“If you work hard even at the expense of sleep, anyone can become a short sleeper.”
“The reason you’re not seeing results isn’t that you’re not cut out for the job—it’s simply that you lack commitment or aren’t putting in enough effort.”
Have you ever heard statements like these on social media, in business settings, or in the context of self-improvement?
I’m sure many of you are familiar with Daisuke Hori of the Short Sleeper Training Association, who gained attention through a live stream for advocating “30 minutes of sleep a day.” I felt a strong sense of alarm when I heard a
certain business executive take the theory of short sleepers at face value and seriously declare, “I can become a short sleeper, too.”Completely disregarding
individual traits and genetics, the mindset that “as long as you put in the effort, you can achieve anything without considering your individual characteristics” is extremely dangerous, even from the perspective of modern scientific knowledge. This trend of asserting that even
sleep duration and aptitude for work “depend entirely on individual effort” carries the risk of promoting a harmful doctrine of personal responsibility.
In this article, using these extreme claims as a starting point, I’d like to explain the scientific truth about short sleepers and how it ties into the notion of personal responsibility regarding “suitability for work.”
- Daisuke Hori’s Argument and the Myth That “You Can Learn to Sleep Less Through Effort”
- The Misconception That “You Can Become a Short Sleeper”—Debunked by Science
- Common Ground in Arguments for Personal Responsibility Regarding “Work Suitability” and “Sleep”
- Summary: Keep Your Distance from Others’ Extreme Theories of Success and the “Personal Responsibility” Argument
Daisuke Hori’s Argument and the Myth That “You Can Learn to Sleep Less Through Effort”
Daisuke Hori has long argued that “sleep duration can be trained, depending on the training method.”He explained that, just like weight training with
barbells, if people train using the right techniques and with strong willpower, many can function adequately on just 3 to 4 hours of sleep—or even less.
This “if you try, you can do it” message strongly resonates with businesspeople who want to free up more time and those eager to advance their careers.
However, the mechanisms underlying sleep are fundamentally different from those of muscle training.
The human brain and body’s recovery systems are not so simple that they can be overridden by an individual’s “grit” or “effort.”
The Misconception That “You Can Become a Short Sleeper”—Debunked by Science
Modern sleep medicine and genetic research have shown that “true short sleepers have an extremely rare genetic predisposition.”
- Sleep Duration Determined at the Genetic Level: People who can maintain their health even with
extremely short sleep durations have specific genetic mutations.
These are congenital traits passed down through family lines and cannot be acquired through effort or willpower. - The Truth About “Trained Short Sleep”: When ordinary
people manage to function on little sleep, it’s not because their bodies have adapted to being short sleepers—it’s simply that they are “enduring a state of chronic sleep deprivation (sleep debt).”
When sleep deprivation becomes chronic, humans adapt to the resulting decline in cognitive function and begin to mistakenly believe, “I can function just fine even without sleeping this much.”
Common Ground in Arguments for Personal Responsibility Regarding “Work Suitability” and “Sleep”
In fact, the line of reasoning underlying the idea that “you can become a short sleeper through effort” has exactly the same structure as the harmful “personal responsibility” narrative often invoked when discussing “suitability for a job.” In the
business world and in discussions about careers, statements like the following are sometimes accepted as common sense:
“The reason you’re not getting results in your current job isn’t because you’re not cut out for it—it’s because you’re not trying hard enough.”
“If there are tasks you struggle with, it’s because you’re being lazy, and you have to overcome them with sheer determination.”
It’s true that many business skills can be improved through effort and experience.
However, there are clear “individual differences” and “suitability” when it comes to human cognitive characteristics, processing speed, and mental resilience. A mindset that completely ignores
these biological and cognitive characteristics and attributes every setback or mismatch to a “lack of effort on the individual’s part”—waving the banner of personal responsibility—has the following significant drawbacks:
- Underestimating Individual Characteristics (Brain Structure and Constitution): Just
like sleep duration, brain structure and characteristics cannot be changed overnight through a single burst of effort. - The Mass Production of Burnout: When people are forced to rely solely on “hard work” to cope with harsh environments that don’t suit
their aptitudes or lifestyles that are physically impossible to sustain, many end up suffering from mental and physical health issues and eventually drop out. - Cover-up of Structural Problems: “Organizational and structural issues”—such as poor
working conditions and mismatched staffing, which should be addressed—are often framed as individual problems, such as “a lack of effort on the part of the employee.”
Summary: Keep Your Distance from Others’ Extreme Theories of Success and the “Personal Responsibility” Argument
As exemplified by the arguments of Daisuke Hori and the statements of business leaders who have taken them at face value, we must not blindly generalize extreme psychological theories that disregard an individual’s genetic characteristics and innate aptitudes.
- Being a short sleeper is a special "genetic predisposition" and cannot be achieved through effort.
- There are limits to one’s aptitude for work and individual cognitive characteristics, so we must not attribute everything to a “lack of effort.”
- Sacrificing sleep and pushing yourself too hard in an environment that doesn’t suit you is not a matter of personal responsibility but a “structural risk.”
Getting enough sleep and working in an environment suited to your aptitudes is neither laziness nor an excuse—it is an “absolute necessity” for us to perform at our best over the long term.Let’s not be swayed by
others’ extreme lifestyles, the notion that “anything is possible if you just work hard enough, regardless of your individual characteristics,” or the associated doctrine of personal responsibility. Instead, let’s prioritize a work style that listens to scientific facts and the voices of our own bodies and minds.
Based on your career experience and day-to-day work, where do you think the line is drawn between “areas where hard work makes a difference” and “areas where individual traits and aptitudes present a barrier”?
