2 current IBankers: how much do you on average sleep?

In a long run (over at least 3 - 6 months) how many hours a day do you get to sleep? Obviously IBankers have extremely busy weeks, when free time is luxury, but in general, how many hours a day do you get to sleep?

I am trying to get myself used to sleeping 6, 7 hours a day tops.

 

If given the opportunity to sleep as much as I need, I typically don't sleep more than 7 hours. I may sleep 8 if I had a really poor night sleep the prior couple of days. Given the slowdown, I'm usually home early enough that I can decide when I want to go to bed. Back when the economy was booming and deals were going left and right, I'd find myself with weeks in a row where I was limited to 4-5 hours a night max, maybe with an all-nighter here or there.

~~~~~~~~~~~ CompBanker

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Thanks CompBanker. So basically right now I need to aim at 6 hours. And wow dipset1011, I am so jealous of 5 hours. I need to train my body to get used to sleeping 7 hours only. Hopefully in a year I'll be able to lower this number to 6. If I ever get into IBanking, I'd probably have to stop doing competitive weightlifting.

 
Thanks CompBanker. So basically right now I need to aim at 6 hours. And wow dipset1011, I am so jealous of 5 hours. I need to train my body to get used to sleeping 7 hours only. Hopefully in a year I'll be able to lower this number to 6. If I ever get into IBanking, I'd probably have to stop doing competitive weightlifting.

Derrr ya think? Besides, why do you want to "train" to go off minimal sleep when you don't have to. It's stupid to do that if you don't need to. It's terrible for your body, especially if you're a powerlifter (but you should know this).

 
Best Response

Depends on the week; generally, things are slower, so I can get as much sleep as I need. This week I think I've averaged around 4-5 hrs per night, but usually I can get as much as I need (6-8 hrs).

Training yourself to get less sleep is stupid if you're doing it b/c you really want to be an i-banker. Do it because you want to hang out with your friends more, or because you want to get more done during the day. Don't do it solely because you want to be an i-banker.

Also, when you have a ton of shit due the next day, you will stay awake because of adrenaline, not because you trained your body prior to beginning your analyst stint. It's like cramming for finals: you can do it when you have to, but if you don't have to, it's difficult to get your body to do it. In past weeks when things have been slower, I doubt I could have forced myself to get by on only 4-5 hrs per night, but this week I had to, so my body adjusted.

 

I'm also at 4-5 a night this week, even though I'm not really working on anything substantive.

Anyway, dont try to get used to it. In fact, get as much sleep as you can before you start IB. As F9 said, you'll adapt when you have to. You might as well enjoy it while you still have the chance

 

The other thing that wasn't mentioned is the fact that you UNadapt very quickly. You can be working 100 hour weeks for a month or two straight, then all of a sudden you have a slow 60 hour week, and you have to adjust all over again when things pick up. Don't try to "practice" not getting a lot of sleep, you'll just feel like crap all the time for no reason. Besides, staying up late watching TV is nothing compared to staying up late, trying to focus on a document, and knowing that you can't go home until your work is finished versus being able to go to bed if you get too exhausted.

~~~~~~~~~~~ CompBanker

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

god , i really need my 8 hours. i hope i can manage the hours... i am more efficient than all my peers at college (really) so i hope i could sleep like 1 more hour per night than other analysts.

ps. i usually sleep 6 hours a day at college or less, but i really need my 8 hour sleep. btw, i hate waking up in the morning, i hate especially that stupid sound of the alarm. thinking about getting like a radio alarm or something and put it way far from my bed so that i will need to get off bed to shut it off. what do you guys think?

 

sorry there...but you're not going to be able to consistently leave earlier than the other analysts and not get shit for it. it's the beauty of face time.

also though, you may be the most efficient guy in the office, but if you have no work to do all day, and then at 10 pm your associate drops something on you and wants it done by the next morning...

a lot of people are really efficient (especially type A bankers)--but it's not inefficiency that's keeping bankers in the office so late. it's the amount of work, the irregularity of when it's assigned to you, and the quick turnaround required.

 

Right now I get about 6 hours a night..whether im working late or just watching tv i can never make myself go to bed before 12. And even on the weekends when im able to sleep in, i cant sleep past 10am..so in order for me to catch up on my sleep i have to go to bed early the night before, which is a rare thing. And yes F9 is right, if you worked a 15-16 hour day and know that more shit needs to be done the next morning or ur just worried if everything that you did was good or not, it will keep you up till 2am at least..and then u'll naturally wake up 30 minutes before ur alarm is supposed to go off, sometimes adrenaline does amazing things to you

 

Right now I get about 6 hours a night..whether im working late or just watching tv i can never make myself go to bed before 12. And even on the weekends when im able to sleep in, i cant sleep past 10am..so in order for me to catch up on my sleep i have to go to bed early the night before, which is a rare thing. And yes F9 is right, if you worked a 15-16 hour day and know that more shit needs to be done the next morning or ur just worried if everything that you did was good or not, it will keep you up till 2am at least..and then u'll naturally wake up 30 minutes before ur alarm is supposed to go off, sometimes adrenaline does amazing things to you

 

Right now I get about 6 hours a night..whether im working late or just watching tv i can never make myself go to bed before 12. And even on the weekends when im able to sleep in, i cant sleep past 10am..so in order for me to catch up on my sleep i have to go to bed early the night before, which is a rare thing. And yes F9 is right, if you worked a 15-16 hour day and know that more shit needs to be done the next morning or ur just worried if everything that you did was good or not, it will keep you up till 2am at least..and then u'll naturally wake up 30 minutes before ur alarm is supposed to go off, sometimes adrenaline does amazing things to you

 

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