He or she might start by checking your weight and height, as well as your blood pressure and maybe your temperature. 1  Blood pressure: This shows how hard your heart is pumping blood throughout your body. A cuff that gets tighter and tighter on your arm is used to measure this.
And people who sleep 8 hr. or more, or less than 6.5 hr., they don't live quite as long. There is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping too short. The big surprise is that long sleep seems to start at 8 hr. Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr.
Assess Your Sleep Needs. Many people routinely get six hours of sleep each night, but only a few of those people can perform well with that little sleep.Dr. The Takeaway. Although there is some genetic variation, most adults need between 7.5 to 8.5 hours of sleep per 24-hour period to function optimally.