep in the long term has the same effect on a person as a sedentary lifestyle.

Of course, someone will live happily ever after despite spending 12 hours at a desk. And some people need to train a lot and often and do physical labor. To each his own.

If you're between 18 and 64 years old, you probably need about 6 to 11 hours of sleep. But even these recommendations, based on scientific research, should be secondary for you. Margaret Thatcher ran the country, and some teenagers won't remember their name unless they get 10 hours of sleep without a break.

How much sleep do I need?

The sleep cycle consists of five stages: four stages of non-REM sleep and REM sleep. We move quickly through the first stage, spend a short time in the second while the binaural beats slow down, move into the third and fourth stages of slow waves and finally reach the fifth stage - the REM phase.

This cycle is believed to repeat every 90 minutes. But, apparently, its duration can vary from 70 to 120 minutes. Just like with the required amount of daily sleep, the duration of this cycle is unique and different for everyone.

But we know for sure that we need 4-5 such cycles to get enough sleep. Because their duration varies, it is difficult to predict when exactly you will be between, say, the fourth and fifth cycles and when the ideal time to awaken will be.

But even this is not all: throughout the night, the duration of the cycles changes. It increases towards the middle of the night and falls towards the morning.

So what to do with this knowledge?

1. Don't believe statements like "You need N hours of sleep a night." Unless it's a recommendation from the specialist who just gave you an electroencephalogram.
2. Get some minimal technology that will help you track your sleep cycles and wake you up at the ideal time in the morning.

Technology is the only true way to track, control and understand your sleep cycles. But before you learn how to do this, you need to understand why this is needed at all.

Listen to your inner rhythms

Modern technology is one of the main reasons why we stop feeling our own. Gadgets, electronics, street lighting and all other objects that emit light disrupt our circadian rhythms and synchronization with sunset and dawn.

Circadian rhythms are controlled by a group of cells that stimulate the body's response to light signals. They send a message to the brain and cause the body to wake up, increase its temperature, produce necessary hormones (for example, cortisol) and reduce the production of unnecessary ones (for example, melatonin).

The problem is that we also react to artificial lighting. When you look at a bright smartphone screen at night, your body receives a signal: wake up and shine!

Technology is not the only one to blame for this, of course. Other factors, such as noise, hormones, exercise, and stimulants, also have a similar effect and disrupt circadian rhythms.

But there is also good news. For more than 6 million years, our ancestors learned to fall asleep during sunset. This means that to restore disrupted circadian rhythms, we need very little effort. You just need to avoid irritating factors. Electric lighting, for example, or light from a monitor.

Get busy with this. Don't exercise before bed, stop drinking coffee at night. Buy good earplugs and an eye mask. Finally, turn your bedroom into a place for relaxation, namely for deep, restful sleep.

Monitor your sleep

Finding a sleep monitoring gadget is not difficult. The market is filled with similar devices for almost any budget.

Or you don’t have to buy a new device, but install a good sleep tracking app. We liked the Sleep Cycle program. It uses your smartphone's accelerometer and microphone to track your sleep, movement and breathing.

Of course, you can try other applications or gadgets. The main thing you need to do is understand exactly how you sleep and how long your sleep cycles last.

Abstract advice like “sleep more” and “get enough sleep” has no basis. After all, no one knows exactly how much time you need to recover. Only you know how your body works.

At different times, scientists and simply brave experimenters looked for various ways to reduce the number of hours spent on sleep without harming the physical and mental state.

To reduce the duration of sleep, it is enough to ensure that even sleep lasting less than 8 hours brings rest and restores strength. And recommendations on how to do this have been known for a long time.

Maintaining a sleep-wake schedule

No matter how trite it sounds, but having gotten used to falling asleep and waking up at the same time, the body gets by with much less sleep, and the person feels more rested. You need to follow the regime regardless of whether you need to go to work, or whether it’s a bad day, or whether the person is on vacation or visiting, and this is sometimes the most difficult thing. After all, the temptation to “sleep it off” is so great! As a result, the well-functioning circadian rhythm gets disrupted and such sleep does not bring the desired additional benefit.

