In the 2000s, some researchers from the University of California in San Francisco realized that it was true that there were people who needed to sleep less than normal. That is, people who, naturally, sleep between three and six hours (and do not present symptoms of fatigue or cognitive impairment).
AND It could not beclear. The consensus among the specialists is that all those people who said to sleep little or did not have a good perception of the time they slept or they were making cognitive damage of which they were not aware. They began to investigate it.
Sik3-N783Y. 20 years have taken, but that summarizes the conclusions of their research around the ‘Short Natural Dream’. After analyzing the genomes of mothers and daughtersthey concluded that the Sik3-N783Y (a variant of the Sik3 gene) would be behind this phenomenon. It is not the only one (the team has located five mutations in four different genes), but it seems the most relevant.
The problem is that it was difficult to prove. So researchers They introduced The variant in laboratory mice and discovered that, indeed, it slept 31 minutes less than the rest without presenting any fatigue. In fact, with a little stimulation, they could be almost an hour without sleep.
And how is it possible? Ying-Hui fu, the neuroscientific behind the investigation, explained in Nature magazine that “our bodies continue to function when we sleep. They detoxify and repair damage. These people (those who had the mutation) can perform those functions at a higher rate than others.”
And this is interesting.
A new family of medicines. Above all, because Sik3 could become a therapeutic objective. Today, we have several techniques and medications to regulate the expression of genes and, at least on paper, these variants that the Ying-Hui Fu team has located could constitute a ‘roadmap’ to enter the world of sleep products less.
And, let’s be honest, the market is huge. The ambition for stealing hours to sleep is as old as man. Is what is behind energy drinkshe Recreational methylphenidate or the techniques for Learn to sleep just four hours: an unbridled career for flee from fatigue and exhaustion.
The problem is that it has terrible consequences: they quickly arise immunological problems, Metaboliccardiac, Psychological and cognitive. Lack of sleep (or the dream of little caldiad) is closely related to an increase in coronary heart diseaseof the diabetes and of the obesity. You can also exercise pressure on personal relationships and lead to social isolation.
A pill to limit The damage caused by the dream of poor quality It would be a bomb for large pharmaceuticals.
Are we close to getting it? It is still early to put it in those terms, but for the first time in a long time it seems that we have a solid way to walk towards it. With all that that meansclear.
Image | Nubelson Fernandes
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