Orange County Register

Dear Ask a Doctor,

If I wake up very early, but just lie quietly in bed for another hour or so, does that hour “count” toward a night’s sleep, or might I just as well have gotten up and started reading the paper and drinking my coffee?

My husband and I get six hours of good sleep a night, but we are roosters at heart, both of us, and we don’t know if we should just “lie there” restfully, or throw in the towel and make the coffee. (We are high energy people and are not tired on our meager six hours of sleep a night.)

Thanks!!

Julie Brennan

Our answer comes from Dr. Joanna Tan, a family physician with St. Jude Heritage Medical Group, who has been practicing in Yorba Linda since 1981.

Dear Julie,

Wake up with the roosters! The extra hour nesting in bed with your husband counts toward quality time spent with him, but not toward a night’s sleep.

Sleep needs vary among different individuals. Some of us are born short sleepers, happy, healthy and functioning well with less than six hours of sleep. Some are born long sleepers, needing more than 8.5 hours of sleep a night. Jay Leno, Martha Stewart and Thomas Edison claimed that 5 hours a night are plenty for them. However, Albert Einstein could not do with less than 10 hours per night. Alexander the Great did not need to sleep at all, he survived on “cat naps.” Many people believe that they need 8-9 hours of sleep every night. No evidence has been found for that claim.

If you feel rested after six hours of sleep, there is no medical reason to sleep longer. You have adequate sleep when you are awakened refreshed, able to go through the day feeling alert without effort, even when placed in boring and monotonous situations. Signs that you may not be getting adequate sleep include feeling tired, irritable and inability to concentrate during the day, falling asleep within 5 minutes of lying down, or experiencing “microsleeps” or brief “nodding off” episodes.

I am glad that you and your husband get six hours of GOOD sleep per night. You probably have good sleeping habits, going to bed and waking up at the same time each day, doing regular exercises, sleeping in a comfortable environment that is dark, quiet, cool, and without distraction from TV and other noises, and not drinking caffeine and alcohol products close to bedtime. Keep the healthy habit up and you will live happy and well for many more years to come!

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.