Go to bed earlier and get up earlier

Nighttime sleep should be between 10 pm and 6 am. Moreover, it is advisable to go to bed before midnight, then without any problems you can get up not only at 6, but even at 4 in the morning and feel rested. But this regime rarely suits most people who have left primary school age. They call the time before midnight “children’s” and stubbornly refuse to go to bed on the “Good night, kids!” program, and the price they pay for this is far from kind. By following this regimen, you can reduce the amount of sleep your body needs by 1-3 hours!

The importance of sleep is very great for people. During rest, not only does the whole body relax, but the brain also reboots. He processes the information received during the day, systematizes it, and makes room for new knowledge.

When there is a lack of time, the question often arises: how to sleep less and get enough sleep. These may be short-term difficulties when short sleep is necessary at a certain period, for example, a student has to study a lot. Or for some reason a short rest is required for a long time. A person tries to solve such a problem in various ways, using special techniques.

Is it possible to learn to sleep little and get enough sleep? This dilemma occurs very often. The most important thing is to figure out whether a short period of rest will harm the body.

There are a lot of opinions on this matter. It is imperative to consult with your doctor; he will be able to correctly assess whether there is a threat of harm to health in a particular situation.

Duration of normal sleep

Scientists believe that the normal duration of night rest for an adult is 8 hours. But not only the total time of this process is important, but also its quality.

Restless, intermittent sleep will bring little benefit compared to deep, full, but shorter sleep. Another one of the most important conditions is the same amount of rest and routine every day.

Chronic lack of sleep: consequences

If you have problems with rest, the question arises: what will happen if you don’t sleep enough every day. Constant lack of sleep has a negative impact on the human body: overstrain occurs, the nervous system is exhausted, increased nervousness occurs, it becomes difficult to concentrate, and performance is impaired.

Who sleeps little

The required amount of sleep is individual for each person. It is determined by the characteristics of the body. There are people who sleep less than generally accepted norms.

Margaret Thatcher claimed that she did not need to sleep more than 5 hours. Psychologist Abby Ross from Miami cannot bring herself to immerse herself in the arms of Morpheus for more than 4 hours. But singer Mariah Carey’s need to nap is up to 15 hours.

Learning to shorten your night's rest

Without the opportunity to rest for a long time, you can ensure good rest due to its quality. The task is to understand how to wake up in the morning refreshed if you sleep little.

To do this, you need to understand the structure of sleep and choose optimal conditions for rest. You should definitely create a daily routine and try to stick to it.

Choosing a time to fall asleep

Selecting the most optimal hours for rest is of great importance for quality sleep in a short time. This should be done experimentally. To do this, you need to choose one day in which you can allow yourself to stay awake for 24 hours.

Advice! The desire to sleep comes in waves. You need to write down what time, how long the drowsiness occurs, and its intensity. Having chosen the periods during which sleepiness was greatest, you should try to build your schedule so that you can rest during these intervals.

Conditions responsible for sleep

In order to get a good night's sleep, certain conditions must be created. It depends on them how calm and deep the sleep will be, and how early waking up will be easy and joyful. You need to worry about the following:

• comfortable place to relax;
• optimal temperature in the bedroom;
• ventilation before going to bed, if possible, a constant flow of fresh air;
• comfortable nightwear made of cotton;
• thick curtains on the windows;
• good soundproofing of the room;
• dinner should be light, no later than 2 hours before bedtime.

Creating such conditions will help you fall asleep quickly and rest peacefully. Before going to bed, it’s good to take a warm, relaxing bath, drink herbal tea, and do special yoga exercises. If you cannot create conditions of silence, you can use earplugs.

Dependence of awakening on sleep phase

Many people notice that after sleeping for a short time, they wake up cheerful and rested, but with a long rest they are likely to wake up exhausted and tired. It all depends on what phase the person woke up in. The division into slow and fast sleep is well known. Each period differs from the other in brain activity and ease of awakening. In a deep cycle, it is very difficult to switch to wakefulness; this is caused by the incompleteness of neurochemical processes.

With a slight degree of immersion, despite vivid images and events, you will feel good after the ascent and have an optimistic mood. But lack of REM sleep has a detrimental effect on mental health. It is at this time that the neural connections between consciousness and subconscious are restored.

It is important to know! A gadget was released in the form of a special alarm clock that distinguishes in which phase the sleeper is. The bracelet is worn on the hand, the device takes into account motor activity. A program is set with an approximate wake-up time, and the device will select the optimal moment to wake you up.

