The average person needs eight hours of sleep a night. There are basically three sleep stages. The eight hours is divided into a) about 2 1/2 hours of various sleep stages to get to sleep, b) 2 1/2 hours of various sleep stages to wake up, and c) three hours of deep, restful, dreamless sleep known technically as somnambulism, otherwise known as deep sleep (getting there and waking up are called REM, initials for rapid eye movement, characteristic of that form of sleep).
Some people, either naturally or through training, can get to deep sleep very quickly. Those people need the ability to sleep three hours, and spend whatever time it takes to fall asleep and wake up. falling asleep and waking up times seem to have no effect on the body.
When I was younger, As a result of training, I used to sleep only about four hours a day. It gradually became more as I grew older. but basically, anybody can train themselves to fall asleep and wake up quickly. I used to be able to sleep on planes trains and automobiles. Basically, if I was moving and not driving, I slept. It was a very useful skill.
For the first several months after my stroke, sleeping was not the problem. I'd sack out of 8 or 9 PM and wake up by 5 or 6 AM. It was actually a very nice schedule. I also noticed, I might trip to Connecticut, but I hadn't lost my skill of falling asleep on the airplane. Life was good. It was after I got to Connecticut that I started having problems. At first, I attributed to a new environment, doing something exciting, lots of reasons. There's only one problem. It's a year later, and I still can't sleep.
Maybe I should just hire somebody to drive me around the block and park near the driveway once I fall asleep!
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