Quote:
Originally Posted by Nala  You should sleep as much as your body needs ... no more, no less. |
I agree with this but also think that the things we do and think during our waking hours greatly affects the amount of sleep we need. There probably are some genetic factors involved here but I'd say that someone who eats really well (lots of raw foods, veggies, etc.), doesn't have much stress and does moderate exercise will almost always need to sleep less than someone who eats poorly (especially a lot of food), is under a lot of stress and doesn't exercise.
I also think one big factor is probably our mindset towards the amount of sleep we need. We've been so conditioned by society to think we need 8 hours or 7 or whatever to be at our best. What if the true number is actually 5 or 3 or 11?
The only reason I mention this is that I recall reading a story where people were in an enviroment where they didn't have any sense of time (no daylight cues, no clocks) and they actually ended up sleeping a lot less than normal.
It's an interesting thing to study because if we could figure out a way to be as functional, energetic, healthy by sleeping 6 hours instead of 8 that's over 700 hours of waking time we'd get every year.
And I realize that's kind of the point of polyphasic sleep...