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... Understanding genetic changes in naturally short sleepers -- people who sleep for three to six hours every night without negative effects -- could help to develop treatments for sleep disorders, says co-author Ying-Hui Fu, a neuroscientist and geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco.

"Our bodies continue to work when we go to bed", detoxifying themselves and repairing damage, she says. "These people, all these functions our bodies are doing while we are sleeping, they can just perform at a higher level than we can." ...