Why certain people sleep a lot?!

Why certain people sleep a lot?

For me 8 hours is NOT enough sleep. I love sleeping and if I didn't work I'd wake up around 10AM, but on the other hand there are people who 8 hrs is just enough and they wake up fresh and ready..Why is that??

"God grants sleep to those He loves." Psalm 127:2b

How Much Sleep Is Normal?
The amount of sleep required varies with each individual, with the average being 7.2 hours. Some extremes have been recorded of people requiring no more than 4 to 6 hours of sleep (Thomas Edison is one), while others have been known to require 8 to 10 hours (such as Albert Einstein). Newborn infants sleep an average of 16.2 hours and by 6 months usually average about 14 hours. At age 2, the average is 12.2 hours in total (including naps) and by age 6, most children no longer need naps and require an average of 11 hours. By ages 15-19, we begin to establish our lifetime average. The amount of sleep required stabilizes once one reaches adulthood. Among the elderly, the amount of sleep required remains the same, but the quality of sleep may deteriorate, with sleep becoming less efficient, lighter and less restful.

The best way to establish your individual sleep requirements is to keep careful track of the amount of sleep you get over one month. Your "Sleep Log" should reflect

(a) the total number of hours of sleep you get each day, distinguishing between naps and night-time sleep,
(b) the total number of night awakenings,
(c) lights-out and get-out-of-bed times,
(d) the amount of time required to fall asleep, and
(e) the use of medication to aid in sleep or relaxation.
If you know you have sleep disturbances, use these five points to log your sleep needs, and consult a counsellor familiar with sleep disturbances for further help.



Problems With My Biological Clock
One of the functions of the Sleep Log is to allow you to track your biological clock that helps to determine your sleep-wake schedules. There are actually two biological clocks, one that responds to light and activity, and the other that responds to the production and breakdown of chemicals in your body. From about the 6th to 14th month of life, our built in "clocks" are activated. These clocks run very close to a 24 hour cycle. Thus, children get up easily most mornings and fall asleep at about the same time each night.

Then sometime in the teen years, the clock slows down so that it is always slower than the actual time, actually on a 26 to 30 hour cycle for clocks one and two, respectively. Consequently, adolescents have trouble going to sleep at night since their clock says, "It's only 9 pm" when your watch says it's 11 pm. Similarly, they find it hard to get up at 7 am since their internal clock registers only 4 am! For about 10 years, adolescents and young adults endure the constant and biologically imposed struggle of getting out of bed and going to sleep in time. Thankfully, the clock speeds up again when we reach our early 30s, allowing us to live more comfortably on a 24- hour cycle.