Im 25F and from as far back as I remember (and my parents confirmed) I just don’t sleep for long. It got worse once I hit puberty but from ages 12-maybe 22 I can sleep for 3-4 hours and wake uo feeling refreshed and ready to go. I worked overnight shifts for a year and would get home around 5am, sleep for a handful of hours, then be up by like 10am and go about my day before going back to work around 6pm. I love pulling overnights doing hw or just enjoying the peace. I take 150mg of trazodone nightly to help me fall asleep but it doesn’t keep me asleep. So why can I function on so little sleep when all the media said I need 7-8 hours to function?
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There are tall people, there are short people. There are people who need long sleep, there are people who need short sleep. It’s all on a scale and as long as doctors don’t think it’s a problem caused by hormonal imbalance or similar issues there is no reason to worry. If you can perform daily tasks without serious lapses in concentration and you feel rested it just means that’s the norm for you.
There is no predefined length of time you need. Most people just get used to sleeping for 7 or 8 hrs, because like you, they think that’s the target norm…it’s dark outside, circadian rhythm, etc. I would suggest you stop taking sleeping aids and get tired/fall asleep naturally – just because as you grow, your cadence will probably change.
Could be something along the lines of Familial Natural Short Sleep, which is genetic condition that’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. If either of your parents similarly need little sleep, I think that adds some likelihood to this explanation, as this seems to be a dominant genetic trait
I’m m 39 and have had similar sleep habits my whole life. 4-5 hours is my normal sleep, even after working 2 jobs and caring for my young child. I also don’t remember any dreams and rarely wake up other than when I’m done sleeping. I’ve read the term for people like me is “super sleepers”.
>So why can I function on so little sleep when all the media said I need 7-8 hours to function?
For most people you need to be quite careful with determining how well you are functioning. They have done lots and lots of studies on how well impaired people think they are functioning with little sleep. Bascially you are soo impaired, your judgement is impaired, so you can’t tell how impaired you actually are. It’s like how a drunk person might think they can drive perfectly fine, but on any objective measure drunk people drive worse.
But there are some people that genetically require less sleep
>Scientists identified a gene that causes people to naturally sleep less than six and a half hours each night without any apparent ill effects. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/gene-identified-people-who-need-little-sleep
So if you are doing everything right in terms of physical health(exercise/diet) and sleep habits, then it might just be something you don’t need to worry about.
BUT if you are pulling overnights that means you aren’t doing everything right. Overnights can seriously impair your circadian rhythm.
>I love pulling overnights doing hw or just enjoying the peace.
So stop doing overnights. Read up on what you need to do for good sleep, light exposure in the morning, avoid bright lights and stimulating activities in the evening, avoid coffee after 11am, avoid alcohol in the evenings, regular pattern(time you go to sleep), exercise, etc. Then do everything right for a month and see if anything changes. If you do everything right for a whole month and nothing changes then it’s probably not something to worry about.
>So why can I function on so little sleep when all the media said I need 7-8 hours to function?
Also it’s not just about mental functionality, you have the body using the time for repair and growth. The brain washes out the crap, so while you might not notice it straight away, it could lead to higher chance or earlier onset of dementia, etc.