Elon Musk and former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama could hold the key to beating dementia, according to new research.
They are among one in a hundred people who get by on just four to six hours of sleep.
Billionaire Elon Musk is the richest person in the world. As CEO of aerospace company SpaceX, electric car company Tesla. He told NBC that he sleeps about six hours a night.
They are gifted with genes that pack the benefits of slumber into an efficient time window.
Dubbed 'elite sleepers,' they show psychological resilience and resistance to mental decline.
It may point the way to fending off Alzheimer's and other age-related neurological diseases.
Most of us require around seven to nine hours of slumber for overall health and well-being.
But these guidelines don't apply to a small segment of the population who manage with half as much.
Senior author Professor Louis Ptacek explained: "There is a dogma in the field that everyone needs eight hours of sleep.
"But our work to date confirms the amount of sleep people need differs based on genetics."
He added: "Think of it as analogous to height. There is no perfect amount of height, each person is different. We have shown that the case is similar for sleep."
Other successful short sleepers include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Bill Clinton, Theresa May, and Richard Branson.
The number of dementia cases worldwide is set to triple to more than 150 million by 2050.
With no cure in sight, there is an increasing focus on protective lifestyle factors - such as diet, exercise and sleep.
Such individuals have a preference for four to six hours of sleep. It enables them to function to fully. The researchers have shown it runs in families.
They have identified five genes across the genome that play a role - with many more still to be discovered.
The latest study in the journal iScience has now backed co-senior author Prof Ying-Hui Fu's theory that elite sleep shields against neurodegenerative illnesses.
It contradicts current thinking that, for many, lack of sleep accelerates loss of neurons.
The difference, she says, is with FNSS the brain accomplishes its sleep tasks in a shorter time.
In other words, less time spent sleeping may not necessarily equate to a lack of sleep.
In experiments, mice were bred to carry both genes that predisposed them to both short-sleep and Alzheimer's.
Their brains developed far fewer of the hallmark rogue proteins linked to the disease.
Results were confirmed by repeating the test using lab rodents with different short-sleep and dementia genes.
Similar investigations of other brain conditions should show the efficient-sleep genes conferring comparable protections.
Improving peoples' sleep could delay the progression of disease across a whole spectrum of conditions.
Prof Fu said: "Sleep problems are common in all diseases of the brain. This makes sense because sleep is a complex activity.
"Many parts of your brain have to work together for you to fall asleep and to wake up.
"When these parts of the brain are damaged, it makes it harder to sleep or get quality sleep."
Understanding the biological underpinnings could lead to drugs that ward off sleep disorders.
What is more, boosting sleep in healthy people may sustain wellbeing and improve the quality of time we each have.
But pursuing the many genes involved is a long game the researchers liken to putting together a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.
Prof Ptacek said: "Every mutation we find is another piece. Right now we are working on the edges and the corners, to get to that place where it is easier to put the pieces together and where the picture really starts to emerge."
There is already promise in some of the few genes they have identified. At least one can be targeted by repurposing existing drugs.
The researchers hope they will have helped facilitate treatments that allow people with brain disorders to get a better night's rest within a decade.
Added Prof Fu: "This work opens the door to a new understanding of how to delay and possibly prevent a lot of diseases.
"Our goal really is to help everyone live healthier and longer through getting optimum sleep."
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