Do Taller People Need More Sleep Than Shorter Folks

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I find myself sleeping anywhere up to 10 hours a day where my shorter partner is always up and on with the days activities well before I’ve even rolled over. So do taller people need more sleep, or does height have nothing to do with the length of sleep.

I’ve often told my partner that I need my extra sleep because I have a bigger body which requires more oxygen to circulate and pump blood. So it takes longer for my body to rejuvenate and feel refreshed everyday. But this is just my theory (Or maybe an excuse to sleep in longer), so lets take a look at what other tall people experience when sleeping and some of the reasons behind it.

Do Taller People Need More Sleep Than Shorter People

As a matter of common sense, people who are taller often have greater difficulties obtaining quality rest. This is primarily because the commercial bedding materials are often designed for people of average height.

Tall people may suffer from cramps, stiffness, achy joints, and a general sense of restlessness when they are forced to fit into undersized beds. Even with beds suitable for tall people, there’s still a noticeable amount of body cramping going on.

All this discomfort can lead to restless nights sleep. Which can in turn make you appear to sleep in longer, but its not quality sleep as its been disturbed frequently through the night, whether you are aware of it or not. So matching a extra long mattress is recommended to fully support your longer torso.

Improving Your Sleep As A Tall Person

What I’ve found to help enjoy a longer nights sleep is using a body pillow. Body pillows can help reduce the amount of stress your body is feeling by providing a supportive surface it can rest against.

But like most things for tall people, many aren’t designed with extra height in mind. So if you really want to improve you sleeping patterns without physically shrinking your size, an extra tall body pillow is ideal.

But with the physical aspect of a bed out of the equation, there is no objective link between height and the length of which you may sleep.

However, since taller people often fail to obtain a good night’s rest, they will feel run-down during the day and may wind up sleeping more. Or appearing as tho you sleep longer compared to someone that is shorter. Your body gets burnt out and taxed when you don’t get good sleep every night, so its important to do all you can to provide your number one asset with the amount of comfort it needs.

Reasons A Tall Person May Need More Sleep

While height hasn’t been documented as a contributing factor to length of sleep, there are many other factors which may be the reason as to why a tall person may sleep longer than a short person, or vice versa.

1. Lack of sleep: As discussed above, the quality of sleep for a tall person can be interfered with by the lack of a longer bed. This can result in longer sleeping sessions, but less quality sleep.
2. Genetics & Habit: Genetics can play a role towards how much sleep we need. Along with this can be habits formed from a young age. Such as taking onboard your parents poor sleeping habits from a young age.
3. Hormones: This especially affects women and can last a lifetime.
4. Medical conditions such as chronic fatigue.
5. Your mental state can affect how much you sleep. For example if you despise your job and hate waking up in the morning, chances are you will feel more tired than someone waking up feeling happy about the day.
6. Anxiety is known to cause you to feel more tired wanting more sleep than whats considered normal.

So Do Shorter People Sleep Less

When you turn it upside down and analyze the other end of the spectrum, it begs the question as to whether shorter people sleep less than taller people. Back to my original statement, my partner is shorter than myself and also gets less sleep compared to me.

So it may be true that shorter people are sleeping less because they are obtaining a higher quality of rest. Overall you may find shorter people sleep for less time but experience a better nights sleep.

Because they have plenty of room to move around and get comfortable, it is not hard for them to fall into natural sleep cycles. As a result, you will see that shorter people tend to become more active and awake at earlier hours of the morning.

Besides having free range over what bed a short person may chose, do shorter people sleep less for any other reasons or is it all simply due to the amount of relaxation a correct fitting bed can offer.

There are no scientific studies that would correlate a reduced need for sleep by their shorter statures alone. However, there are some anecdotal reports that people can become shorter from sleep deprivation, early on in life. Other logic may suggest that short people require less sleep because they are smaller and need less downtime to repair their bodies.

Think of taking in a large firetruck for a new paint job to the collision repair center. A firetruck may require five times as much work as a compact car. If there is less cellular mass, this may require less sleep to keep things functioning in homeostasis. Of course, this logic may also depend on the overall mass of the person and not just their height. But height adds a substantial amount of weight.

The Average Amount of Sleep Suggested

While height alone may not contribute a noticeable amount of difference in sleep lengths, age does. for example, two people, both 6’5″ may not sleep for the same amount of time every night simply based on age difference.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, humans require varying amounts of sleep for each age group. You can check out the figures below and determine whether you are getting enough sleep for your age, regardless of height.

Recommended Sleep Time By Age

• Newborns (Aged three months or less): It is suggested that newborn babies obtain 14 to 17 hours of sleep.
• Infants (Aged four to 11 months): It is suggested that infants obtain 12 to 15 hours of sleep.
• Toddlers (Aged one to two years): It is suggested that toddlers obtain 11 to 14 hours of sleep during the one to two year period of their lives.
• Preschoolers (Aged three to five years): It is suggested that preschoolers obtain 10 to 13 hours of sleep.
• Children (Aged six to 13 years): It is suggested that children obtain nine to 11 hours of sleep.
• Teenagers (Aged 14 to 17 years): It is suggested that teenagers obtain eight to 10 hours of sleep.
• Adults (Aged 18 to 64 years): It is suggested that adults obtain seven to nine hours of sleep.
• Older Adults (Aged 65 and over): It is suggested that older adults obtain nine to 11 hours of sleep.

 

Tall Or Short & Not Sleeping Enough?

If you are getting less sleep than what is recommended for your age group, you should consult a doctor. You should also consult a doctor if there are any questions regarding the quality of your sleep. When people sleep well, they wake up feeling refreshed and look forward to starting a new day.

Sleep apnea is one disorder that can cause sufferers to fear sleeping. Sleep apnea is a condition where the airways are restricted during rest, thereby, causing the person suffering from it to gag and gasp for air.

If the apnea is severe enough, people can even die in their sleep. In many cases, the apnea will cause the sleeper to awake in the middle of the night by interrupting deep sleep and REM.

Regardless Of Height, Sleep Is Super Important

Sleep plays a critical role in overall body health. While we are younger, we try to avoid sleeping because it interferes with the fun kid stuff we were doing. But as we get older, the importance of having a good nights sleep becomes much more obvious.

In fact, when people fail to obtain sufficient R.E.M. (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, they can develop psychosis. Even when people are tired at night, they may begin hallucinating which can be more dangerous on the roads than drunk drivers from the impairment.

During REM sleep, the eyes move about rapidly in all directions. REM sleep occurs at different phases of the slumber. Your body switches between REM and non-REM sleep throughout the night. The REM only occurs during deep sleep cycles. You won’t reach the first episode for about 90 minutes.

Tall People Need Their Sleep

Sleep is important because your body has a chance to repair muscles, bones, and other tissues. It can change brainwaves and reorganize your thoughts for better quality. As people age, they tend to sleep less and less.

So its important a tall person gets enough quality sleep every night. Doing so, you will see a noticeable difference in overall mood and attitude towards the days adventures. Taking little steps like adding extra length to you bed by using a mattress extender could prove beneficial as well.