Re: Body Awarness (sleep)

[Guest guest]

:

> I tend to be more of a night owl, but my schedule can wrap around the clock depending on what is going on. The body actually runs on about a 24 to 25 hour schedule, the circadian rhythm. I know mine is at least the 25 hour variety.

This would explain your slowness in waking up then, since the 'night owls' tend to have a longer than 24-hour rhythm. Mine pretty much follows the moon's 24.8 hour cycle instead of the sun's/earth's 24-hour cycle. Since I got retired and can sleep whenever my body wants to, this pattern has been remarkably consistent. I once made a diagram over my natural sleep periods, and when I later filled in the moon's schedule, they were eerily syncronized.

> I also have read that a US Navy study looked into sleep patterns. I found two classes of people: short sleepers and long sleepers. Short sleepers needed 8 hours or less per night, while long sleepers needed 8 hours or more. They found that short sleepers were the best to have on emergency standby situations since they could wake up and get moving quickly, but they tired faster. The long sleepers too longer to wake up and get going, but they stayed alert much longer, making them better for long duty stands.

Interesting! I'm definitely a long sleeper then. Once I get at least 8 hours and am left in peace to wake up by myself, I am usually very mentally alert all day (unless subjected to mold or chemicals which makes me narcoleptic) and can focus on the same thing until I suddenly get tired and need to go to sleep.

You wouldn't happen to have a reference to that study or article? I'd love to read it and perhaps use it for my home page about autism, in which I'm addressing sleep issues as well.

Inger