“撒切尔基因”让你每天睡眠只需四小时

Experts say they could have isolated the so-called ‘Thatcher gene’ which could allow high-fliers to survive on no more than four hours sleep a night.

The gene has been so dubbed due to former formidable and controversial British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously running Britain on just a few hours’ shut eye each night. Legend has it that Thatcher’s mysterious ability to thrive without sleep was a problem for civil servants and her successor John Major because he needed the standard eight hours kip each day so productivity was slowed right down compared to the previous regime.

Most people need seven or eight hours sleep a night to stay healthy and feel well. However, boffins say that some people have a gene which means they can get by successfully on half that.

American scientists say the gene variant is ‘p.Tyr362His’. The researchers examined US twins to study gene variations responsible for sleep pattern changes; the findings from the Centre for Applied Genomics have subsequently been published in the ‘Sleep’ journal.

American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr Timothy Morgenthaler said: "This study emphasises that our need for sleep is a biological requirement, not a personal preference.

“Most adults need at least seven hours of quality sleep each night for optimal health, productivity and daytime alertness.”

The ‘Iron Lady’ is not the only one to sacrifice shut-eye for success. Barack Obama is said to sleep only six hours each night and Benjaman Franklin said he only needed four hours a night, as did Winston Churchill during the war.

据外媒报道，专家表示，他们已经发现了所谓的“撒切尔基因”，该基因可以让有远大抱负之人每晚睡眠不超过四个小时。

撒切尔基因被冠以如此称谓，是由于强大和备受争议的英国前首相玛格丽特•撒切尔。她执政英国期间，每晚只需闭眼几个小时，这在英国广为流传。传说撒切尔夫人睡眠少却精力旺的神秘能力使政府官员和她的继任者约翰•梅杰都倍感压力。由于他需要标准的每天八小时睡眠，所以生产率比前政权大大减速。

大多数人每晚需要7到8个小时的睡眠来保持健康的状态和良好的感觉。然而科学家表示，有些人的基因可以使他们只需正常睡眠的一半时间就可以保持体力充沛。

美国科学家说，该变异基因是“p.Tyr362His”。研究人员调查了美国双胞胎的基因来研究改变睡眠模式的基因变异；该应用基因组学中心的研究结果随后发表在《睡眠》杂志上。

美国睡眠医学学会会长摩根塞勒博士说:“这项研究强调，我们对睡眠的需求是一种生理上的必需，而不是由个人取向决定。

“大多数成年人每晚需要至少7小时的的优质睡眠来保持最佳健康状态、工作效率和白天的警觉性。”

“铁娘子”并不是唯一一个为成功而牺牲睡眠的人。巴拉克•奥巴马称，他每晚只睡六个小时；本杰明•富兰克林则表示，他只需要4小时的睡眠，而温斯顿·丘吉尔在战争期间也是如此。