The first shed some light on the many questions I've had about my quirky sleep habits - I think I might fall into the category they describe:
Apparently there is a minute subset of the population (1%-3%) that "function well on less than 6 hours of sleep without being tired during the day." This is me. For some crazy reason I fall asleep around 11 and then just pop awake most nights around 3 or 3:30 a.m. I might doze a little longer, but a normal night's sleep is around four hours. Even sleeping pills don't make much of a difference and this goes on for weeks, until I have a night (like last night) where the lack of shut-eye finally catches up to me and I crash around 7:30 or 8 p.m. and sleep for 12 hours. Andy exercised, tackled the mayhem in our kitchen, and watched the NCAA championship basketball game all while I was passed out on the couch. He finally roused me at 11 to go up to bed, where I promptly collapsed and fell back asleep until 7 this morning.
The article continues that "'short sleepers' are also energetic, outgoing, optimistic and ambitious...The pattern sometimes starts in childhood and often runs in families." This is definitely the case since that describes my personality fairly well, I remember waking up early without an alarm clock when I was young (even during summer vacation), and I've often commented that I inherited my mom's ability to similarly function on very little sleep.
But rather than feeling like part of an exclusive "elite," I'm not sure this trait is something to wear as a badge of honor. I wish dearly that I could sleep like normal people and wonder if this insomia will only get worse over time. In addition, it's well documented that sleep deprivation leads to a number of harmful potential side effects such as irritability, overeating, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
What are your sleep patterns? Short sleeper or could you win a gold medal if napping were an Olympic sport? Any suggestions for how to get more shut-eye?
The second article expanded on rumors that Katie Couric will likely leave her chair at the CBS Evening News when her contract expires in June and instead trade for a syndicated daytime talk show. Say it aint so, Katie!!! Please don't jump ship and abandon legitimate journalism for lighter, tawdry, or solely feel-good fare. What about something like 60 Minutes or Meet the Press instead? Side note: If you are a CBS News executive reading this post, I would be more than happy to fill Katie's spot, but would do it somewhat reluctantly knowing that one of America's preeminent female news anchors had left the scene.
The final article, entitled "India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire" documents how despite a population of 1.2 billion, many companies are having trouble finding high school and college graduates with the necessary English reading comprehension and speaking skills to communicate effectively enough to fill job openings. We read about the threat of India and China as new players in the knowledge economy, but apparently India's education system hasn't caught up to its technology infrastructure in many cases.
3 comments:
Wow, I'd die on that amount of sleep--even if it was only for a night. I do best on 9 hours and now that I'm expecting I'll take anything else I can get as well.
I'm fascinated by the fact that you actually don't need much sleep. So you don't get tired during the day? !! You are a true "short sleeper?" Or are you just super-stressed about things that keep you awake?
If you are a true short sleeper and don't feel tired during the day, think about how much more productive you can be than the rest of us with those extra hours. It's amazing really!
Did you see the movie Morning Glory? It was kinda silly (Harrison Ford took his role way too seriously in my opinion), but it kinda reminded me of you. ps- sorry to have ditched this morning. see you next week!
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