We all know the magic number for sleep: 8. That is how many hours every adult needs to sleep every night to be sufficiently rested to meet the needs of daily life and be healthy in body and spirit.

The truth, of course, is that most of us, with the often demanding rhythms we are asked to follow, fail to complete those cherished 8 hours, leaving us feeling rather tired during the day. However, there are those who they sleep significantly fewer hours each night and manages to be functional and energetic.

No, these people don’t just have different habits. They have certain genes.

According to scientific research, there is a genetic explanation for people’s need for less sleep, which dispels the 8 hour myth. “It’s like saying that all people should be 1.77 tall, and if you are shorter, you are in trouble,” says Louis Tachek, from the Department of Neurology at the University of San Francisco.

So, some people naturally sleep only a few hours. For them, 4 or 6 hours of sleep every night is enough to fully charge your batteries the next day. They belong to the so-called “sleeping elite”.

Is “sleep elite” the key to the efficiency demanded by modern lifestyles?

For the last 25 years, Louis Tachek and his team have been analyzing data and sleep habits. 100 families. Therefore, in the initial phase of the study, the weight was given to what we call “morning types”, i.e. those who function best when they wake up and start their day early.

As you know, “larks” not only wake up very early, but also tend to go to bed early. But there are those rare cases when people while they wake up early, they also stay up late.

In the study above, it was observed that there are families that fall into the above category, i.e. they “naturally get some sleep.”

This dream is associated with 4 specific genes, not excluding that there are others associated with it. The only thing you can be sure of is that these genes are quite rare. only 1 in 1000 people belong to the “sleeping elite”, as calculated.

In fact, Tacek says, there is a perception that these people are healthier than average. This can be concluded with the help of a survey, according to which the “representatives” of the “sleepy elite” showed greater endurance.

So, those who sleep less may be sleeping more efficiently? Most likely. In a recent study, the genes from these individuals were injected into mice suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and their endurance increased.

So if these genes are isolated and used to medical purposes, perhaps they can help with a number of conditions, such as mental illness, diabetes, obesity, and even cancer.

All of the above is just the beginning of the mystery of sleep, but the evidence looks quite encouraging.

According to the BBC.