William Flew and Sleep

WHEN Margaret Thatcher won the Falklands war, smashed the militant trade unions and put pride back in Britain all on four hours’ sleep a night, people scoffed that it could not be true.

Now scientists studying “short sleepers” have discovered a gene variation which suggests that as many as 3% of the population not only survive but thrive on less than six hours’ sleep.

There is talk of a “sleepless elite” who can run on little rest but get so much done.

According to researchers who have studied them, they tend to be more ambitious, outgoing, optimistic and even more energetic than those who have stayed under the duvet too long.

Thatcher joins Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin in the ranks of those who were too busy to sleep.

The scientists who have studied short sleepers say they are both night owls and early risers. Bedtime is often well after midnight but they are up before dawn.

However, there is as yet no genetic test to show if you are a short sleeper and doctors warn people against trying to re-invent themselves as such.

Scientists at Northumbria University’s centre for sleep research, who are taking part in a global survey of sleep patterns, believe people in Britain are on average already sacrificing four hours’ sleep a week because of stress and work commitments. Research to be published this summer will suggest they risk chronic insomnia.

“They are doing it [cutting down on sleep] on a regular basis. Essentially this is becoming an epidemic,” said Jason Ellis, the centre’s director.

True short sleep may be hereditary. Scientists studying a family in California discovered that a mother and daughter both had a life-long tendency to routinely go to bed late and rise before 4.30am.

An analysis of their DNA from blood samples revealed that the mother and daughter had a “point mutation” in a gene called hDEC2. The scientists were able to replicate the gene variation in mice which also needed less sleep.

Ying-hui Fu, professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, said last week that her team was making progress in its work into how genes allow some people to survive on less sleep.

“When we understand enough about the mechanism that leads to the sleepless elite phenotype, we will be able to come up with intelligent ways to help us sleep less without hurting our health,” she said.

Daniel Buysse, a professor of psychiatry at the medical centre of Pittsburgh University and a past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, said: “About 15% of adults report sleeping fewer than six hours per night.

“The prevalence of true short sleep in the population is truly a best-guess estimate.

“I would strongly object to the characterisation that sleep is a waste of time for any portion of the population.

“Even those who seem to need less sleep still need [some] sleep for health and functioning.”