Sleep Much? Some People Don’t Need It At All

By Cassey Graeff-

Sleep, sleep, sleep.

There’s nothing better then ending your day crawling into bed and drifting off to sleep. On average eight hours of sleep is the recommended number of hours each night, but a new kind of people called “short sleepers” are beating the odds.

“I’m cranky, I need my sleep,” said senior Brian Ramsey.  Ramsey is not one of the short sleepers.

According to Sleep Education, “A short sleeper is a person who regularly sleeps less than the average member of his age group. His nightly length of sleep tends to be five hours or less. This sleep is unbroken and of a very good quality. The short sleeper feels alert and refreshed after waking up. He is able to function normally during the day on a very small amount of sleep.”

“I get six to seven hours of sleep. It depends if I’m up late studying or something,” said senior Emily Hutchinson.

Short sleepers have a mutation on a gene called hDEC2. This gene regulates the sleep-wake cycle. This mutation allows people to function with less sleep then the average amount of people, according to the latest research.

Jarod Staub a teacher at Penn Manor said, “I think five-and-a-half (hours of sleep) makes me tired.”

Staub must not be a short sleeper, either.

Some students noticed that their parents get about the same amount of sleep as themselves. There may be a pattern in the amount of sleep parents get and their offspring.

“My dad gets six and my mom gets seven hours,”said Emily Nickel a senior at Penn Manor. Nickel sleeps less then eight hours  a night, which is similar to her parents.

“Short sleepers” awaken around four in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to start their day.

According to Better Sleep, Better Life, “Sleep plays a vital role in promoting physical health, longevity, and emotional well-being.”

From the looks of it, students at Penn Manor are not short sleepers and need about eight hours of sleep to feel refreshed when they awaken in the morning. That doesn’t mean they always get it.  With homework, jobs, sports and a social life, sleep can sometimes be a low priority even though a lack of sleep can make all the other activities more difficult.

Sleep well Penn Manor.