Are insomnia, sleep debt, short sleep more prevalent among programmers ?

Question

I know that some people are unable to function past a bedtime of, say, 10 or 11pm, and really need their 8 hours' sleep each night. I'm even married to someone like that.

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum - often up late, tending to wake up fully refreshed after 6 hours sleep, able to go by on less, used to pull all-nighters at the drop of a hat when I was starting out as a coder.

Can anyone point me to research on the topic ? Does your own experience suggest that programmers have (as I've read somewhere) an anti-sleep culture ?

Answer 1

Shift Work Sleep Disorder might be what you are looking for. Programmers are often used as an example of a profession that suffers from it.

Answer 2

I know if I'm sitting down at night reading a book, I'm much more likely to go to bed earlier than if I'm sitting at a computer programming.

I'm not so refreshed in the morning though, so I'm not much help there I'm afraid.

Answer 3

I seem to get a normal amount of sleep. The only problem is it's about 5 hours behind local time.

If I try to make myself go to sleep before 12am, it almost always leaves me tired the next day no matter what time I get up.