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We evolved on a planet governed by cyclical fluctuations in light and temperature.

Our understanding is evolving there's still a lot we don't know.īelow, Young outlines some factors believed to play a large role in determining when, and how well, we sleep, along with strategies for adopting a more normal sleep-wake cycle-even when our genetics seem to be hardwired against it. While it's unclear the percentage of people with the mutation-it's likely far less than the percentage of people who identify as night owls, which suggests environmental factors are also at play-the study is a good reminder that sleep is complicated. or 3 a.m., and, if able, would sleep until 10 a.m. Their circadian cycle was delayed, meaning they had a difficult time falling asleep before 2 a.m. Those with either one or two copies of the variant CRY1 gene, it found, displayed a more than two-hour shift in night sleep times. Whereas in the past, being a "night owl" or a "morning lark" was attributed to vague mix of genetics and personal preferences, the study gets specific. For example, Young and a team of researchers recently published a paper in Cell that links delayed sleep phase disorder to a mutation in the CRY1 gene. It's a slow and imperfect process-we're (reassuringly) far more complex than either species-but we're gaining a better understanding of how our genes influence our sleep.

By isolating the mutations responsible for changes in the circadian rhythm in flies and mice, researchers are beginning to identify corresponding genes in humans.

More specifically, we're starting to pinpoint why this cycle often gets disrupted. For one, we now know about circadian rhythm, or the body's internal clock, which dictates sleep-wake cycles. We still don't know exactly why we sleep, but in the intervening decades we've learned a lot about the underlying mechanisms. When he started his research, as a graduate student at the University of Texas in the early 1970s, the field was largely unformed. Young has been studying sleep disorders for more than 45 years.