It seems like for every held belief in the fitness world there is a report that states the exact opposite (I'm not buying this one).
"The truism that all adults need at least eight hours of sleep a night for good health should be put to rest by mounting evidence that less may be better, a leading sleep scientist says."
Well, you'll start hallucinating after so many hours of sleep deprivation. I guess you could call that an "increase in creativity".
We should also remember the fact that we are not ordinary adults. We workout hard, and that extra amiunt iff stress placed upon our body might push or sleep needs up higher.
The article:
"the big sleep" http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/282sleep.jsp
surely disagrees and brings forth plenty of refrences to back up the fact that 8-8? hours of sleep are needed.
First of all, I think it's no big deal if 7 does turn out to be the magic number for a majority of people, not 8.
Secondly, this sleep researcher has defined "optimal" quite narrowly; longevity is not the only consideration, for many of us. Calorie restriction is a proven way to increase longevity, but you're probably not planning to restrict calories for the rest of your life, either.
Thirdly, it's possible that people who only feel the need for 7 hours of sleep in general are healthier, perhaps due to diet or some other factor. I find that when my diet is good and I am at my healthiest, I feel better with less sleep.
I agree with Andersons...Those that sleep too much or too little are usually signs of an unhealthy life style. Partier, work-a-holic, sloth, rockstar, pornstar, serial killer, etc. In my case I know I have better results if I sleep 6-7 hours. Any more and I am sluggish and lethargic. Any less and I am more energetic but workouts really suffer and concentration does as well.
Statistics are always subject to interpretation...
I'd theorize that fat asses lay around and sleep a lot and probabaly have a higher rate of early mortality, and on the other side active people are likely also busier and sleep less.
I prefer to be the latter, statistics aside.
Just follow your instincts. Everybody`s different.
Like it was said, if you see a significant deviance from your patterns, you can ask yourself questions. But ultimately, nature will find a way to return you to your setpoint. Always.