Sometimes you just want to know

Trent came home from work talking about a co-worker who is using an app called sleep cycle to track his sleep. I thought, I would really love to know how much and how well I actually sleep so I bought the app. Part of me is actually really curious about how much I really sleep. Way back in April of 2011, I read this article in the Wall Street Journal called "The sleepless elite". Although I don't exactly fit their description (i.e. I'm not thinner than normal) so much of the article was like reading exactly about me. 

 

"Natural "short sleepers," as they're officially known, are night owls and early birds simultaneously. They typically turn in well after midnight, then get up just a few hours later and barrel through the day without needing to take naps or load up on caffeine.

They are also energetic, outgoing, optimistic and ambitious, according to the few researchers who have studied them. The pattern sometimes starts in childhood and often runs in families.

While it's unclear if all short sleepers are high achievers, they do have more time in the day to do things, and keep finding more interesting things to do than sleep, often doing several things at once."

That is mostly true for me.  I go to bed usually after midnight and get up before 7 (all while waking up a few times in the night for kids) and I never really feel fatigued.  I don't rely on caffeine or naps (unless I am pregnant).  Honestly I don't know how much or how little I sleep because I always feel fine and happy and upbeat.  The part of the article that even better describes me is the other part. 

"They are also energetic, outgoing, optimistic and ambitious, according to the few researchers who have studied them. The pattern sometimes starts in childhood and often runs in families.

While it's unclear if all short sleepers are high achievers, they do have more time in the day to do things, and keep finding more interesting things to do than sleep, often doing several things at once.

 

A few studies have suggested that some short sleepers may have hypomania, a mild form of mania with racing thoughts and few inhibitions. "These people talk fast. They never stop. They're always on the up side of life," says Dr. Buysse. He was one of the authors of a 2001 study that had 12 confirmed short sleepers and 12 control subjects keep diaries and complete numerous questionnaires about their work, sleep and living habits.One survey dubbed "Attitude for Life" that was actually a test for hypomania. The natural short sleepers scored twice as high as the controls.

 

"They encounter obstacles, they just pick themselves up and try again," Dr. Jones says.

Some short sleepers say their sleep patterns go back to childhood and some see the same patterns starting in their own kids, such as giving up naps by age 2. As adults, they gravitate to different fields, but whatever they do, they do full bore, 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."

 

Nowadays, some short sleepers gravitate to fields like blogging . . ."

That part describes me to a T -- and my kids who all have pretty much given up napping by (or before) 2 years old and when compared to my friend's kids seem to sleep from day 1 hours and hours less than their average peers. 

So.  I am going to track my sleeping for a while with this app.  Here is the first night's sleep -- less than 6 hours, up 5 times (twice for Owen, twice for Adam) and yet wide awake today and happy.