Your sleep needs are probably influenced by your genes. It’s a new way of thinking about sleep that’s gaining steam, thanks to a rare group of people known as natural short sleepers, or those who can function normally on less than six hours of sleep a night.
And now, a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco — who identified the first two genetic mutations that promote natural short sleeping — say they have just uncovered a third short sleeper gene.
Their work, published in Science Translational Medicine today, explains that people who carry a mutation on a gene called NPSR1 can thrive on far less sleep than the generally prescribed seven to nine hours a night.
In addition to needing less sleep, this genetic mutation also seems to help short sleepers avoid the memory problems typically associated with sleep deprivation.
The newly identified short sleeping genetic ...
