Are you a Sleep Outlier?

Sure, general recommendations for sleep fall in the 7-9 hour range. But what if you prefer to be outside of the range? What does that mean for you?

There are two types of sleepers who fall outside of the general recommendations for sleep:

Natural Short Sleepers and Long Sleepers

Natural Short Sleepers

• Have a higher sleep drive, but respond to it less.

• function perfectly fine on less than 7 hours of sleep

• can handle being more tired before needing to sleep

• linked to a mutation of the DEC2 gene, as well as high levels or orexin (a hormone that keeps you awake and makes you hungry)

If you sleep less than 7 hours a night, does that make you a natural short sleeper?

No!

Ask yourself, are you actually thriving on the amount of sleep you are getting? Short sleepers are rare. Many people sleeping less than 7 hours will benefit from improving their sleep quantity and quality.

Long Sleepers

• become tired more quickly

• function poorly on low sleep

• need more sleep

• linked to a mutation of the PER3 clock gene

Do you sleep longer than 9 hours a night?

Again, ask yourself if you are truly thriving. For some 9-10+ hours of sleep is needed.

But for others it could be both the Cause and Effect of issues like depression, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue, or taking certain medications. Talk to your your healthcare provider if this applies to you.