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.
When I was in secondary school, my school did not have a fence round the school apart from the one built in front for the gateman, others areas like the backside and the rest were left open. At that time, it was difficult to restrain the students from going out of the school compound. After the morning assembly, many students would walk out of the school compound, some would go back home, some would go to their friends house, some would go to play, some would come into the school through bush track etc. Many crimes were recorded & reported in our school then. The situation really got out of hand. To curb all these situations, our principal then (Mr Ekefre) did something! We got to the school one day & found out that, they have used white canvas like paint to draw a line round the school compound. On getting to the assembly ground, the principal came to address us and said, ' We now have a fence in this school. That white line you see is the school fence for now! Once y...