President-elect Donald J. Trump reportedly only needs a few hours of sleep every night.
While on the campaign trail, he said, "You know, I’m not a big sleeper. I like three hours, four hours, I toss, I turn, I beep-de-beep, I want to find out what’s going on."
Trump's not the only one: Corporate executives like PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and
even President Barack Obama rarely — if ever — get what's considered a full night of sleep.
While for many of us, getting too little sleep can have some nasty consequences such as headaches and stomach problems, others are able to thrive off of just four-to-six hours of shut-eye, something called "short sleeping."
Short sleepers, a group the Wall Street Journal once called the "sleepless elite," need only a short amount of sleep every night instead of the average 7-8 hours. Scientists estimate they make up only about 1% of the population.
The reason these leaders seem to thrive in their careers despite their short sleeping hours may be because apart from their extremely long days, there are a few characteristics that most short sleepers that have been identified thus far appear to have:
They tend to be more optimistic and upbeat than most.
They tend to wake up early, even on vacation or weekends.
They tend to have a family member that is also a short sleeper. Since short-sleeping is linked to genetics, the behavior that accompanies it often runs in the family.
They tend to be physically active.
If they sleep longer than they need, they tend to feel groggy.
They say they tend to avoid caffeine or don't need it to feel energized.
It's a relatively new area of study. There's still a lot that's unknown about short sleepers and its genetic links. Having some of these traits doesn't necessarily mean you're genetically a short sleeper, nor does not having some of these traits mean you're not a short sleeper.
