A STUDY OF LONG AND SHORT SLEEPERS

Adult males who always sleep less than six hours or more than nine hours per day were studied. Over 400 were screened; smaller numbers had various psychological tests and psychiatric interviews, and finally 29, free of overt medical or psychiatric pathology, were studied in the laboratory for 8 nights each of all-night polygraphic recording. Psychologically the short sleepers were efficient, hard-working, and somewhat hypomanic. The long sleepers tended to be anxious, depressed, or withdrawn. The two groups spent an almost identical amount of time -- 75 minutes -- in deep slow-wave sleep (stages 3-4), but the long sleepers had twice as much D-time (REM-time). It is suggested that there are two separate sleep requirements, a requirement for stage 3-4 sleep which is relatively constant across persons, and a requirement for D-time which is related to the personality and life-style of the individual. Prepared in cooperation with the Boston State Hospital, Massachusetts, Sleep and Dream Lab.