I never thought I'd be jealous of having a migraine (I've had my share already), but I'd gladly suffer another two day one if it meant I felt refreshed after only 4 hours of sleep daily from that point on!

Hello from this other side of the spectrum! I need at least 8h/day of sleep to NOT have a migraine. If I don't set an alarm my mind/body will happily sleep 9 to 10 hours a day.

As someone whose body will also, without an alarm, sleep naturally for 9-10 hours or longer on a weekend no problem, I wonder if you've ever felt looked down upon for this trait by certain people?

I've definitely told people this in the past and had negative reactions ranging from the mild disbelief "You're serious, how can that be possible? I don't believe you" to the outright offended "What is wrong with you (as a person)? Why would you want to spend so much time sleeping? That's wrong and ridiculous behaviour".

I do find it curious how some people tend to get really uppity about this issue. As though one's sleeping habits are reflective of character and morals, or something, rather than just being a natural trait which differs person to person and which one has no choice in. Where does this come from?

I've found that too and it annoys me a lot. I put it down to having more exciting dreams than them. I've spent plenty of late Saturday mornings gallivanting around my own mind.

EDIT: Also, people confuse sleeping late with sleeping too much. If you go to bed at 4AM, getting up at Midday isn't so crazy.

Please help me explain this to my roommates..

Lack of sleep doesn't cause migraines for me, but I am and come from a family of long sleepers (9-14 hours a day it pretty typical).

I've been told point-blank that I just need to change my attitude because, according to this person, my inability to wake up refreshed with anything less than 9 hours of sleep is 100% because of my attitude.

Do you work out a lot? In college i needed 10hrs, i would run to campus and back, swim 800m a day, 1hr weights 5 times a week. Now i just need 6hrs.

I would assume it has something to do with how much you learn as well. Children sleep more because they're constantly learning. Then we gradually move on to executing on knowledge rather than learning - think reinforcement learning in CS. It's natural to sleep less as you get older.

I've had periods in my life when I exercised extensively (U.S. Marine Corps) and other times, including now, when I definitely don't get "enough" exercise. Regardless, I've needed 9-14 hours of sleep a day to feel awake during the day. So no, exercise has never had even a moderate correlation with my sleep cycle.

Curious - have you done a sleep study? You may just be getting very low quality sleep due to sleep apnea or the like.

I've had several GPs check me and they each said I just need more sleep than "average". They've given me the standard spiel, about going to bed and waking up at the same time, keeping the bedroom dark and quiet, only engaging in subdued activities for an hour before bed, etc - each of which I've done for substantial periods. As life interfered with each of these, I've learned that –within reason– none of them noticeably effect the amount of sleep I need or the quality of sleep I get within a period of time.

Since my teenage years I have operated at a sleep deficit during the week and "made up" for it on the weekends. I'll get 5-6 hours per night during the week and 10 on the weekends.

I have relatives who are morning people who act like they're personally offended that I sleep 10 hours on Saturdays.

Wow, I've just stopped telling people. I think that folks who know my sleep patterns still look down on me for sleeping so much, but I've long since ceased to care about that.

> If I don't set an alarm my mind/body will happily sleep 9 to 10 hours a day.

This isn't normal? :P

But seriously, if I don't set my alarm, I usually sleep about 12-16 hours. When I do wake up, it's often because of my bladder / stomach / limb-falling-asleep, and not because I feel rested. Waking up is not enjoyable regardless of how much sleep I get, 2 hours, 12 hours... I'm always a zombie-like, groggy mess. But 30 minutes later I feel great and full of energy, again, no matter how long I slept.

This is day-after-day too, and not just when I'm sleep deprived. Over the Independence Day 3-day weekend, I definitely slept more than 12 hours each day.

You might consider researching vitamin deficiency. Being tired all of the time despite sleeping is often a sign that something is missing from your diet.

> If I don't set an alarm my mind/body will happily sleep 9 to 10 hours a day.

Do you feel fully rested after 8 hours? The reason I ask is because some people simply need more than 8 hours, but have thetendency to think that 8 is the "correct" amount to sleep. I had a couple friends who were like this and when they started sleeping ~9 hours they had a marked improvement in all of the symptoms of sleep dep (energy, focus, etc etc).

I would say I need 9 ~ 10 hours to feel fully rested, 8h is not enough.

I don't get migraines from lack of sleep, but I "need" ~8.5-9 hours (on average) to feel at my best.

I can go on 5 hours once in a while and be okay, but I have to make it up later.

I would LOVE to be able to perform well on 4 hours.

I was like that before the mega migraine. I think I'm broken and you're not :)

I sleep an avg of 10-11 hours where my longest sleep was 13 hours a week ago, and I could still continue sleeping for hours more.

I also get migraines if I don't sleep 8-ish hours! I didn't realize that was a thing that happened to other people, too.

Same as you except I need my 9 hours of sleep. I'll feel bad if I don't sleep enough, like I want to throw up during the day... But I got better and better by just trying to force myself into sleeping less.

I was once like you! In high school, college, and medical school I slept at most 4 hours a night. I was even a Division I varsity athlete. Never tired. No problems studying, drinking, exercising.

Then something changed a few years ago...I'm 42 now, so I think it started when I was 38...I now sleep 6 hours a night, sometimes even 7! It has seriously cut into might reading-for-fun time. I really wish I could go back to 4 hours.

A curiosity: do you guys that need so little sleep perform a lot of creative activities? I feel when I don't have anything too creative (or extremely intelectually demanding) to perform I can go sleep deprived and do fine at everything, but I lose the ability to solve one of those problems you have to think for hours, or come up with good ideas.

If I'm in the process of learning something complex, I get the distinct feeling of absorbing "fully" the content when I sleep well; whereas if I don't sleep well it doesn't seem fully "processed" yet.

So my optimal sleep schedule varies by what kind of work I want to do. Do you just perform nominally at everything sleeping 4 hours?

I know it is hard to tell, but would you say there are adverse effects? Or do you ever need more sleep, i.e. after having studied for a maths exam the whole day?

I for one notice that I "learn" a lot while sleeping. For example, when studying for an exam, difficult exercises often seem to get much easier over night.

Yes definitely adverse effects.

1. My bowel has no idea what is going on half of the time so no routine there.

2. Snoring when I do sleep. This has caused a number of problems with the wife and neighbours.

3. I can't drink alcohol at all. I end up with a 3 day long hangover even if I have a single beer.

Otherwise nothing else.

Edit: Just to add a big downside. I had to spend some time in hospital after a physical injury. There is nothing more psychologically damaging than near insomnia immobile in a hospital bed.

Do you drink any form of caffeine?

I do now but I didn't a few years ago. Someone bought me a Tassimo. I feel sick if I drink coffee too late when I wake up.

How much do you work out? If you took up a powerlifting regimen, do you think you would start wanting more sleep?

It varies. I used to run a lot. It just hurt afterwards. No tiredness.

Can you confirm your medical case?