长期睡眠不足与天生能以少睡眠保持健康的人存在本质区别。一般而言，人们每晚需要约7.5至8.5小时的睡眠[1]，而长期睡眠债会导致毒素积累，增加心脏或脑部疾病的风险，严重情况下甚至可能致命[1]。加州大学旧金山分校睡眠研究员傅英慧（Ying-Hui Fu）强调了睡眠的重要性，指出"对我们总体健康而言，只有两样东西比睡眠更重要。一是空气，没有空气我们会在几分钟内死亡。另一是水，没有水我们会在几天内死亡。但如果不睡眠，你可能只能活几周"[1]。
然而，少数人因特定基因变异能够在每晚少于6小时睡眠的情况下仍保持良好健康状态[1]。研究已发现与此相关的基因变异包括：DEC2（2009年发现）、ADRB1（2019年发现）以及NPSR1、GRM1、SIK3等[1]。这些自然短睡眠者的发现为睡眠机制研究提供了新的视角。
Most people require approximately 7.5 to 8.5 hours of sleep each night to maintain optimal health [1]. Chronic sleep deprivation, however, poses serious risks: prolonged sleep debt can lead to toxin accumulation and increase the likelihood of cardiovascular or neurological disease, potentially proving fatal in extreme cases [1].
Yet a small population defies this biological norm. Natural short sleepers—individuals carrying specific genetic mutations—can function well on fewer than 6 hours of sleep nightly without experiencing the typical health consequences of sleep deprivation [1]. Researchers have identified several gene variants associated with this phenomenon, including DEC2 (discovered in 2009), ADRB1 (identified in 2019), as well as NPSR1, GRM1, and SIK3 [1].
According to Ying-Hui Fu, a sleep researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, sleep ranks among humanity's most critical biological needs: "For our overall health, only two things matter more than sleep. One is air—without it, we die in minutes. The other is water—without it, we die in days. But if you don't sleep, you might only last a few weeks" [1].
Improving sleep quality across populations could have profound implications for human health, research suggests [1].