[The Final Dakar]

$5 says you'll find this gene far more often in highly successful people.
BBC - Future - The people who need very little sleep

What would you do if you had 60 days of extra free time a year? Ask Abby Ross, a retired psychologist from Miami, Florida, a “short-sleeper”. She needs only four hours sleep a night, so has a lot of spare time to fill while the rest of the world is in the land of nod.
“It’s wonderful to have so many hours in my day – I feel like I can live two lives,” she says.

In 2009, a woman came into Ying-Hui Fu’s lab at the University of California, San Francisco, complaining that she always woke up too early. At first, Fu thought the woman was an extreme morning lark – a person who goes to bed early and wakes early. However, the woman explained that she actually went to bed around midnight and woke at 4am feeling completely alert. It was the same for several members of her family, she said.

Fu and her colleagues compared the genome of different family members. They discovered a tiny mutation in a gene called DEC2 that was present in those who were short-sleepers, but not in members of the family who had normal length sleep, nor in 250 unrelated volunteers.

When the team bred mice to express this same mutation, the rodents also slept less but performed just as well as regular mice when given physical and cognitive tasks.

Ross would seem to fit that mould. “I always feel great when I wake up,” she says. She has been living on four to five hours sleep every day for as long as she can remember.

“Those hours in the morning – around five o’clock – are just fabulous. It’s so peaceful and quiet and you can get so much done. I wish more shops were open at that time, but I can shop online, or I can read – oh there’s so much to read in this world! Or I can go out and exercise before anyone else is up, or talk to people in other time zones.”

Her short sleeping patterns allowed her to complete university in two and a half years, as well as affording her time to learn lots of new skills. For example, just three weeks after giving birth to her first son, Ross decided to use one of her early mornings to attempt to run around the block. It took her 10 minutes. The following day she did it again, running a little further. She slowly increased the time she ran, finally completing not one, but 37 marathons – one a month over three years – plus several ultramarathons. “I can get up and do my exercise before anyone else is up and then it’s done, out of the way,” she says.

Yeah, I wish I could properly ease into the day. Would do wonders for my productivity, stress and mental health.

---

For some reason I see a future Wall Street firms look to see whether their applicants have this gene.

[reader50]

This is certainly interesting. But I'd be more interested in the gene that makes people get too little sleep. I could use a fix for that one.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by reader50 

This is certainly interesting. But I'd be more interested in the gene that makes people get too little sleep. I could use a fix for that one.

Insomnia?

[Cap'n Tightpants]

I've been through numerous sleep studies and my ability to fully function on 4-5 hours of sleep, for weeks on end, baffles the hell out of my doctor. More than 5 hours, for me, is entirely unnecessary, and oftentimes even detrimental to my ability to focus. (and yes, my best hours are 5-8 am, I can get more done in those 3 than many people can in 8)

[Waragainstsleep]

When I smoked weed I could function pretty well on 3-4 hours a night. I would tend to catch up at weekends though. I need more like 5 hours now but I'm not a morning person so I sleep from 3 is to 8ish because of work but left to my own devices it would probably be later than that.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

I've been through numerous sleep studies and my ability to fully function on 4-5 hours of sleep, for weeks on end, baffles the hell out of my doctor. More than 5 hours, for me, is entirely unnecessary, and oftentimes even detrimental to my ability to focus. (and yes, my best hours are 5-8 am, I can get more done in those 3 than many people can in 8)

Get a gene study done

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Get a gene study done

I have but it wasn't focused on that area, I guess I could have them look over that again. One thing that's interesting is I can "trade in" most of my sleep for meditation, if for some reason I need to be alert for several days in a row, then I can get by with only a 1-2 hour naps /day for ~a week.

[Laminar]

Predicted result: Superior.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Predicted result: Superior.

Probably (at least when compared to you)

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Predicted result: Superior.

Homo Superior

[andi*pandi]

I do not have this gene. I stumble by on about 6 hours of sleep, after kids I seem to be used to that, but when I get 7-8 I feel much better. <4 and I am sick two days later.

[el chupacabra]

This is one of the reasons I wish I could be genetically engineered.

[Gearhead40]

I've never bought the idea that some need little sleep. I think you don't notice the ill effects right away but it shows years later. Just my two cents.

[The Final Dakar]

This isn't an idea. It's a scientific study.

[osiris]

Not surprised at this study at all.. But I wish I could get at least 8 or 9 or 10 hours of sleep at a stretch to relax. but who has the time.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

$5 says you'll find this gene far more often in highly successful people.

No doubt about it. I can't begin to count the number of biographies I've read or documentaries I've watched that pointed out this exact quality in famous/influential people. It's really cool that they've tracked it down.

Originally Posted by reader50 

This is certainly interesting. But I'd be more interested in the gene that makes people get too little sleep. I could use a fix for that one.

I have this problem. It's actually two sets of genes which combined to create two little mutant sets of genes.

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Predicted result: Superior.

LOLed a bit.

Originally Posted by Gearhead40 

I've never bought the idea that some need little sleep. I think you don't notice the ill effects right away but it shows years later. Just my two cents.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

This isn't an idea. It's a scientific study.

LOLed again.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

I've been through numerous sleep studies and my ability to fully function on 4-5 hours of sleep, for weeks on end, baffles the hell out of my doctor. More than 5 hours, for me, is entirely unnecessary, and oftentimes even detrimental to my ability to focus. (and yes, my best hours are 5-8 am, I can get more done in those 3 than many people can in 8)

The highlighted portion made me wonder: do you have a catch-up period where you'll sleep a more "normal" amount of time?