Singlehanded full night sleep?

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Tonali99

6 on/off is prettty good. Had a capt. who loved the 4. Not enough time to do anything useful, like sleep till rotation came around and you got more.
Talkative? Perhaps, but it ain't me.

If you don't get much sleep, you'll hear a lot of folks talking to you from the waves late at night. They probably just appreciate someone they can have a real conversation with.

[gulfcoastsailor]

There is an Oxy-Moron in that somewhere.

[GordMay]

Seven hours’ sleep is ideal amount in middle to old age, study finds

Seven hours of sleep each night is the ideal amount in middle to old age, research [1] suggests.
The study [1] of nearly 500,000 adults aged between 38 and 73 found that both too much and too little sleep were linked with worse cognitive performance and mental health, including anxiety and depression. A consistent amount of sleep also appeared to be beneficial.

More reporting about ➥ https://www.theguardian.com/science/...ge-study-finds

[1] “The brain structure and genetic mechanisms underlying the nonlinear association between sleep duration, cognition and mental health” ~ by Yuzhu Li et al
➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s435...heguardian.com

[Happ]

Originally Posted by Allied39

Single hand sailing is most definately not for most sailors.
A freighter hit a boat once so gee, better not risk that. Hmmm.

Those of us that are comfortable with single handing all have our own comfort levels and ways of doing things. I don't judge what others do when single handing, each to their own.

I sleep as much as I can for one hr periods if situation allows, which it does a lot when offshore. I find I am mostly well rested.

I turn off the alarms when becalmed and get longer sleep. If at night I light her up with spreader lights and anchor light....no nav or steaming.

A full nights sleep.....very unlikely because when offshore all my senses are on alert anyway....and besides, I have likely been getting enough sleep.

This allows me to be able to deal with longer periods without sleep if things take a bad turn and still keep logical thinking abilities.

Just answering the OP's question, I do not care to argue with the haters or deal with the trolls.

I agree with you 100%. The change I would make from your approach I never sleep in a shipping lane except for 20-30 minutes. I do leave my alarms on though. I can’t say how many times I have talked to people who have sailed a long distance who go for weeks without seeing a ship!

[GordMay]

On the other hand ...
It’s Possible to Get Too Much Sleep, But Don’t Let That Keep You Up at Night

At this point we should all know that we need to get about eight hours of sleep per night. Any less and you’re functioning below normal. But what about more? Is it possible to get too much rest?
A 2019 study [1] suggests that yes, getting nine or more hours of sleep per night might also be unhealthy.

Researchers from around the world gathered data from 116,632 people in 21 countries, each of whom they followed for about 7.8 years to see whether the amount they slept correlated with their overall risk of mortality (their likelihood of dying during the course of the study). They published their results [1] in the European Heart Journal, which showed what epidemiologists call a J-shaped curve.

The phenomenon refers to there being a point in a graph of mortality where the risk is minimized. In this case, that’d be right around eight hours of sleep. As you head down on the chart toward fewer hours of sleep, the risk of death increases for a whole host of reasons, but there’s also a rising risk as you increase the amount of sleep.


[1] “Association of estimated sleep duration and naps with mortality and cardiovascular events: a study of 116 632 people from 21 countries” ~ by Chuangshi Wang et al

"... Conclusions
Estimated total sleep duration of 6–8 h per day is associated with the lowest risk of deaths and major cardiovascular events. Daytime napping is associated with increased risks of major cardiovascular events and deaths in those with >6 h of nighttime sleep but not in those sleeping ≤6 h/night..."

STUDY ➥ https://academic.oup.com/HTTPHandler...hy695zj5229545

[GordMay]

Chinstrap penguins [Pygoscelis antarcticus] would make ideal solo/singlehanders.

Evidently, they sleep more than 10,000 times a day, for an average of 4 seconds at a time.

Researchers, wanting to understand penguin sleep, observed 14 birds, over 10 days, and found that the most they ever slept for, was a 34-second snooze — though the microsleeps add up to more than 11 hours of daily rest.
More about ➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03751-7

“Nesting chinstrap penguins accrue large quantities of sleep through seconds-long microsleeps” ~ by P.-A. Libourel et al
Research Article ➥ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh0771

[Rockinar]

Driving down any freeway in America is 1000% more dangerous than solo sailing. Ill take my chances with a tanker on the ocean than a teen on a cell phone next to me on the freeway.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Rockinar

Driving down any freeway in America is 1000% more dangerous than solo sailing. Ill take my chances with a tanker on the ocean than a teen on a cell phone next to me on the freeway.

Very good point.

[RaymondR]

I've done both the heave-to and slowly sail through the night. On the sail through the night I sleep in the cockpit with a harness on and if heaving-to I'll go down to my bunk.

I have found that I tend to awaken for any change in the sound spectrum whilst sailing which is why I sleep in the cockpit. Also found that, sea room eing available, heaving-to can give a better nights sleep than being anchored in a rolly anchorage.

[Windpilot]

During my 24 day return, Hawaii to CA singlehanded, I actually put my ear up against the helm vhf, I could have swore the am talk radio was coming from there.
Mid Pacific i slept 2 to 3 hours deep sleep 2 to 3 times per 24 hours. Biggest stretch was 5 hours in really nice light conditions. My boat always woke me up when it needed something if you know what I mean and I also used mostly ais alarm, I have the transponder and also radar with alarm though I rarely used that.