Ed Pollak asked:
> 
> > I distinctly remember reading that there are some (very few) 
> > people for whom it is normal to get an hour or less sleep per 
> > night. 
> 
> > Can anyone out there helpwith a reference? It's driving me
> > nuts. 

Feeling sorry for someone being driven into nuts, I responded 
with this unabstracted article: 

> Meddis R, Pearson AJ, Langford G.An extreme case of healthy insomnia. 
> Electroencephalogr Clin 
> Neurophysiol. 1973 Aug;35(2):213-4

I've now located my personal copy, with a handwritten note from 
Ray Meddis offering best wishes and apologizing for the delay in 
sending the reprint to me (truly a collector's item!).

The individual in question was a 70-year-old woman, a retired 
nurse, who claimed to sleep for only one hr per night, without 
napping. She filled the time saved by not sleeping with writing 
and painting.

A self-recorded sleep log for two weeks apparently requested by 
Meddis showed that she slept on average for 49 minutes per 
night. Meddis then observed her under laboratory conditions, 
with EEG, over five nights, and reported a range of sleep from 0 
to 3 1/2 hrs on each, averaging 67 minutes per night.  That 
seems pretty good documentation to me.

The paper references an earlier report:

Jones, H. and Oswald, I. (1968).  Two cases of healthy 
insomnia. EEG Clin. Neurophysiol. 24, 378-380.

Stephen
--------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.          
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus   
Bishop's University
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada               
e-mail:  sblack at ubishops.ca
---------------------------------------------

---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here: 
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6558
or send a blank email to 
leave-6558-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu

Reply via email to