Equilibrium

I had a chat with a Rabbi the other day. He told me a story from his life. When he was a young man, he had trouble sleeping. He would sleep at most 4 hours a night. He was worried that he had a sleeping disorder, so he found a top doctor on sleeping disorders. The doctor had him keep track of the number of ours he slept every night for a month. At the end, the doctor identified that the Rabbi slept an average of 4 hours every night. Sometimes, 4:15, other times, 3:50, but on the average 4 hours. What the doctor told the Rabbi was that he was one of the lucky ones. Most people are in the middle, and require 7 hours of sleep. The Rabbi was an extreme exception on the far side of the curve, requiring only 4 hours. The Rabbi was lucky because he has 3 hours more a day than everyone else. This story is interesting in that in this day and age, in this country, the rabbi would be put on sleeping medication. I am pretty sure that a number of hours people sleep fits a bell curve. Most people are in the middle sleeping somewhere between 6 and 8 hours. But the tails of the curve expend in both directions; some, requiring more like 9 or 10, while others requiring less like 4 or 5. Now, the established medical principle of the day and age is to fit everyone into the middle with no tails. I see this in everything. For example, medical community preaches that cholesterol should be below 200. Now, what makes 200 a magic number that applies to the entire population regardless of background. I would imagine that cholesterol, like everything else, follows a bell curve. Most people's normal average is 200, but the tails of the curve, go out in both directions. Some have a high average cholesterol number, and that is considered normal for their bodies, while others, have a low average. It is very troubling that most things are being applied indiscriminately. We, as a society, are loosing the equilibrium in favor of the standard.