The best article I’ve been able to find on sleep and longevity is one from 2014. If anyone here has more current information please share. Sleep obviously seems to be a vital pillar for health and longevity so I’m curious where all of you rank it in importance compared to other lifestyle measures like fitness, diet, body composition etc. I’ve got everything pretty dialed in but I’m about to go back to work and will be on-call all night for 50% of the year. I’m trying to gauge how much sleep disruption I should tolerate! Thanks for any input. Your thoughts and opinions matter to me. 
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Forget diet and exercise - the key is “all night on call.” Disruption of circadian rythyms is a major health issue, especially if it is 50% of the time and you are trying to live a normal life on the other 50%. I once worked an 11 pm to 7 am shift for the better part of a year. At 3 am your body slows down like when you are asleep - its why there are so many accidents among night workers. You an use a bright light to try and trick your body but its hit and miss.
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Thanks Uppereast69, I did 12 hour nights off and on for 20 years and couldn’t agree more with what you said. My husband lost his job so I just took the first one I could find.
I’m guessing you rank sleep as #1? I’ll be working normal 8 hour days and sharing after hours calls with one other person. I did the job for 4 months in 2022 and never had to go out -just answer my phone. That was honestly bad enough.
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I’ve suggested it elsewhere in the forum, still I highly recommend Mathew Walker’s “Why We Sleep - Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams”.
It will terrify you.
Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don’t sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remained elusive.
An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming. Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming mollifies painful memories and creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge to inspire creativity.
Walker answers important questions about sleep: how do caffeine and alcohol affect sleep? What really happens during REM sleep? Why do our sleep patterns change across a lifetime? How do common sleep aids affect us and can they do long-term damage? Charting cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and synthesizing decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; increase longevity; enhance the education and lifespan of our children, and boost the efficiency, success, and productivity of our businesses. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book.
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Sorry about your husband losing his job. I’m sure that is very stressful.
Obviously, not having enough income coming in would bring a different kind of unhealthy stress, so you do what you have to do. I’d suggest to keep looking for other alternatives while you are working there in the hopes that it won’t be a long term situation.
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Interesting post. Thanks for sharing your situation.
One can sleep 7 to 9 hours, uninterrupted sleep, and wake up fatigued & depressed due to various health issues.
Other’s can sleep 5 to 6 hours and wake up feeling great & refreshed.
Is there a minimal time of sleep? I don’t know.
I’ve heard some high level people mention 3-4 hours of sleep a night, but I don’t know if they do this for long term or not. Or what type of medications they are using lol.
Certain longevity meds (or other meds) might tighten up circadian cycle (IMO) = less sleep needed, while maintaining good health.
For what one can tolerate might be based on things like:
Tracking sleep quality with a wearable device, blood tests, logging how you feel in the day (energy, mood, strength etc), imaging tests, or anything else that might be a good health measurement.
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Thanks @Alpha I will read the book and plan on the job being short term or possibly transferring into a role that doesn’t require on call.
Thanks for your kind words @Beth. We were doing fine on one income and I’ve been exploring a change in career paths so I’ll continue to do so with sleep as my main motivator!
@Ambient, I’ve read about people who get by seemingly fine on very little sleep like the current US president for example. I believe someone on this site mentioned that it’s genetic. I do personally prefer 7 hours uninterrupted.
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