FEELING groggy because of lost sleep? Blame your genes. People with two copies of one variant of a gene that helps control our body clocks turn out to suffer worse cognitive deficits after sleep deprivation.
Researchers led by Malcolm von Schantz of the University of Surrey, UK, recruited 12 volunteers with two copies of the 鈥渓ong鈥� version of the gene PER3, which contains a longer stretch of repetitive DNA, and a dozen with two copies of the short version.
People with the long genes tend to be night owls 鈥� late to bed and late to rise. After staying awake all night, this group only scored half as well on cognitive tests as their 鈥渟hort鈥� counterparts (Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.073).
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