How a Sleep Doctor Trained His Body To Survive On Less Than 8 Ho…
Come Tour David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris' STUNNING Home Ga…
Farm to Cocktail? These Girls Got You! Say Hello to the Simple G…
How to Make Pasta with Pumpkin, Brown Butter, Crispy Sage and Nu…
How to Make Raw Zucchini Salad | David Burtka
Rachael's Reaction to Billy Crudup's Preview of "The Morning Sho…
How to Make a Vermouth Spritz | John Cusimano
Stop Everything and Listen to "Buongiorno Baby"—the Song John Co…
How to Make Bistecca (Porterhouse) with Walnut Salsa Verde and C…
Rachael Reveals Her Favorite Place to Eat in Tuscany, Italy | Q …
What's In Our Meal Bag? 3 Sweet Stories from Viewers Who Tried R…
Brooke Shields Tearfully Recounts Devastating Accident + Leg Inj…
How to Make Roasted Honey-Soy Green Beans | Rachael Ray
We Surprise a Mom of 10 (Including 6 Foster Kids!) Who Works So …
How to Make Salt 'n' Pepper Pork or Chicken | Rachael Ray
How to Make Caramel Apple Shortcakes | Grant Melton
How to Make Sausages with Apples and Onions & Charred, Spiced Ca…
Robin Roberts Tearfully Recalls the Emotional Moment Her Sister …
How to Make Easy Grilled Corn with Jalapeño Cilantro Glaze | Sun…
How to Make Chianti Risotto with Garlicky Spinach and Oven Charr…
You've heard it before — everybody should get at least eight hours of sleep a night. But how true is that? After all, surely you've had nights where you've gotten less and felt great and more and felt terrible.
Well, sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus calls the 8-hour rule a myth.
"Everybody has a different sleep need in terms of the amount of sleep that they need," the doc explains. "And that's also based on the quality of the sleep that they're getting."
"If you get really good quality sleep, you don't actually need 8 hours," he continues. "Let's be super clear — 8 hours is a myth. Not everybody needs 8 hours."
(Gasping? Us too.)
In fact, Dr. Breus himself gets 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep each night, he says.
"I go to bed at midnight and get up around 6:30am," the doctor tells us. "That works for me because of the consistency of my sleep schedule."
BUT that many hours of sleep wasn't always enough for him.
The doc used to get 7.5 hours — which is what the average person gets. The average sleep cycle is 90 minutes, he says, and the average person has five of those. (5 x 90 = 450 minutes, or 7.5 hours)
"Because of my consistency," Dr. Breus explains, "I actually started at 7.5 hours and it slowly has shrunk." In other words, he has trained his body to know the best time to go to bed in order to get the most quality sleep.
So, how do you figure out the best time to go to bed? Well, you'll want to determine what kind of sleeper you are first.
Dr. Breus says there are four different chronotypes — or types of sleepers.
RELATED: What's Your Chronotype? Take The Sleep Doctor's Quiz
WHAT KIND OF SLEEPER ARE YOU?
Lions
- Morning people
- Most alert first thing in the morning
Bears
- Sleep/wake patterns follow the sun
- Most alert mid-morning
Wolves
- Night people
- Most alert from noon to 2pm and again in the evening
Dolphins
- Light sleepers
- Most alert mid-morning through early afternoon
To learn what chronotype you are and what advice Dr. Breus has for each, take his Chronotype Quiz here.