Proper nutrition

A proper diet will help you sleep less without harming your health. Much attention should be paid to breakfast, it recharges the body for the whole day. The arrival of food gives a signal for awakening and adjusts biorhythms to activity. For the stability of this process, you need to eat at the same time. Daily meals can be anything, the main thing is not to overeat.

Dinner should be light, no later than 3 hours before bedtime. If you feel hungry before lights out, you can indulge in a snack. During the day, under the influence of light, tryptophan contained in foods is converted into serotonin, and with the onset of darkness, melatonin is produced into the sleep hormone. It follows from this that you need to eat foods rich in this substance. These include:

• turkey meat;
• bread;
• porridge;
• milk;
• sesame;
• dates;
• peanut;
• legumes

During the day, such a menu will give you vigor and good mood, and in the dark it will help you have a quality rest. You don’t need a complex special diet; it’s enough to get into the habit of a nutritious, balanced diet. Products that can cause heaviness in the stomach and require prolonged digestion should be consumed in the first half of the day.

Dinner should be easily digestible. Chocolate and confectionery are eaten before 14-15 hours to prevent problems falling asleep.

The secret to taking a short break in old age

It is a well-known fact: older people sleep less than younger people. Scientists have determined that the duration of rest for the age group over 65 years is reduced by an average of an hour. If a person feels good at the same time, does not experience a constant feeling of fatigue, he does not want to doze off, he does not need correction. The decrease in sleep duration occurs gradually. It is caused by natural changes in the sleep-wake cycle.

The older you are, the less time your body needs to recover. Difficulties in adapting to this condition cause problems falling asleep. But it should be borne in mind that the reasons for short sleep duration and insomnia can be:

• depression;
• cardiovascular problems;
• periodic limb movement syndrome;
• apnea.

It is imperative to undergo an examination by a doctor to identify possible pathologies. Their treatment will help eliminate sleep problems. If the cause lies in normal age-related changes, special therapy is not required, only symptomatic help is possible.

REM sleep techniques: historical examples

How to learn to sleep less without losing performance? This can be learned from the example of many great people by studying their methods. They often used polyphasic sleep to spend more time working. This technique has many varieties and consists of short periods of rest at certain periods during the day. The total duration of naps is less than the average for a single night nap.

It is important to know! Leonardo da Vinci developed his own method of relaxation. He slept for 15 minutes every 4 hours, the rest of the time was devoted to creativity. Salvador Dali did not allow himself to fall into deep dreams at all. As soon as his muscles relaxed, he forced himself to return to wakefulness. Winston Churchill rested from 3 to 7 am, and then another 1 hour at night.

Conclusion

People decide how many hours to sleep in order to be alert in the morning based on their capabilities, individual characteristics, and health status. You can learn to get up early and get enough sleep, but you need to accustom yourself to this gradually and train your body. Such a restructuring is especially difficult if the person is a night owl.

To do this, you should create optimal conditions for relaxation. The quality of sleep is much more important for the full recovery of the body than its duration.

I will try to adhere to a certain structure of the narrative so that it is easy to perceive all the information.
Plan.
1. GENERAL THEORY ABOUT SLEEP (as well as known misconceptions about sleep)
2. MY DAILY ROUTINE (compiled using all sorts of articles, brochures and even one serious book)
3. COMBATING INSOMNIA (a common cause of lack of sleep) + what you can and cannot do before bed.
4. CONCLUSION AND WARNING
I recommend starting with the second part, leaving the first for last if you find the rest interesting.

I. GENERAL THEORY

That's not all there is to know in this part. First, I want to draw your attention to the effect of body temperature on your activity and sleepiness. The dependence is simple: the higher the temperature (within reasonable limits, of course) - the higher your activity. If you think that a person has a temperature of 36.6 during the day, you are mistaken. It jumps quite strongly, sometimes the amplitude is up to two degrees! (say from 36 to 38). Hence the conclusion. During the day, the temperature should be high so that the body works well, at night it should be low so that the brain can more enjoy the deep sleep phase.

And finally, a rather important thing is melatonin. Have you heard about this hormone? It is located in the pineal gland and, to a slightly lesser extent, in the retina. To briefly describe its influence on our topic: the more it stands out, the more we want to sleep. And it is released when our eyes are in conditions of lack of light (which is why it is sometimes called vampire hormone). And in bright light it, accordingly, is destroyed, i.e. what we need.

