Living with a short sleep gene: 'It's a gift'

One thing they didn't mention was the idea of efficient or inefficient sleep, rather than short sleep.

I've been learning about sleep apnea lately, and I've talked to people who spend 10 or 12 hours in bed, but still feel tired. This is because poor breathing produces inefficient sleep -- you're in bed, but you're not getting rest.

I think most people are like that to a degree -- if you spend 8 hours in bed, you might get 6 hours of rest. Personally I wake up once or more a night, something I've been trying to reduce.

So I wonder if these "short sleepers" are actually just "efficient sleepers". They go to bed at 12am and are conked out with 100% efficiency until 5am or whatever!

I have had a very few nights like that, and it is a godsend. Sometimes I notice that the covers have not moved at all -- I spent 6 hours in the same exact body position, not tossing and turning!

A standard sleep study will show that you're awake many times at night, even if you don't get out of bed -- even for people without sleep apnea. But if you were resting for 100% of the night, I imagine that you naturally spend much less time in bed.

/s