Not all are equal when it comes to sleep

Dakota Johnson starred in the film Fifty Shades of Gray. She is also the daughter of famous parents – American actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. And for some time now, the actress has also been known… for her sleeping habits.

In December, in an interview with the WSJ Magazine (published by the Wall Street Journal), Dakota Johnson, 34, was surprisingly confident, after mentioning that, in life, sleep was her “number one priority.” “I’m not functional if I sleep less than 10 hours,” she said. I can easily sleep 14 hours. »

Yes, you read correctly: 2 p.m. Enough to complicate ordinary mortals and their 7 to 8 hours of sleep. If we “prioritized” our sleep like Dakota, would we sleep 10, 12, or even 14 hours?

Neurologist Alex Desautels heads the clinic at the Center for Advanced Studies in Sleep Medicine, at the Sacré-Cœur-de-Montreal hospital. At our request, he looked into the thorny matter of Dakota’s sleep. “I searched for “Dakota Johnson” and “sleep” on the internet and it blew my mind: there are 3 pages in Google. Everyone picked up on that,” he points out. On the one hand, he says, it’s good, because it raises awareness of the importance of sleep. “But 2 p.m.? It seems a bit long to me. »

We are not all equal when it comes to sleep; some need more sleep, others less, and there is a genetic aspect to all of this. “It’s a trait that is said to be complex: several genes will interact to determine our sleep needs,” explains Alex Desautels. Specific genes have also been identified in families of short sleepers: they ensure that the brain wakes up more easily and can stay awake longer, indicates Alex Desautels, also a professor at the University of Montreal.

Needs that vary

In adults, sleep needs generally vary from 7 to 9 hours, and it is only a very small proportion of the population that genetically needs less (within 6 hours) or more sleep ( within 9-10 hours). “There is variability in sleep needs and we cannot rely solely on its duration to determine its quality,” explains Thanh Dang-Vu, neurologist at the University Institute of Geriatrics of Montreal. Some people sleep a little less, but have more deep sleep, he illustrates. The environment also plays a role: an athlete at the peak of his training will need more hours of sleep than a sedentary person. But 2 p.m.? “It’s extreme and it’s probably not normal,” says Dr.^r Thanh Dang-Vu, full professor at Concordia University.

“It’s very rare and it’s not normal,” says Professor Charles Morin, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Behavioral Sleep Medicine at Laval University. According to a pan-Canadian study conducted last fall and the results of which will be published this year, only 3% of some 4,000 respondents said they slept more than 9 hours per night. “On the other hand, nearly 20% sleep less than 6 hours,” underlines Charles Morin. Many people therefore live with a permanent sleep debt, he says.

But back to the other extreme: Dakota. So what bug has bitten her?

First hypothesis: exaggeration. The D^r Alex Desautels emphasizes that we are poor judges of our own sleep: just as insomniacs tend to underestimate the duration of their sleep (on average by an hour), hypersomniacs tend to overestimate it.

Perhaps we have to look for the answer in Dakota’s life routine. In the same interview with WSJ Magazine, the actress said she did not have a fixed wake-up time and took baths at any time of the day. Maybe his bedtimes are irregular too. “If, for example, in preparation for an exam, a person sleeps three to four hours for several days, when this person lets his sleep go, he can sleep 12 hours, 14 hours, or even more”, illustrates the D^r Thanh Dang-Vu.

Last possibility: the existence of a health problem. “Epidemiological studies show that too little sleep is bad, but too much sleep is bad too,” summarizes the D^r Dang Vu. For what ? Because hypersomnia can be a symptom of an underlying condition, such as sleep apnea, a prevalent disorder that causes breathing to stop during sleep. Neurological diseases, including Kleine-Levin syndrome, are also associated with hypersomnia.

Level of alertness

How do you know if you’re getting the number of hours you need? One of the best indicators, underlines Charles Morin, is the level of alertness during the day. If you are able to carry out your activities normally, without having to fight sleep or down 10 coffees to stay alert, your needs are probably being met.

Marilyn Labbé, 45, considers herself a natural sleeper. She sleeps for four to five hours, interspersed with a period of wakefulness which she takes advantage of to draw. “I’ve always lived like that,” says the Estrie resident. As a teenager, I went to sleep at friends’ houses and it was very long and very boring waiting for the others to get up…” She doesn’t take naps and doesn’t consume any caffeine. No need: she is neither tired nor irritable, she says. “It’s more the others that worry,” emphasizes the mother.

Pascale Montcalm has long described herself as a night owl. Even though her alarm went off at 6 a.m. during the week, she didn’t agree to go to bed early, “as if I was afraid of missing something,” she says. Today she realizes she wasn’t getting enough sleep. “I was less focused, less alert, and I would sometimes hit nails while driving,” she remembers. It was motherhood that encouraged her to prioritize her sleep. She goes to bed today at 9 p.m., to sleep 8 to 9 hours a night, sometimes 10 hours, but never 14 hours. She leaves that to Dakota.