II. MY MODE

2) Exercise in the morning.
WHAT? Serious exercise, not lame 10 squats, bending to the floor and abs. Serious exercise that will make you sweat (don't forget to shower after). Personally, my program includes pull-ups, push-ups, a large number of abs, lifting weights (light, but many times), all this in fast mode for at least 20 minutes.
FOR WHAT? See part one. Exercise seriously increases body temperature, and therefore the performance of the body and brain, if it is part of your body.

3) Owner, we need more light.
WHAT? Yes, you need a lot of strong, bright light. Preferably real sunlight, if not possible, bright (naturally, not blinding) light in the workplace.
FOR WHAT? And again, see part one of my post. Melatonin is destroyed in the light, and you want to sleep less. If you don’t work in the brightest conditions, go for lunch somewhere outside (well, not when it’s -20 outside, of course).

4) Requires physical activity throughout the day.
WHAT? Well, if you have the opportunity to go for a run after work (or during class in general), go to the gym or pool.
FOR WHAT? All the same. Keep your body temperature high enough to keep your body active and your brain fresh.

5) Drink a lot of water
WHAT? Come on, don't pretend you didn't hear. This is said in many places, it is useful for many things. For sleep too.
FOR WHAT? The body needs a lot of water. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but at least a couple of liters a day just for the normal functioning of the kidneys and liver. When the body has enough of everything, it can relax enough during sleep.
P.S. We are talking about WATER, not just any liquid.

6) Do not drink: alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, energy drinks.
WHAT? Probably the most difficult thing, right? To be honest, I never smoked, I easily gave up caffeine and energy drinks (their taste never appealed to me), I couldn’t give up alcohol :) But I tried to reduce its consumption as much as possible.
FOR WHAT? The above substances/liquids have a very negative effect on your sleep system. The body cannot relax during sleep, and if you sit too hard on the last two, then even without them the body will no longer be able to gather itself. So it’s simple and not poetic.

7) If you feel sleepy at lunchtime, sleep... for 20 minutes. Maximum 30.
WHAT? Exactly. Again a reference to part one. During the day it’s quite possible to take a nap if you really can’t bear it. The main thing is to wake up BEFORE your body enters the deep sleep phase. Otherwise, the rest of the day will be a waste. I think you are familiar with the situation when you lay down and had a good sleep during the day, but still walk around tired.
FOR WHAT? In the REM sleep phase, which you should focus on in this case, the body also rests and relaxes well. By the way, it is after lunch that people tend to fall asleep; at this time, most people experience a slight drop in body temperature. Don't ask me what the reason is - I don't remember.
HOW? Well, you may not have the opportunity here. I personally do this if I'm on the bus. Soft chair + closed headphones = not such bad conditions for taking a nap. Don’t forget, the main thing is to set the alarm clock for a time in 25-30 minutes. If you have a lockable office at work and an hour lunch break, half of it can be used for sleep. Quite.

III. INSOMNIA AND SLEEP

1) A bed to sleep on!
WHAT? What I heard, there is no need to ask again every time. You only need to sleep on the bed and have sex. There is no need to read on the bed, make a home office out of the bed, or anything else.
FOR WHAT? The body should associate the bed with the place where you, %username%, sleep, and not wake.

2) You don’t sleep because you think, but you think because you don’t sleep.
FOR WHAT? Most often, what prevents us from falling asleep is the fact that we are lying in bed and thinking about something: about problems or victories, about the past and future day. This is natural; a person can only not think when he sleeps. But how can you sleep here?
WHAT? Try to unload your brain as much as possible 20 minutes before bedtime. Those. finish all your work, put away your documents, turn off the computer, TV and put away the chess. Just sit on the couch without straining your brain with reading or thinking.

3) Don't do anything before bed that will raise your body temperature.
WHAT? What hear. Contrary to superstitions, a hot bath and exercise will not give you sound sleep. On the contrary, your body temperature will not be able to drop properly and your sleep will not be as deep. But an hour and a half to two hours before bedtime, it’s quite possible to do something like this, because an unscheduled increase in temperature is followed by an unscheduled decrease, and that’s all we need.

4) Sleep in a cool room.
WHAT? Naturally, the temperature should be comfortable enough not to freeze, but cool
FOR WHAT? Well, how much can one say? Body temperature and depth of sleep are directly proportional. Thus, we lower body temperature by external means.

