ABCC9. No, I didn’t stutter- and I’m not talking television, either. ABCC9 is a specific gene that may explain my habits to you. It affords its ‘owners’ the ability to sleep for shorter periods than those that lack this genetic marker. By the way, the larger a person’s BMI [body mass index], the less sleep that person generally needs- but that characteristic is also associated with diabetes and heart disease. (Given these facts, it is unclear if these maladies are associated with shorter sleep or larger BMI.)