You may not need 8 hours of sleep

- The "8 hours of sleep" rule has long been treated as universal health advice, but it originated from a mix of industrial-era scheduling norms and early sleep research that didn't account for individual variation. - Recent sleep science distinguishes between "sleep need" (the amount your body requires to function, which is largely genetic) and "sleep opportunity" (the time you spend in bed). Many people who think they are sleep-deprived may simply be spending too long in bed, which can fragment sleep and lead to poor quality. - The article argues that the 8-hour standard can cause unnecessary anxiety (a phenomenon sometimes called "orthosomnia"), where worrying about hitting an arbitrary number actually worsens sleep. - Key figures cited include Daniel Buysse, a sleep researcher whose work helped shape modern sleep guidelines, and evidence from large-scale studies showing that people who sleep 7–8 hours per night have the lowest mortality risk, but that the relationship is U-shaped — both too little and too much sleep are linked to worse outcomes.