We keep trying to whittle the number down.
“Just how little sleep can I get by on, so I can wake up and resume the nightmare that is my life?”
We aren’t asking because we’re amped about waking up weary and dragging our reluctant backbones through another drudgery filled week. It’s because we’re up late working on projects. Studying. Finishing chores. Or, worse, when we finally can climb under the covers, we’re in the midst of a cognitive tornado. Ever had that? It’s a natural disaster; the emotional equivalent of chugging a pot’ve coffee for dessert. Here you obeyed the laws of eschewing Starbucks by noon. And your reward? The same results as if you had: a brainstorm featuring all the worst case scenarios life could possibly offer. It’s stress on steroids. Then, on top of everything, we keep cycling back to the gas that fuels this god awful thought carousel – “how many hours of sleep can I get if I just shut my $%^& mind off right now?”
So, that’s it. That’s the real reason we wonder how little sleep we can glide by on.
We don’t want less sleep. We just want science to say it’s okay for us to get less sleep. And, according to a 2010 study, it is fine. That is, if you don’t mind dying a littler earlier. See, they rounded up some subjects to test the limits. How would you do on 5 hours of sleep? 6? How about 6.5? And the results spoke for themselves:
Adjusted survival functions estimated 61% survival (54%–69%, 95% C.I.) for those with sleep less than 300 min and 78% survival (73%–85%, 95% C.I.) for those with actigraphic sleep longer than 390 min, as compared with survival of 90% (85%–94%, 95% C.I.) for those with sleep of 300–390 min. Time-in-bed, sleep efficiency and the timing of melatonin metabolite excretion were also significant mortality risk factors.
That said, it’s not an upward trend. We live in a society of extremes. We think if a little’s good, then more’s even better. But, really, it looks like 6.5 – 7 is the magic number. While we’ve known that on the quality of life front for a while, it’s not always been clear on a longevity level. (Especially after the myth you’ve likely heard your whole life about 8 hours being ideal.) But, sure enough, that same study showed that “those who reported 7 hours of sleep had survived longer than those who slept 8 hours or more, casting doubt on the 8-hour belief.”
So, what do you do with this information? As with any study, you read it with a pair’ve specs that’re set on a critical filter. In other words, you take what you want out of it. Scientific studies are stellar for setting a guideline. The results should be taken into consideration, but not utilized as infallible blueprints. I mean, what happens when you go home tonight, the night after, and the next – unable to fall asleep? Unable to get the rest this research claims you require to respire longer than the five hour nappers? You get even more anxious, and that number plummets to four hours. What’s more, even if you get a full five or six or seven, you’re perpetually stressed about it – diminishing your quality of life. All because of a study that wasn’t done on you. And why are we holding research in such high esteem? After all, remember when that 8 hour figure was the infallible figure with which we had to comply or die? That came from “research” too. Now they’re telling us you’ll get dead quicker on 8 than 7. Who knows, next year they might say we can get by on even less sleep. And that’s not to say science is all wrong. Epigenetics is a definite factor here. Maybe we’re evolving right before our scientists’ very goggle sheathed peepers.
And if you’re still dead set (no pun intended) on getting by with fewer Z’s, put this legally prescribed herbal verbage in your pipe and try smoking it before bedtime to set your head at ease: See, they say longevity increases with that added bit of mattress time. But I’ve gotta wonder (and you might too), about what’d happen if you were to add up all those hours. Really. If you summed up the seconds spent reveling in what they call the cousin of death (’cause you’re essentially inert both in the casket and on the mattress) with the aim of trying not to maim yourself prematurely…
Would it even out with the extra time you would’ve spent dead anyway by waking up earlier?
So rest easy and enjoy sweet dreams.
Short and sweet, even.