5) Sleep in complete darkness.
WHAT? Try not to let any light shine on you. Not from a lantern, not from the early rising sun, not from a light bulb or anything else.
FOR WHAT? So that you won't be noticed or woken up ahead of time :)

5) And important: if you can’t sleep, don’t sleep.
WHAT? FOR WHAT? HOW? And like this. If you've been lying in bed for 20 minutes and can't sleep, maybe you don't need it.

IV. CONCLUSION

Thanks, good luck. I hope the hellish work of writing (and most importantly, putting together) all this will not go unnoticed.

Once upon a time, I decided that life is too interesting to spend a third of it sleeping. Sleeping for 8-9 hours seemed too wasteful to me. And I decided that it was necessary, by all means, to learn to sleep 4, 5 or 6 hours and get enough sleep. Otherwise, what's the use of little sleep, if at the same time instead of sleep, I'll be like a zombie. That is, I wanted to get a full-fledged state of the body, but spend 1.5-2 times less time on sleep. So I started experimenting with sleep.

At first, I started trying different techniques, from the simple ones: just setting an alarm and waking up after 4 hours, to more complex ones, like short periods of sleep at a certain time. I’ll say right away that there are so many myths around this that most of what I tried turned out to be complete nonsense and some kind of dubious torment. As a result of such reductions in sleep, I wandered around like a zombie, not just for the 4 hours I didn’t get enough sleep, but generally all day. The productivity of many activities dropped, and my brain function was several times worse. And no special adaptations occurred. As a result, I came to the understanding that I need to build a practice of sleeping less for myself.
I started to approach this process wisely, trying different things and seeing what happened. And over time, I formed a series of actions into a certain system that can be used to minimize the amount of sleep without compromising wakefulness. Which is what I’ll tell you about now. With this system, you can reduce your sleep time almost at any time without any pain or serious restrictions.

Schedule for sleep
Surprisingly, the body can be accustomed to many things with a regular schedule. If you train your body to receive food at the same time, then you will feel hungry exactly at this time. If you train your body to go to bed and get up at the same time, it will also go into and out of a sleepy state at the same time. But you won’t be able to simply reduce the amount of sleep by 4 hours with a simple schedule. According to my personal observation, following a schedule gives a comfortable reduction in sleep by 30-45 minutes. In this case, you will not experience any discomfort while you are not sleeping.

Sleep between 22.00 and 06.00
It turned out that the time at which I slept played an extremely important role. For example, if I went to bed after 4-5 in the morning, then I could sleep for 8-9 hours straight, but I might not get enough sleep. If I went to bed at 11 pm, I could easily get up at 4-5 am without an alarm clock. Just because I had enough sleep and didn’t want to sleep anymore. Having studied the issue in more detail, I learned that this is due to the peculiarity of the production of certain substances in the body.
For example, melatonin is a hormone that is directly related to sleep and human circadian rhythms. With its deficiency, a person cannot plunge into the deep stages of sleep, in which all the main recovery processes take place. And the production of this hormone occurs somewhere from 23 to 3 am in complete darkness.
Perhaps I’m not entirely accurate in some ways, but definitely sleeping in this period of time (from 22.00 to 06.00) allows you to get enough sleep faster and better. In my experience, this moment reduces the amount of sleep by 1-3 hours, depending on your condition, fatigue and other characteristics. In addition, sleeping at this time is healthier than at any other time.

Don't eat 3-4 hours before bedtime
In general, the best effect was shown if you did not eat after 18.00. However, you don’t always go to bed according to a strict schedule, because we are all people, not robots. Therefore, I determined for myself that it is better not to eat for 3-4 hours. I even made special observations: if I ate strictly before bed, my sleep was restless, difficult, and I slept longer than usual. When I specifically didn’t eat for 4 hours, my sleep was more restful and deep, and I slept less than usual. Apparently, this is due to the fact that the body, in addition to sleep, also needs to spend energy on digesting food. In my experience, this reduces sleep time by 30-60 minutes. In addition, it will have a positive effect on your figure.

