People only need 4 hours of sleep a day due to genetic mutations

US scientists are studying gene mutation in subjects who only need to sleep 4 hours a night and are still completely healthy, in order to find a sleep control intervention for humans.

Gene mutations make people need only 4 hours of sleep a day

Abby Ross is a retired psychologist who lives in Miami, Florida, USA. For her, sleeping every night only lasts 4 hours is enough for the body to relax and be alert. Thanks to half the time of sleep, Ross has about 60 more free days each year for other jobs, while everyone is sleeping.

Short-sleepers have mutations in the gene called DEC2.(Photo: BBC)

" It's great to have so much time during the day. I feel like I have two lives," said Ross.

Those of the short-sleeper group like Ms. Ross never fell asleep or craved to sleep every morning. They often wake up early, usually sleeping only 4-5 hours and still full of energy starting the new day. The late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also belongs to this group. The steel dresser once proudly said that she only needed 4 hours of sleep each night.

The phenomenon of nap has many doubts. The reason why this group of people has such an amazing quality of sleep while people usually spend half a day to take a nap? Is it possible to change sleep characteristics to increase efficacy like a group of naps?

Scientific solution

Ying-Hui Fu Laboratory of the University of California, San Francisco, USA, welcomed a female guest in 2009 complaining of her excessive early rise. At the outset, Fu said that this woman could be the reason for this early bedtime and extreme early rise of the woman. However, the woman confirmed that she went to bed at midnight, but until 4 am, she was fully awake. Not only that, the same situation also occurred in many other members of her family.

Ms. Fu and her colleagues compared the genome of this woman's family. They found a small mutation in the gene called DEC2 that is present in people with short-term symptoms. This feature does not occur in normal sleep members as well as 250 volunteers participating in the study.

The team also created similar gene mutations , tested on mice. The results showed that mice with mutant genes slept much less but still functioned as effectively as the others in the tests.

Usually, sleeping too little or lack of sleep has serious consequences for health, quality of life and longevity.Lack of sleep can lead to depression, obesity and increased risk of stroke or diabetes.

" Sleep is very important. If you sleep well, you can avoid many diseases and dementia, " Fu said. "Normal people without sleep for only 2 hours a day, cognitive function will decrease immediately."

Sleep less and stay healthy

Why sleep is so important is still a mystery. The most common explanation is that the brain needs sleep to perform the " cleanup " task after a day's work and maintain balance because the brain does not have much time off when the body works. Sleep time helps the brain repair damaged cells, eliminate toxins, strengthen energy supplies and rearrange memories.

"Obviously, people with the DEC2 mutant can complete this process in a shorter time than usual. Their sleep is more effective than us, " Fu said. " But how do they do that? That's the key question."

After the mutant discovery of DEC2 , Ms. Fu said many people came to confirm that they only needed very little sleep each night. But most of these suffer from insomnia.

"We do not study people who experience sleep disorders that make them sleep less, our subjects are people who do not sleep much and still feel healthy," Fu said. According to her, the common point of all subjects who take a nap in the study is the positive attitude of life.

"They are all energetic and very optimistic. The desire to enjoy life the most can be quite common in them. But we are not sure whether the mutation is related or not, and if so, how, " Fu wondered.

Because of the little sleep, these people often have more time to complete the job than the average person.(Photo: Thinkstock)

Psychologist Abby Ross always feels relieved when he wakes up.

" The time of the morning, at 5 o'clock, is amazing. The space is very quiet and peaceful that makes people do a lot of things. I wish many shops opened at that time, but now I can shop. online or read books There are many things to read in this world, or I can go out and exercise before others wake up, or talk to people in other time zones. "

Ross's unusual bedtime hours helped her complete her university education in just two and a half years, while learning many new skills. For example, just three weeks after giving birth to his first son, Ross decided to take one of the many early mornings in his life to run around the block.

At first she took about 10 minutes. The next day, she continued to run and increased her distance a bit. Along with the time, her strength increased in proportion to the time and distance running each day.

For three years, Ross completed not only one but 37 marathon tracks (more than 42,000 km long each), averaging once a month, along with many rounds of mountain forest terrain.

"I can wake up exercising before people wake up and finish things far beyond others, " she said. When Ross was young, Ross used to spend the early mornings with his father, who was also a member of the nap team.

"These early mornings gave us a special time together," she said. Now if she misses sleep, her husband is even afraid of his wife's death. " I'm not sleeping because when I do that I feel bad."

Shortcuts to improve sleep quality

After the initial study, expert Fu and colleagues continued to analyze the genomes of many other families that met the conditions of napping. Fu commented that this is only the first step in understanding the mutation of a person who has a nap, but is the foundation step. She hopes that in the future this knowledge will help ordinary people get a good and effective nap.

Until this comes true, sleep expert Neil Stanley thinks there is still a way for us to improve sleep quality."The most effective measure is to fix it up in the morning, " he said.

Stanley said, the body will gradually get used to the time it takes to wake up, so will make the most of the time it takes to sleep as effectively as possible. " Research shows that the body prepares to wake up to 1.5 hours before actually waking up. The body always follows the rhythm regularly, so if you often change the time, your body will not have a basis. just prepare for waking up. "

Next, each person should free himself from the judgment of the society about naps. " Numerous short-nap views are good and encourage people to sleep less ," Stanley commented.

"We are often obsessed with the example of Margaret Thatcher or genius CEOs often claim not to sleep much. In fact, sleep time is a factor affected by genetics. Some people often sleep very little. while others need 11-12 hours per night to feel the best. "

He also stressed that many people believe that they have a sleep disorder , in fact, they do not suffer from it. People often expect to sleep at the specified time.

"If we can determine what kind of sleep we are and live like that, each person will make a significant difference to the quality of our lives."