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Comment by thewhitetulip | Hacker News Reader

Can someone be genetically blessed with not requiring 8hrs sleep?

How much sleep do we need and why?

A friend of mine is a security researcher and he has been awake for one entire week by napping barely 10min for the full week

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You can be genetically blessed. The "gene variant ‘p.Tyr362His’" let's one get by on less than 5 hrs of sleep. See: Margaret Thatcher. A friend of mine that got 2 Bachelors and 2 Masters degrees in 4 years might've had that, though he said he just got used to the lack of sleep.

source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/110061...

If I recall correctly, the odds of you having that gene variant are somewhere in the realm of getting struck by lightning.

Also, Margaret Thatcher went on to develop Alzheimers.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/sleep-d...

Its kind of amazing to me that we haven't heard more, or maybe aren't seeing more, research into drugs or therapy which could reduce the amount of sleep people need. We'd be talking about the greatest boon to global productivity in the history of mankind, likely singularly more impactful than any other technology we've ever developed. The company which develops it could sell it for literally any price and they'd have people scrambling for it.

Not suggesting its easy, or possible, but its just surprising to me that I don't hear anyone talking about it. Modafinil might be the closest I've seen but its obviously not for long-term use. Google/Alphabet is pouring hundreds of millions into Calico to fight aging, but fighting Sleep feels like a much easier target that could have much more impactful consequences (extending life from 80 to 100 isn't nearly as interesting as giving a ~30 year old even 10% more time with their younger body and mind).

And once its solved we'll inevitably flip into a dystopian society where the poor either can't afford the drug and thus become poorer, or are the only ones taking it because they now have to work 22 hours a day, but Hey, we'll worry about that when we get there.

Why do you say modafinil is not for long-term use? I take it 7 times a week, have done so for years and my doctor tells me it's likely that I will be taking it as long as I need it (in my case: a lifetime, as it's treating a chronic condition).

There is a tiny fraction of the population that has a certain gene that allows them to get by on less sleep[0], but definitely not 10 min for an entire week.

[0] https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2018/03/410051/scientists-discover...

Yes, but apparently it's very rare. You are much more likely to have some other issue to blame for your lack of sleep, rather than being genetically "gifted".

There is no absolute "gift" anyways

It's always a trade off, that's what I felt till now

This was on just few days back

https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/a-gene-mak...

Check out the HN comments.

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