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Short Sleep Gene: Perhaps You Don’t Need Much Sleep After All?
Some people have a short sleep gene that allows them to feel refreshed with little shuteye, while most people need more sleep
There’s plenty of advice touted about getting a good night’s sleep. So much so that you could wonder if the idea’s blown out of proportion. After all, many people with great minds survived on only a few hours of sleep a night without seeming to suffer.
Leonardo da Vinci slept for two hours. Not in a single stretch, though; he liked to catnap. Also, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Sir Isaac Newton didn’t spend long sleeping. So, could the recommended nightly allowance of seven to nine hours be over the top?
What happens while you sleep?
There’s a problem associated with sleeping less than the suggested average hours. People go through stages of slumber, moving from light sleep into the REM stage when they dream. Each is necessary for well-being, especially delta sleep, which takes place roughly three hours into kip when body and mind maintenance occurs.
You miss vital processes if you don’t sleep enough to encounter the latter stages. No doubt, Leonardo spent most of his naps in light hypnagogic sleep…
