Going asleep barely, still feeling pretty good? Thank you for your lucky gene

Boys, some people have all the genetic luck. In a recent study, scientists described a newly discovered mutation that allowed humans to naturally sleep very little every night without any negative effects.

Chinese researchers conducted the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The mutation was found in a healthy 70-year-old woman who had little sleep in her life. The researchers say these findings may one day help us understand how to better treat sleep disorders that plague other people in humans.

Most people need about seven to nine hours of sleep each night to get the best health. However, some people are so-called natural short sleepers that can rest between four and six hours a night without experiencing symptoms of sleep deprivation (don't be confused with about one-third of people who sleep less than seven hours a night and suffer from it). The study found that these people tend to carry unique genetic mutations.

So far, scientists have found mutations associated with natural short sleep in four different genes (DEC2, NPSR1, GRM1 and ADRB1). But the researchers behind the new study have now found another: salt-induced kinase 3 or Sik3, the gene, named after the protein it produces. SIK3 is a protein kinase, an enzyme. It is thought to play a role in our metabolism, but past studies (mainly in mice) have also shown that it helps affect sleep time.

The team analyzed how their volunteers sleep and DNA. Although she reports that it usually takes only three hours of sleep per night, Actraphy Roceds (usually an action captured through Wristwatch) found that she actually slept a very breeze of 6.3 hours per night on average. The team's genetic exploration also identified specific mutations in the SIK3 gene (as surveyed by N783Y), which seemed to explain her natural short sleep.

To confirm their findings, they designed the mice with the same mutation and found that they also slept smaller than normal mice. The mutation appears to inhibit SIK3's ability to transfer certain molecules to other proteins as usual, especially proteins that are important for synapses, i.e. connections formed between neurons.

“These findings emphasize the conservative function of SIK3 as a key gene in human sleep regulation,” the authors wrote.

Perhaps only about 1% of the world's population is natural short sleeper. But the lessons we learn from unveiling their unique genetic gifts can help scientists find new drug targets for treating sleep disorders. Researchers have found some evidence that other protein kinases similar to SIK3 also play a role in affecting our sleep time.

“These findings improve our understanding of the genetic basis of sleep, highlight the broad implications of kinase activity in sleep regulation throughout the species and provide further support for potential therapeutic strategies to improve sleep efficiency,” they wrote.

Anyway, here hope scientists can also discover the genetic reason my cat must wake me up in the rain when it rains in the morning, despite knowing that breakfast is hours away.