Of course, the answer is "it depends." BUT, it doesn't just depend on how lazy you are or if your girlfriend broke up with you and you just don't feel like getting out of bed. Nope. In a study performed by the University of Munich, a gene identified as ABCC9 determines how much sleep you actually need. 

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If you have this gene, you can function on as few as four hours of sleep per night, whereas if you don't, perhaps you need the traditional eight. That's a big difference. I don't know anyone who wishes they need to sleep more, so that gene copy sounds pretty damn enviable. 

So the good news is, if you have it (and I don't know how you would know if you did or not), you're all set. Sleep five hours a day and go be president or something. If you don't have it, all hope is not lost. It might be lost for you, but scientists have found a way to mutate the gene in fruit flies, shortening the amount of sleep they need. 

So pretty soon, scientists will engineer a race of people that need very little sleep, which will probably cause employers to set the average workday at like 16 hours or something. Hmmm. Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Sleep is better than work. 

Maybe we should all just get these. 

(via Hindustan Times)