A word for one who has the ability to sleep almost instantly

Question

I am looking for a word to describe a person that can fall asleep 'as their head hits the pillow'.

To add context: my wife falls asleep seconds after she decides that she wants to sleep. Not just in bed, but on the sofa, on the train - almost anywhere where there is a relatively comfortable place to sleep. Even on a moving escalator. She is a person who I consider to be happy and at peace with herself. I mention this as I am not looking for a term to describe someone with a medical condition with no control over when they sleep.

Zeal · Answer

It is common, though possibly insensitive to actual sufferers, to use the term narcoleptic in an exaggerative sense to refer to people who can fall asleep nearly instantly. It is actually more common (in my experience) to see the word used to describe someone like your wife, than to describe someone who is actually afflicted with narcolepsy, as the latter is far more rare. The tone is always playful in this form of usage and does not imply that there is anything actually wrong with the subject.

Alternatively, you could use a term of your own devising that is easily understood such as "sleep-on-demand".

Alternatively, you could use a term of your own devising that is easily understood such as "sleep-on-demand".

A word for one who has the ability to sleep almost instantly

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question