Sleep mask and earplugs
I’ll say right away that I personally don’t like earplugs, because I don’t like the fact that when I put them in my ears, I can’t hear anything, and I’m a little concerned about this fact, but many people find it suitable or just get used to it. I didn't get used to earplugs. But an eye mask and earplugs really allow you to sleep better and faster. As I understand it, largely due to the fact that you are not disturbed by any factors that cannot wake you up, but may prevent you from falling asleep deeply. A mask, for example, is also associated with the fact that light does not reach the pupil, which has a beneficial effect on the production of melatonin. But you have to get used to these accessories, both the mask and the earplugs.
Not everyone is ready to get used to it; I never wanted to get used to earplugs, although they work. An analogue of these accessories is a room for sleeping, without a single ray of light, so that it is really dark, as if a room without doors and without windows. And maximum soundproofing of this room from external sounds. And if the lack of light is solved by thick curtains on the windows, then you will have to seriously bother with sound insulation. The choice is yours.
A sleep mask and earplugs also reduce the amount of sleep by about 30-60 minutes. I don’t always sleep with a mask on, but if I want to get a better night’s sleep, especially during the day, I use it. In general, this is an indispensable accessory when traveling.

Regular exercise and healthy eating
Logically, any stress should result in you needing more rest. Maybe this is true for professional athletes who spend 4-5 hours every day on exhausting training, I don’t know. But definitely, moderate active sports 3-4 times a week, to keep myself in good shape, for some reason affects the fact that I get better and faster sleep. Nutrition also has a positive effect on sleep; if I eat a lot of fast carbohydrates like sugar, chocolates, buns and other things, then I sleep longer. If my diet is balanced and rational, I eat complex carbohydrates such as cereals, vegetables, fruits, enough protein and a moderate amount of fat, then I sleep better and less.
So proper nutrition and regular exercise for tone have a positive effect on the quality and quantity of sleep. I think, in general, a healthy lifestyle has a positive impact not only on sleep, but also on health and quality of life. I would, of course, talk about alcohol and smoking, but I don’t smoke or drink, well, that is, at all. Therefore, I can’t say how it affects sleep, but I didn’t have such a desire to specifically drink or smoke and see if it had an effect on sleep.
According to my observations, it reduces time by 30-45 minutes.

As you can already understand, having read this far, I am against martyrdom schemes where you need to force yourself not to sleep, I am for a natural decrease in sleep, if necessary, so that I can, without suffering and without experiencing severe discomfort, reduce my sleep time in those moments when it's necessary. Naturally.
If you sum up all the effects, it turns out that in total you can reduce the amount of sleep by 2.5-7 hours, but it doesn’t work like that, as you understand, and it’s naturally impossible to sleep 1 hour a day. Separately, with each option, you can achieve maximum results. But you can’t sum it all up. Since, apparently, there are some kind of compensation mechanisms, and if you use all the options, then there will be not an amount, but some other value.

I, summing up all the components, naturally reduced my sleep by 2-4 hours, depending on the specific day and specific condition. It is likely that you can achieve the same, although perhaps reducing your sleep by just 1 hour or 30 minutes. I think it's all individual. However, no matter how much you reduce your sleep, it will be a natural reduction. That is, you will not torture yourself in order to sleep less, the body itself will wake you up and save your time. In other words, the main benefit is that the goal is not to reduce your sleep time as much as possible, but to allow that sleep to naturally decrease without affecting your quality of life when you're not sleeping. Therefore, it does not matter whether you reduce your sleep by 4 hours or only by 1 hour. You will still receive this time as full active time, and not as a zombie state.
I also admit that for those who may find any of the points laborious and require some getting used to, it is not necessary to use all of them. The good thing about these methods is that they can be used both in combination and separately. And they will still serve our purpose. And they can be used at any time, which is their additional charm and difference from a bunch of restrictive methods. Also, out of habit, for some time, before natural adaptation, I sometimes experienced slight drowsiness in the late afternoon, when the number of waking hours exceeded what it was before. But this was only when I was not doing anything, just sitting or lying down. Also, adaptation took place quite quickly and all this disappeared.

In general, with these simple methods you can sleep 4-6 hours a day and still get enough sleep; for example, I generally get up without an alarm clock, knowing approximately what time my body will wake me up when I’ve had enough sleep. And I only use the alarm clock as a last resort. In general, now, I do not adhere to the idea of ​​sleeping for 4 hours on purpose and sleep as much only if my body wants it or when I am forced to do it. But this is a topic for a separate article. I think it’s not worth burdening you with more material, but I answered the question of how to sleep four to six hours and get enough sleep. You can ask any questions in the comments, I will be happy to answer.