Interesting insights into why we need to dream. Get good sleep!

The first two seem almost too obvious to post, but it's always nice when science backs up common sense. The third one was interesting to me because I didn't really think you could "bank" sleep.

• Extra Sleep Improves Athletic Performance (study of swimmers).
• Extra Sleep Improves Athletes' Performance (study of basketball players).
• Sleep Extension Improves Alertness And Performance During And Following Subsequent Sleep Restriction.

Extreme... beds?

The Economist on sleep, new drugs:

...a new, contrarian school of thought is emerging. The eight-hours mantra has no more scientific basis than the tooth fairy, says Neil Stanley, head of sleep research at the Human Psychopharmacology Research Unit at the University of Surrey in Britain. He believes that everyone has their own individual "sleep need" which can be anywhere between three and 11 hours. "If you're a three-hour-a-night person, you need three; if you're 11, you need 11." To find out, he says, simply sleep until you wake naturally, without the aid of an alarm clock. Feel rested? That's your sleep need.

I can't imagine the new drugs are healthy, but boy, I would love it if they could someday "cure" me of sleeping. When fantasizing about which superpower I'd like to have, the ability to make sleep optional is always a dark horse candidate (but not one you'd ever base a comic book around).

Lots of fitness experts tout the benefits of copious sleep for workout recovery and fat loss, but I don't really have any information on that, nor do I know how it would relate to the idea of individualized sleep needs as described above.