Why do I feel better with 6 hours of sleep than 7?

Okay, so this is seriously weird, right? Why do I always feel better on six hours of sleep than seven? Seven just leaves me groggy, like I’ve been hit by a truck – a very slow, very irritating truck. Six hours? I’m surprisingly chipper. It’s baffling.

I read something about this “renorming” thing, which I guess is like…your brain readjusts what “rested” feels like? So if you’re constantly sleep-deprived, your brain’s all, “Yeah, this is fine! This is normal!” even though it’s clearly not. Like that time I was cramming for finals – pulled all-nighters for days. By the end, I was running on fumes, but honestly, I felt more alert than when I’d actually managed a full eight hours. Go figure. It’s like my brain was resetting its “tired” meter to a much lower level. Crazy, huh?

I mean, I know it’s probably not healthy. Seven to nine hours is what they say, right? All those studies and charts… But seriously, seven hours for me feels like way too much. It’s almost like oversleeping! It’s totally counterintuitive, but I can’t argue with the pep in my step after a solid six. Maybe I’m just weird. Or maybe my brain’s playing tricks on me. Either way, six hours it is, I guess, until something changes. Maybe I should actually look at those sleep studies again, though… Ugh, research. But yeah, renorming seems to sum it up pretty well, doesn’t it?