Rare Gene found in Brief Sleepers
Published in Action & Fitness Magazine November 2009 issue
If you can function efficiently with only a few hours of sleep without feeling lightheaded—surprise, surprise—you might be a mutant.
Of course, we don’t mean the Wolverine-type (hmm, maybe that’s not such a bad idea for the guys), but scientists have discovered a rare gene among short sleepers that allow them to stay perky despite sleep deprivation.
Lack of sleep directly affects your physical and mental health. In 2006, an American study concluded that nearly 30 million Americans suffer from insomnia and other sleeping disorders. Curiously, there are those people who, despite sleeping for only 4-5 hours or less, manage to appear well-rested and livelier compared to those who sleep by the clock. No, it’s not the caffeine, and researchers worldwide have sought for the genes related to sleeping patterns.
The Rare Gene DEC2
In 2001, researchers from the University of California in San Francisco discovered a mutation that disrupts a person’s sleeping pattern. People who carry the mutation usually sleep at around 7:30 p.m. and wake up at 3:30 a.m.
Recently, the same team discovered a rare gene called DEC2 that plays a vital part in regulating the circadian rhythm or the body’s block. In one American family, a 69-year-old mother goes to sleep at around 10 pm and would wake up at 4 pm. Just the same, her 44-year-old daughter sleeps at the same and would rise at around 4:30 pm. Both show no signs of sleep deprivation and claim to be just as alert and energetic as the rest of their family who has typical sleep patterns. According to the blood tests, the mother and daughter have a mutation in the gene DEC2, which the researchers believe causes the reduced requirement for sleep. A laborious check of over 250 stock DNA samples didn’t reveal another carrier.
Further Studies
The team’s lead researcher and neurology professor, Ying-Hui Fu, Ph.D., and his colleagues were the first to discover a gene that’s directly related to sleep behavior in humans. To prove his discovery, he conducted an experiment on genetically engineered mice that carry the human DEC2 gene. His study concluded that the mice slept less and needed lesser recovery time for sleep deprivation.
The discovery of the DEC2 gene is a scientific breakthrough despite it being found, initially, in only two women. Dr. Charles A. Czeisler, chief of sleep medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, referred to the discovery as a “landmark study” for it gave a genetic basis in the difference of sleep patterns among individuals. The success of Fu’s replication of the gene’s ability in mice gave the scientists a straighter path to thread in their search for more genetic traits.
A DEC2 pill, perhaps?
When the idea for a DEC2 drug was raised, Fu said that the possible availability of such drug would be “pretty safe” since the first two known carriers of the rare mutation are safe. However, a geneticist and sleep researcher at the University of Lausanne, Mehdi Tafti, Ph.D., added that the DEC2 gene only affects one part of the entire sleep process. He also said that more research, particularly in identifying more proteins that affect the sleep requirement of humans, is needed before a drug could be made to duplicate the DEC2 gene’s effect on humans.
Rare gene—Beautiful mutation
Nevertheless, the discovery provides us not only opportunities to dwell on its limitless potential, but also bigger responsibilities on how to utilize its effects on our lives. Would the lesser need for sleep improve your life or would it just give you more time to spend on nothingness? Do you really need a pill to cut your blissful sleep in half?
Perhaps in the near future, we might be having two kinds of sleeping pills—one for sleeping and another for cutting it short. But what we should keep in mind is this: even mutants need time for slumber.
