And they don’t need to sleep.
Not only are their circadian rhythms different from most people, so are their moods (very upbeat) and their metabolism (they’re thinner than average, even though sleep deprivation usually raises the risk of obesity). They also seem to have a high tolerance for physical pain and psychological setbacks.
“They encounter obstacles, they just pick themselves up and try again,” Dr. Jones says.
“Typically, at the end of a long, structured phone interview, they will admit that they’ve been texting and surfing the Internet and doing the crossword puzzle at the same time, all on less than six hours of sleep,” says Dr. Jones. “There is some sort of psychological and physiological energy to them that we don’t understand.”
Beware. N = 20:
To date, Dr. Jones says he has identified only about 20 true short sleepers …
There is currently no way people can teach themselves to be short sleepers.
Not Unreasonable 