The people with this gene might sleep less but it doesn't really show what the long term health effects on the individuals are. 2 extra hours per day for life but dying 5 years earlier in your 80s might actually be a decent trade.
I recall reading an AMA on Reddit (take that with a grain of salt) about a very short sleeper and he mentioned that he slept very deeply. I wonder if short sleepers sleep less hours but need to do so more profoundly and it just so happens that from an evolutionary perspective it's negative (for obvious reasons).
Perhaps our evolutionary ancestors who evolved in high latitude areas developed this trait given that those areas see much more sunlight (and thus longer days) in the summers. Conversely, I’m left wondering if their sleep patterns differ by season. I.e. they need less sleep in the summer, and dramatically more in the winter.
Yeah, I live in Seattle and have spent time in Alaska. I'm noticeably more productive in the summers. So much so that I've started planning sprints on projects around them.
Interesting thought! My wife sleeps much lighter and much longer compared to me. I sleep pretty hard, and sans alarms, tend around 7hrs sleep or less. She sleeps light, and will go 9+ hrs without an alarm or kids waking her up.
How does one know whether they are a "light" or "heavy" sleeper? Is it your propensity to be awoken by external stimuli that governs that label? How else would one know?
