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Brain Science Advances 2022, 8(3): 165-172 https://doi.org/10.26599/BSA.2022.9050003
Review Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 24 March 2022

The molecular mechanism of natural short sleep: A path towards understanding why we need to sleep

Show Author's Information Liubin Zheng1,  Luoying Zhang1,2( )
 Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China
 Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Oral and Maxillofacial Development and Regeneration, Wuhan 430022, Hubei, China
Keywords:
mutation, sleep duration, natural short sleep, short sleeper, gene
Cite this article:
Zheng L, Zhang L. The molecular mechanism of natural short sleep: A path towards understanding why we need to sleep. Brain Science Advances, 2022, 8(3): 165-172. https://doi.org/10.26599/BSA.2022.9050003
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Abstract Full text About this article

Sleep constitutes a third of human life and it is increasingly recognized as important for health. Over the past several decades, numerous genes have been identified to be involved in sleep regulation in animal models, but most of these genes when disturbed impair not only sleep but also health and physiological functions. Human natural short sleepers are individuals with lifelong short sleep and no obvious adverse outcomes associated with the lack of sleep. These traits appear to be heritable, and thus characterization of the genetic basis of natural short sleep provides an opportunity to study not only the genetic mechanism of human sleep but also the relationship between sleep and physiological function. This review focuses on the current understanding of mutations associated with the natural short sleep trait and the mechanisms by which they contribute to this trait.


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About this article

The molecular mechanism of natural short sleep: A path towards understanding why we need to sleep

Show Author's information Liubin Zheng1, Luoying Zhang1,2( )
 Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China
 Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Oral and Maxillofacial Development and Regeneration, Wuhan 430022, Hubei, China

Abstract

Sleep constitutes a third of human life and it is increasingly recognized as important for health. Over the past several decades, numerous genes have been identified to be involved in sleep regulation in animal models, but most of these genes when disturbed impair not only sleep but also health and physiological functions. Human natural short sleepers are individuals with lifelong short sleep and no obvious adverse outcomes associated with the lack of sleep. These traits appear to be heritable, and thus characterization of the genetic basis of natural short sleep provides an opportunity to study not only the genetic mechanism of human sleep but also the relationship between sleep and physiological function. This review focuses on the current understanding of mutations associated with the natural short sleep trait and the mechanisms by which they contribute to this trait.

Keywords: mutation, sleep duration, natural short sleep, short sleeper, gene

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 17 February 2022
Revised: 28 February 2022
Accepted: 04 March 2022
Published: 24 March 2022
Issue date: September 2022

Copyright

© The authors 2022.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2021ZD0203202), and the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31930021 and 32022035).

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