Gene Mutation linked with Sleeping Less
For a lucky few with a gene mutation, six hours of sleep is enough, while an average person requires anywhere from 8 to 8.5 hours of sleep. A recent study was the first ever to identify a relationship between gene mutation and sleep patterns.
Although the gene mutation was found in only two women, the research has much significance and potential because when the gene for shortened sleep was replicated in mouse and fruit fly, it was quiet successful.
While screening through blood samples during a sleep study, researchers from University of California found two women with abnormal copies of a gene called DEC2, which affects circadian rhythms. By working backwards, they found a mother and daughter who seemed to receive only 6 hours of sleep a night. However, unlike most of us, they were able to carry on their daily routine without feeling any symptoms of sleep deprivation.
Unlike other short sleepers, these two women usually go to bed around 10 or 10:30 and wake up without an alarm. Not only do they feel like they have had enough sleep, but they also feel energized and ready to work, unlike most of us who suffer from sleep deprivation.
Ying-Hui Fu, co-author of the study and professor of neurology at University of California said, “The two women, one in her 70s and the other in her 40s, go to bed around 10 or 10:30 at night and wake up alert and energized around 4 or 4:30 in the morning. When they wake up in morning, they feel they have slept enough.”
These two women are natural short sleepers, as they do not use stimulants and alarm clocks in order to shorten their sleep patterns.
“Many people get only six hours of sleep a night, but we drink coffee and tea to make ourselves stay up,” Dr. Fu said. “That’s a very different thing.”
In order to examine their findings, the scientists bred mice with the exact same mutation. The mice with the mutation, not only slept for a shorter time, but were also able to recover quickly from sleep deprivation compared to the regular mice.
This new discovery can help researchers gain insight into human sleep patterns and treatments for sleep disorders such as insomnia. However, Dr. Fu believes that research will be much more beneficial if the same exact gene is identified within other individuals. The genetic mutation is extremely rare as only one family out of 70 families with sleep problems carried this particular mutation.
But Dr. Fu remains hopeful as she stated, “We essentially do not know anything about how sleep is regulated. But this gene is kind of opening a door for us to say, ‘Now we have this gene and we know it affects human sleep quantity.”
With optimism, she years to find a treatment which would allow people to stay awake for longer periods of time with less sleep, without it being detrimental upon the person’s health.
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