If I sleep for 10 hours, I'm no good for the rest of the day. It seems to make me sluggish. I really think I need less sleep than most. I am very happy with 8 hours, but still happy with a little less. Lately, however, I've been getting only a little over half that much. Woe is me.

If I only got 4 hours of sleep, I'd be a zombie. Scratch that. I'd be narcoleptic! All falling asleep standing up or while talking. I wish I didn't need so much sleep.

Who are you long sleepers?!

Unless I'm sick or it's winter, more than 7-7.5 hours a night and I wake up with a wicked headache that lasts throughout the day. I''m also crankier. The Other Half, however, can easily sleep 12-14 hours a day, and I do mean day, he's the very idea of a night owl. He is, in fact, sleeping right now.

Now, having said all that, I have noticed that since I've moved back to the US my sleep patterns have changed again. I should add that I grew up in the country w/out electricity (no running water, either, apart from the kind that freezes over in winter), so I got plenty of good sleep and a lot of exercise. I was thin before we moved to the country, and fat afterwards, although I believe that's when my starvation gene kicked in (we weren't starving, but lack of electricity= no refrigerator = non-perishable foods like powdered milk and 2lb bags of puffed rice, spaghetti sauce sandwiches, etc), fatter still when we moved back to 'the city' and I went back on a 'regular' diet.

In any case, while I was living overseas, closer to the Arctic circle, I had a lot of trouble in the summer. Twilight started 10PM, 'mostly dark' started around midnight, and 'dawn' appeared around 2AM. Unfortunately my last job before moving overseas had been as a baker, which required, of course, being in the kitchen by 7AM. I quickly got used to being up either before or shortly after dawn, depending on the season, so when dawn arrived at 2AM, I simply couldn't get back to sleep - and that was with blackout shades! Winter, however, ah, that was lovely. Nice and dark for most of the day, I slept so well, could easily sleep 8-9 hours a night. Fond memories.

Now that I've returned to the US, however, and am back living in the country (yay!), I've found that my old sleep patterns have re-emerged. That is, as spring and summer have progressed, I'm waking earlier and earlier, generally before dawn (one bedroom window faces northeast, the others northwest). Sometimes I doze for the next few hours, waking up every 15-20 minutes or so before rising, other times I just get up and go garden or do laundry or something.

I've also found myself naturally taking a nap around 2pm for about 45 minutes. Which is interesting, because in the past, napping has made me logy and cranky, whereas now I just feel normal. Oh, we also have no curtains on our windows, which I personally love, because I love natural light. I wait as long as I can before turning on the lights, and even then, the bulbs are no more than 25-40 watts, as we like soft light. My point is that when I nap, I'm in our south-facing living room, which has 6 large windows...how on earth am I able to nap in full sunlight? Especially when I require darkness, coolness, and near silence at night?

It's funny, but when I was in high school and we all had weekend camping trips, I noticed that we were all in our sleeping bags by 6pm and inevitably woke at dawn. Makes me wonder how people sleep when 'camping' in trailers with tv's and bug zappers...

M

When T.S. WIley was writing Lights Out, she visited Tim Wehr atr the NIH, who had done a lot of research on sleep and health. When she asked him why the (US) government, which paid for this research, did not encourage him to release it to the public, his only response was, "It wouldn't make any difference."

There is a lot of truth in what you said, but the good news is that the forces that suppress things for economic reasons eventually lose. The story gets out anyway, as these recent articles Demi posted show. But since T.S. Wiley is my wife, I sort of resent that she never gets credit. But that's how big science works - it's a big business too.

Thanks for the info - I just ordered it. I've been having trouble sleeping since January!

The Telegraph
London, UK
4 uly, 2007

Weekend lie-in fails to make up for long hours in the week

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

Workaholics are fooling themselves if they think a weekend lie-in can make up for lost sleep.

The first hard evidence has emerged that we are unable to catch up on lost sleep if it happens night after night - increasing the risk of obesity, heart disease and depression, while cutting mental dexterity.

While our bodies try to catch up on occasional loss by making us sleep more and/or more deeply the following night, this mechanism breaks down when there is chronic deprivation, say researchers at Northwestern University, Illinois.

They report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that when rats are partially sleep deprived over consecutive days they no longer attempt to catch up, despite an accumulating sleep deficit. "The ability to compensate for lost sleep is itself lost, which is damaging both physically and mentally," said Prof Fred Turek.

Scientists estimate that in the 1960s people slept for more than eight hours. Now we are sleeping for about six. Symptoms of deprivation include weight gain, irritability, hallucinations and depression, said Prof Russell Foster, of Oxford University. It also impairs the ability of the brain to innovate.

The effect is pernicious, he said, because sleep-restricted people report not feeling sleepy, even though their performance on tasks declines markedly.

Prof Foster argues that we are turning into a "zombie nation" with sleep deprivation harming mental dexterity, memory and health, as well as leading to greater risk of accidents.

He said: "Our 24/7 society assumes we can free ourselves from our biology - we cannot."

