SHORT SLEEPERS
Natural "short sleepers," as they're
officially known, are night owls and early birds simultaneously. They typically turn in well after midnight, and then get up
just a few hours later and barrel through the day without needing to take naps or load up on caffeine.
They are also energetic, outgoing, and Optimistic and ambitious, according to the few researchers
who have studied them. The pattern sometimes starts in childhood and often runs in families.
Melinda Day, Weber University and presently president
of the American Academy of Sleepers explains, “For a small number of people getting a full night
of sleep is a waste of time. While it's unclear if all short sleepers, short or tall makes no difference,
the high achievers, do have more time in the day to do things, and keep finding more interesting things to do
than sleep, often doing several things at once. No one person
knows how many natural short sleepers are out there, but there aren't nearly as many as there are people who think they're short sleepers.
Out of every
100 people who believe they only need five or six hours of sleep a night, only
about five people really do.
The rest end up chronically sleep deprived, part of the one-third of U.S.
adults who get less than the
recommended seven hours of sleep per night. To date, only a handful of small studies have looked at short sleepers—in part because
they're hard to find. They rarely go to sleep clinics and don't think they have a disorder. A few studies
have suggested that some short sleepers may have hypomania, a mild form of mania with racing thoughts
and few inhibitions. "These people talk fast. They never stop. They're always on the up side of
life."
He was one of the authors of a 2001 study that
had 12 confirmed short sleepers and 12 controlsubjects keep diaries and complete numerous questionnaires
about their work, sleep and living habits. One survey dubbed "Attitude for Life" that was
actually a test for hypomania. The natural short sleepers scored twice as high as the controls. There is currently no
way people can teach themselves to be short sleepers. Still, scientists hope that by studying short
sleepers, they can better understand how the body regulates sleep and why sleep needs vary so much in humans.
Normal Sleeper
Most adults have normal sleep needs, functioning best with 7 to 9 hours of
sleep, And about two-thirds of Americans regularly get it. Children
fare better with 8 to 12 hours, and elderly people may need only 6 to 7.
Wannabe Short
Sleepers: One-third of Americans are
sleep deprived, regularly getting less than 7 hours a night, which puts them at higher risk of diabetes,
obesity, high blood pressure and other health problems.
Short, sleepers, about 1% to 3% of the
population, function well on less than 6 hours of sleep without being tired during the day. They tend to be unusually
energetic and outgoing. Geneticists who spotted a gene variation in short sleepers were able to
replicate it in mice—which needed less sleep than usual, too. My long-term goal is to someday learn enough
so we can manipulate the sleep pathways without damaging our health. Everybody can use more waking hours,
even if you just watch movies."
Ying-Hue Fu, human
geneticist at the University of San Francisco. Dr. Fu was part of a research
team that discovered a gene variation, hDEC2, in a pair of short
sleepers in 2005. They were studying extreme early birds when they when they noticed that two of their
subjects, a mother and daughter, got up naturally about 4 a.m. but also went to bed past midnight.
Genetic analyses spotted one gene variation common to them both. The scientists were able to replicate
the gene variation in a strain of mice and found that the mice needed less sleep than usual, too.
Dr. KARL WALLACE DDS
Are you a short
sleeper? For more information contact:
Dr. KARL WALLACE DDS At:
drkarlwallace@gmail.com
