What do Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon and Margaret Thatcher have in common? They all got by on a skimpy allotment of sleep.
There’s no evidence to suggest that those three were related (what a family reunion that would be…of course it would require a time machine). But perhaps their genes had something to do with it. Scientists recently found genetic mutations that may impact how well we sleep and how much sleep we need.
There’s a lot of talk these days about the optimal amount of sleep for adults. The newest wisdom is that seven hours may beat eight in terms of health benefits and longevity—surprise!
But the truth is, nobody really knows. Maybe there’s just no “one size fits all” when it comes to the “right” number of Zzzs. Sleep needs, after all, are impacted by a number of factors.
When it comes to our genes, it’s not just our family trees that matter. Scientists have discovered a mutant gene they believe allows for less sleep. The mutation makes a difference even between twins.
After depriving 100 pairs of identical and fraternal twins of sleep for 38 hours and testing their alertness every two hours, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania checked how much rest they needed to recover. They found the starkest difference in a pair of non-identical twins, one of whom had a particular variation in a gene that was already thought important for controlling circadian rhythms.
The twin with the mutation slept one hour less—just five hours per night—than his sibling and, while sleep deprived, made 40 percent fewer mistakes on the test.
Scientists believe that the mutant gene helped its owner to drop into non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep more efficiently than his twin, although it didn’t give him a better quality of sleep.
Mutations to this particular gene appear to lessen the amount of sleep needed without reducing the amount of NREM sleep, which is crucial to memory, cognition and physical recovery, the study suggested.
So while all this talk of cool mutant genes may be inspiring you to go watch X-Men, just make sure you still get enough sleep tonight…whatever that looks like for you.
Want to learn more? The mutant gene study was published in a recent edition of the journal SLEEP.