TheBritishGent

Just done my PhD in sleep- 5-6hrs in a pitch black room is better. Less chance of light affecting the natural sleep cycle and 6hrs is somewhat sufficient (majority of the british population are only sleeping 6h).

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To explain a little more, I'm interpreting the question as if you had a 5-6h or an 8h window to sleep in, which would be better. I'd say the 5-6h sleep window would be better as there is less chance of sleep disturbances. If we are talking about 5-6h of continuous sleep or 8h of continuous sleep, 8h is better but it still does vary person to person.

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To clarify a little further, what I consider a bright room is what the room is during the day without strong sunlight coming in and with no lights on, and I'm interpreting the original question as that for 8h. If the room is dark between say 10pm-6am, that's fine.

Thesis was on the role of sleep in multi-item events and how sleep can help form connections between them as well as how sleep can change these connections (my primary interest is sleep and false memory generation :) )

Noise is a tricky one. For the most part it can cause initial disruption of sleep as you are unfamiliar with it but over time you become used to it and it typically no longer has an effect.

Is the music still on when you wake up? If so, yep! If the music is still on then you are just adding to the ambient noise and while in some cases that can wake you up, it isn't guaranteed. My advice would be to set your music on a timer for 3-4h after you think you sleep (e.g., my gf sets music to be on from 10pm-3am when I'm out testing, that way she still has silence in the morning for her alarm). If you can't do without music then try to get a REALLY distinct alarm noise. Personally I use the ROCK CLOCK app. Nothing wakes you up like Dwayne Johnson yelling "BEEP BEEP BEEP, I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY, BEEP BEEP" at you.

Just finished a PhD in sleep- Your* brain is processing and consolidating information and creating links between it all. It's essential for the development of cognition. My best advice for sleeping with minimal hrs (although I naturally recommend 7 hrs) is if you are only on about napping to ensure that sleep contains Slow Wave Sleep (Deep/Restorative Sleep), which typically occurs about 20-30 mins after sleep onset and lasts for 20-30 mins.

*corrected you're to your

Technically yes- I needed to be awake in order to ensure the participants were awake. I've currently been awake for just over 30 hrs.