I vary my sleep schedule a lot. I'm 40. I've given up on any hope of reducing the amount of sleep I get without bad effects. I do believe you can manage when you sleep to maximize productivity, though.
I have a 6 year old son, and I lie down for a nap when he goes to bed between 8.30 and 9pm - it's convenient timing. I tend to aim for 90 minutes. If the alarm wakes me, it wakes me, and I'll stay up for 2-3 hours and if I feel I have the energy I load up on caffeine and stay up all night. The next couple of nights I'll probably sleep straight through from my nap time and never notice the alarms, or at most wake up briefly.
The end effect for me is that I regularly get 6-8 hour long concentrated periods at night where I feel rested and alert, and still have enough energy to last it through the work day and early evening afterwards.
With the caveat that any deficit accumulates. If I don't "pay for it" immediately I'll feel more and more tired as the days goes by and end up taking a week or so of going to bed early to recover. That part was easier to avoid when I was younger.
I have a 6 year old son, and I lie down for a nap when he goes to bed between 8.30 and 9pm - it's convenient timing. I tend to aim for 90 minutes. If the alarm wakes me, it wakes me, and I'll stay up for 2-3 hours and if I feel I have the energy I load up on caffeine and stay up all night. The next couple of nights I'll probably sleep straight through from my nap time and never notice the alarms, or at most wake up briefly.
The end effect for me is that I regularly get 6-8 hour long concentrated periods at night where I feel rested and alert, and still have enough energy to last it through the work day and early evening afterwards.
With the caveat that any deficit accumulates. If I don't "pay for it" immediately I'll feel more and more tired as the days goes by and end up taking a week or so of going to bed early to recover. That part was easier to avoid when I was younger.