Do you identify as a night owl? You may be a mutant. Researchers at Rockefeller University in New York discovered that the tendency to stay up late may in fact be due to a gene mutation.
The gene, “CRY1,” which helps control our circadian clocks that dictate when we feel sleepy, was found to be different in many people who experience more energy at night. These “night owls,” who have a variant of this gene, have a longer circadian cycle than others, causing them to stay awake later. These results were published in the journal Cell.
So if you’ve been up at night, wondering why you can’t sleep, you might be happy to know it’s probably not your fault. Like other disorders derived from genetic mutations such as…