I had no idea that some people benefit from sleep deprivation, but it makes a lot of sense to me experientially. I feel like I'm a bit more focused when I get 4-6 hours of sleep even though my body typically wants 7-8.
The claimed benefit in the article is for depression. Depressed people who suffer sleep deprivation sometimes become less depressed. That could be true at the same time that cognitive performance and/or health suffers. I don’t know how long the sleep deprivation benefit works for depression, but just something to keep in mind; less sleep (or more sleep) is not necessarily a binary good or bad thing, it can be multiple goods and bads in some unknown weighted combination, and it can change over time and according to context, i.e., short term deprivation might help some people while long term deprivation does lasting damage.
One day of 4-6 hours sleep and I can get giddy, energetic, and focused. 2nd day kills me. Usually even if I get otherwise adequate sleep, there's a hangover effect.
IIRC, they "don't need" as much to perform well in the short term. Even these super sleepers may suffer cumulative effects over the long term. There's also a risk that those who prefer sleeping less will declare themselves part of this elite group without any rigorous study.