He added: "The consequences of sleep-deprived brains in an increasingly intelligence-dependent economy is a serious issue and not fully appreciated by our business leaders. We need to embrace sleep and stop treating sleep as an illness in want of a cure."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...4/nsleep104.xml

I've ordered the book and I'm still waiting for it to arrive! I can't wait to read it!

BBC News Online
London, UK
27 August, 2007



'Junk sleep damaging' teen health

Too many teenagers are damaging their health by not getting enough sleep and by falling asleep with electrical gadgets on, researchers say.

A third of 12 to 16-year-olds asked slept for between four to seven hours a night. Experts recommend eight hours.

The Sleep Council, which conducted the poll of 1,000 teenagers, says gadgets in bedrooms such as computers and TVs are fuelling poor quality "junk sleep".

Youngsters need to be taught that sleep is important for their health, it said.

Almost a quarter of the teens surveyed admitted they fell asleep watching TV, listening to music or with other equipment still running, more than once a week.

Nearly all had either a phone, music system or TV in their bedroom, and two thirds had all three.

Among 12 to 14-year-old boys, nearly three in five (58%) had a phone, music player, TV and games console in their bedroom.

While 40% of the teens said they were often tired during the day, just 10% placed much importance on getting a good night's sleep.

Obesity 'link'

Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre said: "This is an incredibly worrying trend.

"What we are seeing is the emergence of 'Junk Sleep' - that is sleep that is of neither the length nor quality that it should be in order to feed the brain with the rest it needs.

"Youngsters need to be taught a healthy lifestyle includes healthy sleep as well as healthy food. The message is simple: switch off the gadgets and get more sleep."

Sleep is important for both physical and mental functioning and wellbeing.

Previous studies suggest that people who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight or obese.

UK scientists found sleep deprivation led to hormonal changes which told the body to eat sugary or starchy food to provide an energy boost.

But sleep problems can be a symptom of many other conditions, from problems with the thyroid gland to depression.

Professor Jim Horne, director of Loughborough's Sleep Research Centre, said advising teenagers to get more sleep was "easier said than done".

"I have two teenage kids, and the advice will just fall on deaf ears," he said.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6962085.stm

BBC News Online
2 September, 2007


Work 'the biggest sleep robber'

Work time is the single most important lifestyle factor that impacts on sleep - the more hours you work the less sleep you get - research suggests.

Those who got less than four-and-a-half hours sleep a night worked an average of 93 minutes longer on weekdays and 118 minutes more on the weekend.

Commute time ranked second, above socialising and leisure time, for eating into sleep time.

The study in the journal Sleep included nearly 50,000 US participants.

They were surveyed on three different occasions - in 2003, 2004 and 2005 - and asked how they spent their time between 4am the previous day and 4am that day.

Time spent working had the biggest impact on sleep time.

Those who slept 11-and-a-half hours or more worked an average of 143 minutes less on weekdays and 71 minutes less on weekends than the average sleeper.

Short sleepers also spent more time socialising, studying and doing housework.

In comparison, time spent watching TV increased with longer sleep times.

The age group that slept the least and worked the most was 45- to 54-year-olds, Dr Mathias Basner, of the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues found.

24/7 society

Dr Basner said more work was now needed to measure what impact long working hours encroaching on sleep might be having on health.

Jessica Alexander from The Sleep Council said: "Survey after survey confirms that people are burning the candle at both ends more and more, with no let-up on increasingly global working environments that demand long working hours and 24/7 leisure opportunities.

"Modern technology has done nothing to free up our time and sleep length and quality is the victim.

"Eventually business, government and the medical profession will have to give sleep as much priority in their healthy living messages as diet and exercise - if not more.

"In the meantime, The Sleep Council will continue to spread the word and advise people how to improve their sleep quality, if not quantity, through simple lifestyle and environmental changes."

Experts generally agree that seven to nine hours of sleep a night is advisable for adults.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6972409.stm

This is an interesting thread.

Thanks Demi for adding to it!

the more sleep i get, the better i feel....i can easily sleep 10 hours even in the summer.
my dad always says that he thought that when i was a teenager i was on drugs because i slept so much, but i never touched a drug in my life.
put me in a dark room with a fan and ill wake up in a coffin.

I love sleeping with a fan Especially an oscillating one..... that whoosh whoosh..... and the feeling of cool air moving across the room.

I wish I could sleep earlier But with uni in the day and work till 12pm -1am I never find enough sleep time.

I'm always asleep before 10pm in the summer. I've always been an early to bed, early to rise person. Winter is another story. I can sleep anytime it's dark. I have S.A.D., but I'm hoping this winter it will be better with my diet changes and exercise.

I believe there are merits to sleeping longer and in sync with your natural body rhythms. However, I have serious questions when it comes to the science behind some of the claims in this book, and even more questions as to the ethics and qualifications of Ms. Wiley. She may be a wonder, and I may be hesitant for no good reason, but I prefer to see solid science. (Cordain and the doctors Eades are good examples of authors who back everything up with science.)

If you'd like to know why I am hesitant about Ms. Wiley's book, please visit the JREF Forum, ("where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way." -- as quoted from that forum) One thread may help explain my skepticism -- http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=67706

Again, let me say that I do believe there are many benefits to getting sufficient sleep, etc..

Lene'