Do some people just require less sleep?

[dave_in_ni]

We are always told about the golden hour of 8hrs sleep, and certainly, anyone else I know seems to sleep around 7-10 hours, Hell my teenage kids could sleep 12+ hours.  Then there is me 5-6hours sleep.

Over the past year I've set about trying to improve this, I've done various things from cutting out caffeine, cold bedrooms, various sleep hygiene tips and tricks, various potions and lotions from Magnesium to chamomile to passionflower to valerian to melatonin. I can safely say nothing has improved my sleep duration.

I guess what's more frustrating for me is the fact 6 hours is the maximum and 4 am is the latest waking time. What I mean by this is if I went to bed at 2am I will only sleep 2 hours I will wake at 4am, If I went to bed at 8pm I will wake at 2am.

I can function well on 3 hours sleep believe it or not, after an hour or so of tiredness I am fine.  

I have come to the conclusion after this year of messing about with sleep that for me at least 6 hours is the maximum I am gonna get, 5 hours is more normal for me.  Perhaps some people just don't need a lot of sleep?

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @dave_in_ni - I agree. Some people just need less sleep. Before I retired, 5 hours/night was enough to keep me going strong. Retired, I‘m more in the 7 hour category. But like you, my body has a natural wake up time. No matter when I go to bed, I am wide awake by 7:00. 

[amycoelhho]

Oh my God are you me?? I have literally been struggling so much with sleep in the past few years. I used to be able to sleep like a full eight hours in my early thirties. But there came a point in my life when I could literally not sleep more than four hours even if i tried. I just chalked it off to me getting old until my fiance suggested that I get blackout curtains (he hates it when I leave the bed in the middle of the night). Then I did get blackout curtains and it didn't make a ton of difference but it set off a kind of determination in me. I tried sleeping masks and these sleeping oil things that are supposed to help u sleep but just like you, to no luck. One thing that did help me amongst the many things I tried was melatonin pills. When I started taking them, I used to take them right before bed and I didn't feel any improvement in my sleep. But then my friend told me to take them 2-3 hours before bed and I started doing that. I got mine delivered from this place so you might want to see if the place where you got them from was reputable: https://www.vitaminexpress.org/uk/melatonin-supplements.

Figuring out the dosage and timing is what helped me get a good 5-6 hours of sleep. I don't know if it is a placebo or if it's actually the melatonin lol. So you might wanna check if youre administering the drugs the right way. 

Sleep is a fickle thing. I hope that you can find a solution 🙂

[dave_in_ni]

Thanks for that 😁