- Short
sleep syndrome is a condition that allows 1% of the population to operate on less than six hours of sleep with no daytime difficulties. - People who are short sleepers also exhibit signs of hypomania, impulsivity, and a high reward drive.
- Short sleep syndrome is not to be confused with a condition like insomnia, which causes people to get very little sleep but suffer daytime tiredness.
- This article $4 by Alex Dimitriu, MD, psychiatrist and founder of $4.
People with $4 sleep 4-6 hours per night and still feel well-rested and alert the next day. Though this rare condition affects roughly $4 of the population, there are a number of $4 who claim to regularly operate on very little sleep, including Barack Obama, Martha Stewart, and Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter.
Here's what you need to know about short sleep syndrome, including its symptoms, causes, and treatments.
Overview of short sleep syndrome
Sleep experts may refer to a person with short sleep syndrome as a "$4" (HSS) and "$4 (NSS)," says $4, associate professor in the department of psychology at University of Utah who has studied short sleepers.
Although approximately 30% of Americans report regular bouts of$4, many are not short sleepers from a clinical standpoint since they do not feel well-rested the next day.
The primary symptom of short sleep syndrome is consistently sleeping six hours or less and feeling fully functional the next day. However,$4 Williams has found other traits that tend to be consistent among most short sleepers.
"Those who do not report daytime dysfunction related to their short sleep and are characterized by hypomania, impulsivity, and high reward drive would meet the criteria of a short sleeper," says Williams. "They tend to engage in stimulating activities that allow them to override sleepiness."
Williams says short sleep syndrome is much different than a condition like insomnia. For example, people with insomnia would be characterized by higher $4. "These individuals usually report fatigue, non-restoration, and dissatisfaction with their short sleep," she says.
How short sleep syndrome is diagnosed
Many people with short sleep syndrome may not seek a diagnosis from a doctor because they aren't experiencing adverse
However, you may be suffering from lack of sleep and not even realize it. So, if you're getting 6 hours of sleep a night or less, it's important to get a diagnosis, Shneeberg says. "It would be ideal to rule out $4 and other medical $4, such as $4, which can cause disrupted sleep."
When making a diagnosis, a doctor will look for common behaviors that people with short sleep syndrome tend to exhibit:
- They usually have had this sleep pattern most of their lives, since childhood or young adulthood, and are a short sleeper regardless if it's a weekday, weekend, or during a vacation.
- They don't use sleep aids to fall asleep — they just naturally fall asleep around the same time each night, sleep six hours or less, and wake up around the same time each day feeling alert.
- Short sleepers instinctually tend to sleep set hours each night. Conversely, someone with a $4 may report waking up several times in the night and not feeling rested the following day.
Schneeberg says anyone experiencing irregular sleep patterns could benefit from a "sleep checkup." In this case, they may be asked to track their sleep via an app, such as$4, a wrist-worn wearable device, or a$4 which you can download from an organization like the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASP).
After tracking their sleep patterns for 14 days, the doctor may order an$4 (EEG), which would record the person's brain waves. At the same time, their heart functioning would be collected through$4 (ECG). These would both help in making an assessment about someone's sleep health and whether or not they are a short sleeper or if their brain activity indicates a $4 such as insomnia.
The causes of short sleep syndrome
Little is known about the cause of short sleep syndrome, but researchers have found convincing evidence that at least part of it$4.
One of the leading researchers in this field is$4, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the$4 who has been studying short sleepers for nearly 25 years. Which is no easy feat since they make up about $4.
Over the years, she has discovered a few of what she calls "short sleep" genes:
DEC2
In 2009, Fu and her fellow researchers identified a$4, DEC2, known to affect circadian rhythms.
After doing DNA screenings on several hundred blood samples from 70 families of people who had participated in sleep studies, they found the mutation in two people, a mother and a daughter. Both exhibited common symptoms of short sleepers because they averaged approximately 6.25 hours of sleep per night, slept from about 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night, and felt functional the next day.
Fu and her colleagues then further tested DEC2 in animals. The scientists bred mice and fruit flies with the same mutation and they slept less, and recovered faster, than mice and fruit flies without the mutation.
ADRB1
Ten years later, in mid-2019, Fu and her team revealed findings from a$4a family that had$4 of people who exhibited symptoms of short sleep syndrome.
They discovered a single-letter mutation in the ADRB1 gene and then tested their findings with mice to confirm that the mutant form of ADRBI promotes natural short sleep.
Interestingly enough, the family with the mutation in their ADRB1 gene lacked the DEC2 gene from Fu's 2009 findings. Therefore, suggesting that short sleep syndrome is not limited to a specific gene, but is more complicated.
NPSR1
In October 2019, Fu and her colleagues reported finding a$4 when they identified a point mutation in the neuropeptide S receptor 1 (NPSR1).
They discovered it in a father and son — who average 5.5 and 4.3 hours of sleep per night — when doing whole exome sequencing in a family of short sleepers and the findings were published in Science Translational Medicine. Similar to the short sleepers with the DEC2 and ADRBI genes, the father and son, too, naturally slept less than six hours per night and $4 from their short sleep patterns.
The researchers then analyzed the mutation in mice and found they were more active and slept less — and did not have cognitive impairment as a result. In addition, the study's findings suggest that NPSR1 prevents memory problems that usually happen due to sleep deprivation — and it's the first gene found to do so.
Treatment for short sleep syndrome
According to the National Sleep Foundation, since short sleepers are functional in the daytime and not impaired by shortened amounts of sleep,$4.
Schneeberg agrees. "$4 if the person truly is a short sleeper," she says. "So they should just continue being a short sleeper — and consider themselves lucky since most of us would prefer more time in our day for doing what we enjoy."
However,$4, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at$4, says "a distinction must be made between people who spontaneously sleep less than the average person and people who are deprived of sleep for one reason or another."
If they can be described as having $4 or another sleep disorder, as opposed to being a short sleeper, these criteria will go into any diagnosis or treatment.
Meanwhile, "the only recommended treatments for sleep are behavioral," he says, such as going to sleep and getting up at the same time every day and not ingesting stimulants, like caffeine, before bed.
According to the CDC, other good $4 include not using electronic devices before bedtime and $4, as well as getting some exercise during the day.
Long-term health effects of short sleep syndrome
For the average adult, not getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep at night can lead to a host of $4, including $4, $4, $4, and $4.
Just because short sleepers don't suffer these side effects doesn't necessarily mean that getting only 4-6 hours of sleep each night is harmless. Researchers just haven't found any $4. Though Fu told Business Insider her lab is looking into it.
Williams, too, says the jury is still out on whether some people who get less than six hours of sleep really have no$4.
"So far, I haven't been convinced that anyone can really 'get away' with$4, even if they don't perceive them," says Williams. "We simply don't know whether those types of people will avoid the$4, including cardiovascular disease, inflammation, cognitive deficits, weight gain, mood disturbance, and all-cause mortality."
To Williams' point, a 2010 report found that$4. Similarly, Williams and her colleagues have found preliminary evidence to suggest that the lack of perceived daytime dysfunction among some habitual short sleepers does not confer protection against risk of cardiovascular disease.
In other words, despite reporting that they didn't need more sleep, the short sleepers exhibited a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, she says.
Overall, Willliams says even though short sleepers "feel fine" on less sleep and don't appear to have metabolic problems, she thinks there needs to be additional research on their objective functioning, both mentally and physically.