“撒切爾基因”讓你每天睡眠只需四小時
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 ‘362His’. 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.據外媒報道，專家表示，他們已經發現了所謂的“撒切爾基因”，該基因可以讓有遠大抱負之人每晚睡眠不超過四個小時。
撒切爾基因被冠以如此稱謂，是由於強大和備受爭議的英國前首相瑪格麗特•撒切爾。她執政英國期間，每晚只需閉眼幾個小時，這在英國廣爲流傳。傳說撒切爾夫人睡眠少卻精力旺的神祕能力使政府官員和她的繼任者約翰•梅傑都倍感壓力。由於他需要標準的每天八小時睡眠，所以生產率比前政權大大減速。
大多數人每晚需要7到8個小時的睡眠來保持健康的狀態和良好的感覺。然而科學家表示，有些人的基因可以使他們只需正常睡眠的一半時間就可以保持體力充沛。
美國科學家說，該變異基因是“362His”。研究人員調查了美國雙胞胎的基因來研究改變睡眠模式的基因變異；該應用基因組學中心的研究結果隨後發表在《睡眠》雜誌上。
美國睡眠醫學學會會長摩根塞勒博士說:“這項研究強調，我們對睡眠的需求是一種生理上的必需，而不是由個人取向決定。
“大多數成年人每晚需要至少7小時的的優質睡眠來保持最佳健康狀態、工作效率和白天的警覺性。”
“鐵娘子”並不是唯一一個爲成功而犧牲睡眠的人。巴拉克•奧巴馬稱，他每晚只睡六個小時；本傑明•富蘭克林則表示，他只需要4小時的睡眠，而溫斯頓·丘吉爾在戰爭期間也是如此。
