If you’re like me, you’ve probably done your research. Heck, your research probably includes reading this blog! You, like me, want to know when is the best time to sleep. You want to know when is the best time to go to sleep and when is the best time to wake up. In general, you want to know when are you going to get your best sleep. I found the answer! You aren’t going to like it, though, because the answer is...there is no right answer for everyone. That’s right. In all of my research, I didn’t find any compelling evidence to prove that going to bed at one specific time or waking up at one specific time would be the ideal or preferred time for everyone.
There was some consistency, though. In my reading, it seemed that most authors suggested that we need approximately 8 hours of sleep. The keyword is “approximately” because some people will only need 7 hours of sleep, and others will need 9 hours. They seemed to agree that to get the proper amount of sleep, you should determine the time you need to wake up and count back 8 hours (or 7, or 9, depending on your needs) to determine what time you should go to sleep. Based on needing 8 hours sleep, if you want to wake at 8 AM, then midnight might be your ideal bedtime; if 7 AM is your morning call, then 11 PM is your bedtime; and so on.