Gene Mutation Reduces the Need for Sleep

"This is the first time a gene has been found in humans that critically and dramatically controls sleep," said Mehdi Tafti, PhD, in an interview with WebMD.com2. Tafti is a geneticist and sleep researcher at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, who was not directly involved in the Fu study. "We now have evidence that a gene mutation can dramatically change the amount of sleep you get." The researchers genetically engineered mice to carry the DEC2 gene, and they simply slept less with no apparent side effects. When deprived of sleep, the mice also recovered faster than mice that didn’t carry the gene.

People with the DEC2 gene mutation might sleep only six hours per night, and not need any more than that. They don’t need naps, either. While many people might attempt to live on six hours per night, sleep experts say they are napping during the day, or they are going through life exhausted. Richard Simon Jr., MD, medical director of the Kathryn Severyns Dement Sleep Disorders Center in Walla Walla, Washington, says that people who need only six hours of sleep per night do exist, but are a significant minority. Most of us need eight to eight and a half hours per night.

“Short term and chronic disruptions in the length of optimal sleep can have serious consequences on cognition, mood and physical health, including cancer and endocrine function”, says Fu. “These changes in sleep in the mutant mice could provide an explanation for why human subjects with the mutation are able to live unaffected by shorter amounts of sleep throughout their lives.

” Unfortunately for those of us who would like to be able to live on significantly less sleep, not only are those who naturally do so in the minority, but also the DEC2 gene mutation is very rare. It was found in only 1 of 60 families.

However, these results inspire the possibility of one day developing a drug that acts in a similar manner as DEC2, which would be of help to people suffering from sleep disorders such as sleep apnea or who want or need to stay awake longer without harming their health. However, the researchers note that the creation of a “sleep less” drug is decades away. For now, it is exciting to discover a genetic insight into the regulatory mechanisms of sleep, with the possibility of new treatments for sleep problems in the future.

1 http://www.bionews.org.uk/page_46812.asp

2 http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20090813/gene-cuts-sleep-need?src=RSS_PUBLIC