[euroderf]

> I noticed a stark contrast: many of my math friends consistently slept 9–10 hours a day.

I'm curious, in order to reach this duration, did they need to do some kind of exercise at some point in the day, to gain physical fatigue ? Or could they sleep this long whilst being (I exaggerate here) couch potatoes ?

[cvoss]

You say that like it's hard for an oversleeper to achieve their oversleeping. As an oversleepr, I'll suggest that it's the other way around. When you're an oversleeper, the thing that's hard is to stop sleeping after the socially normal amount of time.

[mettamage]

Being able to just sleep 10 hours every day seems like an unfair advantage.

[maleldil]

Why would it be an advantage? Aren't you "losing time"?

I need 10 hours every day, so even if I go to bed at 10pm, I'd wake up at 8am, which is "late" for most people.

I'd love to be able to wake up at 6am, but just can't. It doesn't feel like an advantage.

[cortesoft]

> I'd love to be able to wake up at 6am, but just can't.

What does "just can't" mean, exactly? Just curious, because I felt that way, too, until I had a newborn and was forced to wake up with less sleep and discovered it was physically possible. Still felt awful all day, but it was possible.

[withinboredom]

For me, alarms simply don’t wake me up. I’m literally unconscious and not just asleep. That being said, I only need 6 hours of sleep a night and I can’t sleep any more than that. However, I also have delayed sleep entry. So, I usually stay up until 1am and wake up at 7am, with no alarm. If I want to sleep less than six hours, I simply won’t wake up. Famously, in the military, I was dragged outside, to the morning formation, and slept through the entire thing. It was entertaining enough that I didn’t get in too much trouble, but alarms simply don’t work for me. I ended up getting doctors orders to always get six hours of sleep, if possible, instead of the 4 hour minimum. I was always worried I would sleep through important things in a war zone; and I did. I just never got caught or admitted to it.

[necovek]

Do you have DST where you live? Do you suddenly adjust to the new time when travelling to a different timezone?

(All this to say that you sleeping 6h flat is plausible, but times-of-day are a human, social construct, and it's impossible for your body not to be able to adapt to going to bed earlier and waking earlier)

[withinboredom]

Never had an issue with time zone changes when going east, I just stay up later and then go to sleep. Going West, however, is hard. Going to sleep more than a few hours early is quite difficult.

[maleldil]

I meant that I can't sleep 8 hours and feel rested. If I'm forced to sleep less than I need, I'd be sleepy and tired all day. Taking a nap helps but isn't always possible, and is even less time efficient.

[mettamage]

I would physically not be able to do this. I think many people would have a hard time to sleep more.

Moreover, when I sleep more, I notice that I'm sharper and I find it easier to take on tough challenges: this means that sleeping longer makes me happier for the rest of the day. So I'm also willing to live a tougher life. So there's also a trade off with: yea, you have less time, but the less time that you have, you're happier. Or at least, that's my experience.

And not only are you happier, you're also more capable. So it's more easy to live according to your own rationality and it's easier to not live according to your emotions and instincts.

Again, just my experience.

[roland35]

I think they mean that having the time available for sleep at all is a bit of a luxury. A lot of people need to take care of their family, or work an extra job, etc and can't afford to sleep much extra.