I’ve learnt a little about sleep cycles and remember that every 90 minutes is when we move through the 5 stages of sleep, but I’ve also heard it’s recommended to have 8 hours of sleep. Wouldn’t that make you feel drowsy if you’re interrupting the sleep cycle when you wake up after 8 hours?
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I took a few courses on sleep in college and as others are saying here, 8 hours is just a nice catchphrase for an average persons time in bed.
You’re right that you do want to wake up naturally at the end of a cycle, but sleep isn’t just constant cycles after another. Depending on what’s going on with you personally it takes time to fall asleep, transition from stage 1 to stage 2, how many REM cycles your body needs, if you’ve been sleep deprived, etc..
For example I know 7 and a half hours is ideal for me, but during times that I’m sleep deprived that number shifts.
In the end, “8 hours” is just a generic term, not a real recommendation. You should ideally just let your body wake up when it will, and track how long you as an individual tend to sleep for
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