Who gets up early, he will die early

Many processes in the human body are subordinate to the daily and seasonal fluctuations, the rhythm of which set special "internal watches". They synchronize the work of various systems with external stimuli and with each other - and, say, at certain hours of day we are most active, and in others we begin to peck our nose.

The complex mechanism of the “internal clock” is poorly studied, although rare mutations are known that make entire families with pronounced “owls” or “larks”. Only recently it was possible to find a gene, which, apparently, has an impact on all people without exception - and not only on their desire to wake up and fall asleep later, but also on the tendency to die at one time or another.

A message about an unexpected find was made by Canadian explorer Andrew Lim and his colleague. "The internal clock regulates many aspects of our biology and our behavior ... They also affect the likelihood of the onset of certain painful phenomena - for example, heart attacks or strokes," says the scientist.

It all started with observations of 1200 elderly patients: scientists tried to determine the earliest signs of approaching diseases of Parkinson and Alzheimer. Volunteers aged 65 years were annually comprehensive examinations, including genetic. A dream was also studied: at what moments it begins, how it goes when it ends. That is how the authors first noticed (and then confirmed the group of young volunteers) only one point mutation that divides people into “larks” and “owls”.

The gene called by Period 1, in one section in 60% of cases, has adenine nucleotide, and in 40% - guanine. Since a person has a double set of chromosomes, and therefore genes, we can carry either two adenins, or two guanines, or one of them. And this detail determines the nature of our sleep: the researchers showed that the owners of two adenins on average wake up an hour earlier than the carriers of two guanins, and those who have both options - in the middle between them.

This difference in lifestyle is reflected in death. Statistics collected by scientists say that two adenins or adenin and guanine in the right position of the Period 1 gene mean a tendency to die shortly before 11 in the morning, like most people. Those who have two guanines have more often emit the last breath much later, almost at 6 o’clock in the evening.

“This is really the gene that allows you to predict the hour of your death,” the authors of the work say, “unfortunately, only an hour, not a date.”