# @science on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DTeUN5xElO2
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/43089846-science-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/cb77509828.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-01-14T02:05:17.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Science 🧬 (@science) — https://gondola.cc/science

## Caption

NPSR1 codes for a protein receptor in the brain known to be involved in arousal and sleep behavior. When a team of scientists in 2019 engineered the mutation into mice, they slept less without any obvious effect on health or memory.⁠
Another variation in NPSR1 has previously been linked to people requiring 20 minutes less sleep than average, based on studies of tens of thousands of people.⁠
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On average, people need 8 hours of sleep a night. In most people, sleeping less than 6 hours a night results in a marked decline in cognitive abilities within days. Over long periods, sleep deprivation can contribute to many disorders, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression.⁠
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In theory, if these gene variants provided a big advantage, evolution should have made them common – yet they appear to be rare. It might be, say, that sleeping less only became an advantage after the development of lights. But other advantageous gene variants that appeared only recently in human history, such as those allowing adults to digest milk, became widespread very rapidly.⁠
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#protein #sleep #gene #dna #biology #science

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## Tags

sleep, science, gene, protein, dna, biology

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