Posted on 12/14/2023 9:00:51 AM PST by billorites
Whether you’re a morning person has long been tied to personality, but new research suggests DNA inherited from our extinct Neanderthal cousins ups the chance we’re early risers.
Our circadian rhythms—the biological clocks inside our cells that time when we sleep and wake—are linked to countless genes. Now researchers say they have found that bits of genetic code passed down to some of us from Neanderthals relate to our sleeping habits in the present day. The study was published Thursday in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.
“We’ve found many Neanderthal variants that consistently associate with a propensity for being a morning person,” said Tony Capra, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco and co-author of the new work. “Their effects are in the context of hundreds of other genes, but it is suggestive there is something meaningful about this.”
Capra and his colleagues compared genes from people alive today and DNA from Neanderthals and another extinct relative known as a Denisovan to spot the pattern. Their findings suggest ancient interbreeding between these groups helped our ancestors adapt to changing environments as they spread across the globe.
This study shows that our genomes are a mosaic of different ancestries, shaped by thousands of years of evolution and mating, according to Serena Tucci, an assistant professor of anthropology and evolutionary biology at Yale University who wasn’t involved in the study, which she called “fascinating.” A Neanderthal woman re-created and built by Dutch artists Adrie and Alfons Kennis. Photo: Joe McNally/Getty Images
Even if some of these groups have been extinct for tens of thousands of years, she said, “somehow they still survive today in our genes. They left something behind that still influences our biology today.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Up everyday before dawn. Even weekends, I can’t help it.
5:30 is about as late as I ever sleep snd 4:00 is not unknown. I’m red haired too which some have suggested is a Neanderthal trait. Who knows, maybe my family goes way back
oh yeah morning person....but at around 3 im done
“ So what does that make me as an evening person??! “
You were born in the wrong place - the stork should have delivered you on the other side of the earth. 😆
(Ps j/k )
I love me some spring. I hate winter.
I understand. I have cobwebs until after a good cup of coffee at a minimum. Early mornings I’m just not there. Takes me twice as long to make breakfast if I have to do it too early. I might as well sleep a little longer, I think. Especially as it gets colder!
Yeh, me too. As soon as the sun goes down I perk back up. My normal bedtime is 1:00 AM. 😏
Sure... because most all farmers the world over are descended from Neanderthals... right...
Nothing to do with getting up early, doing chores, all that, nope. The people promote godlessness at every chance.
That’s pretty much me. I’ve always been a ‘creature of the night’...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.