Between your schedule, OT, court, and family I imagine LEOs often have to sacrifice sleep a lot.
How many hours would you say you usually get? Is it enough or are you chronically tired and downing energy drinks?
On average, how many hours of sleep are you able to get?
r/AskLE
Comments
4-6
I think theres a reason most cops have an addiction to energy drinks, nicotine, or both
6 on a good day.
Doesn’t matter if I sleep for 4 hours, or 10. I’m popping a Zyn while making coffee when I get up.
6 hours normally. Day shift with a 90 min commute home with 3 kids. You get used to it within 4-6 months
I generally try to have from 9am to 5pm blocked off for sleep. I can’t always stay asleep the whole time, but it’s available more often than not. If I’m working OT I barely have time for 6 hours with the commute.
I get 8 to 10 hours a night. I love my sleep.
4 hours a day. My apartment’s still putting out heat despite it being 80 degrees outside, and the sun’s azimuth has rendered my makeshift blackout curtains minimally effective.
My guess is most get 5-6 a night. I recently have switched to a day shift and cut back on OT and I’m probably at 7. It feels amazing lol. Lack of sleep is something that I came to terms with prior to being on the job after hearing stories from family members who were police. You get used to it. My wife even after all these years is still amazed how I can function on little to no sleep. Came in really handy with our first kid lol.
4 to 6 hours.
5-6 on average, likely dropped to 4 if I was on call.
8 hours easy, could get more.
6, 7 on occasion. But, 6 90 percent of the time
I’m a 2nd shifter with no kids. I sleep between 8-10 hours a night with ease.
I get home at 1015pm, I drink a couple beers, play some BO6, go to sleep at midnight, wake up between 9-11am.
3
Never enough is the only correct answer.
Solid eight hours. Sleep is the one thing that you can’t cheat your body on. Don’t think you can skimp on sleep, you won’t win.
6 is the perfect amount of sleep required to operate for me, along with an energy drink to start the day shift, or to keep me powered through during the last half of overnights.
6-7. 25 years all on night shift to avoid traffic so I can get home to sleep.
During my patrol years I worked a shift we called Baker Shift which supplemented evenings and the graveyard shift by working 2000-0400. I worked this shift permanently for three years to finish college.
I would get off at 0400 and was home asleep by 0445. Get 2-3 hours of sleep go to classes. Be back home by noon and start or finish any homework and sleep for 3 hours and get ready for work.
I was averaging 4-5 hours of broken sleep. By the time my Friday hit I was exhausted. On my days off I did school work and slept. I had no social life unless I took vacation or a personal day.
There were shifts we would get OT and I would go straight from work to school then home and get whatever sleep I could get. Luckily I had a partner that would let me nod off but it was broken sleep at best since I was able to “listen” to the radio in my sleep. If you worked patrol you know what I mean.
I think the only reason my body didn’t break down was I was in my early twenties. It made graduating all the better knowing what I had to endure to get my degree. When I went back for my Masters it was cake since graduate school all my classes were in the evening.
6-8 on a good day. 4 or less on mandatory OT as of late…
Unless I have court and work on the same day, I always get 8 hours
Most days I sleep until I naturally wake up, anywhere from 6 to 9 hours. Some days are cut short, but that’s usually me trying to do stuff with friends or my wife before work.
6-7 typically. 8 on my days off.