the particular nature of the telomere damage caused by short sleeping is now becoming clear. It appears to mimic that seen in aging or advanced decrepitude. That is, two individuals of the same chronological age would not appear to be of the same biological age on the basis of their telomere health if one was routinely sleeping five hours a night while the other was sleeping seven hours a night. The latter would appear “younger,” while the former would artificially have aged far beyond their calendar years. Genetic engineering of animals and genetically modified food are fraught topics, layered thick with strong emotions. DNA occupies a transcendent, near-divine position in the minds of many individuals, liberal and conservative alike. On this basis, we should feel just as averse and uncomfortable about our own lack of sleep. Not sleeping enough, which for a portion of the population is a voluntary choice, significantly modifies your gene transcriptome — that is, the very essence of you, or at least you as defined biologically by your DNA. Neglect sleep, and you are deciding to perform a genetic engineering manipulation on yourself each night, tampering with the nucleic alphabet that spells out your daily health story. Permit the same in your children and teenagers, and you are imposing a similar genetic engineering experiment on them as well.
— Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams (Matthew Walker), Loc. 3055–65