Waking up early? Your genes may be the reason
Are you constantly waking up early? Short sleepers are people who often sleep only a few hours a night, wake up early, and then cannot sleep anymore. If so, it may be in your genes. If you find that you just have this problem no matter what you do, the reason may be genetic, at least according to this news report.
It’s a rare genetic mutation that somehow causes people to wake up really early, and then they can’t go back to sleep. Researchers from the University of California found this genetic aberration in a family where the mother and daughter got to bed around 10 and wake up at 4-4:30 in the morning, while the rest of the family had normal sleeping patterns.
The odd thing is these people don’t seem to suffer any ill effects from waking up so early! Typical short sleepers are negatively affected by waking up early and the whole day doesn’t go right for them. It does for me. The answer for some of these chronic cases apparently lies in a gene named DEC2, which is involved in the circadian rhythm.
While this research does not seem to invoke any significant benefits as it was quoted as just a study that “provides a unique opportunity” to study the effects of different amounts of sleep, personally I think it may have a lot of implications in the development of sleep inhibiting drugs like Modafinil (Provigil). Researchers have been looking for an answer to doing away with sleep for some time now.
Without sleep, more work could certainly get done, but somehow I don’t think we can do away with sleeping, as it is our main vehicle for dreaming. During the period when I had little sleep, even my dreaming was affected. And although dreaming may seem a frivolous sleep activity, it seems to be vital for our health – Something I will touch on in future.
So don’t get depressed if you find yourself waking up early all the time, and not being able to return to sleep. If you feel normal and not tired, it could be in your genes. Try working around the problem by going to bed earlier – if that helps. And consult your doctor.
