Many believe sleep to be a waste of time, but inadequate sleep is likely a big contributor to obesity.  It helps us craze unhealthy foods.  It makes us function like diabetics, unable to properly process sugars.

A small minority of people need less sleep than the “normal” 8 hrs (that’s what an average person needs, but 1-2 more than the average American gets).

An article in the WSJ suggests:

Out of every 100 people who believe they only need five or six hours of sleep a night, only about five people really do, Dr. Buysse says. The rest end up chronically sleep deprived, part of the one-third of U.S. adults who get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep per night, according to a report last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Watch the video about the rare true “short sleepers:”