4.5 to 5.5 hours sounds ridiculously low. I thought humans need at least 8 hours of sleep to function well? Have you tried sleeping for longer and if you did, what difference did it make to your wellbeing?
Many people find that meditation reduces their need to sleep. A few months ago when I was meditating for around 1.5 hours per day (a mixture of walking and formal sitting meditation) I felt well rested on 5.5 to 6.5 hours of sleep, when my normal needs are 7.5 - 8 hours
Sometimes when I have insomnia I sort of daydream instead of sleeping. When I get up, I am more rested than the 3-4 hours or actual sleep would suggest. I had wondered if the daydreaming was similar enough to sleep to be a poor substitute
I find the opposite. On the nights where I dream a lot, I do not wake up well rested. The best rest I get is when you fall asleep, next moment open your eyes, and it's morning. But I haven't had much of that kind of sleep since I was a kid.
Apparently a non trivial percent of the population gets by with 5-6 hours due to having a certain gene. I had assumed it was quite rare, but found out that I know several of them.
It is weird to say hi to my co-workers in the morning and they are all yawning and sucking down coffee, saying how tired they are. I just grin and realize I got around 1/2 the amount of sleep and drove 1.5 hours to work and not a drop of coffee has touched my lips.
actually, I'm older now than I used to be. (42) As a child, teenager, early 20's, etc I used to only get 3 hours each night. I spend my nights reading books, coding, etc. I have been told that this was really hard on my parents and grandparents as they didn't expect a child to need so little sleep.
