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The evolution of sleep

08.01.2023

Humans sleep less than other primates. But why does this happen and how much time per day should a person actually spend in a dream?

It turns out that people spend less time sleeping than all the great apes that scientists have already studied. For example, chimpanzees need 9,5 hours of sleep per day, oedipal tamarins about 13 hours, and three-banded duruculas 17 hours.

At the same time, if you make a model that takes into account all the features of the human body, it will show that a person needs to sleep about 9,5 hours a day. Why is everything different?

Scientific research has found the answer. In fact, human sleep is different from primate sleep. People spend less time sleeping and are more in the rapid eye movement phase. Most likely, this is due to the peculiarities of human evolution.

Many years ago, human ancestors most likely lived and slept in trees. Today, primates continue to do so. After some time, people began to sleep already on the ground. Therefore, they were no longer as reliably protected from predators as before.

Studies of modern pre-industrial societies show that over time, humans began to need less sleep than their closest relatives. In a 2018 paper, University of Toronto evolutionary anthropologist David Samson explained that this is due to the shortening of the non-rapid eye movement sleep phase. In addition, during the phase of rapid eye movement, a person sees very vivid dreams. In addition, people are able to be more flexible in terms of choosing the time to sleep. Also, according to Samson, there was a need to gather in groups for sleep. That is, some part of the people could sleep, and some could be on duty, to ensure security.

The suggestion that humans are sleeping less due to the threat of predators is supported by yet another study. In 2008, evolutionary ecologist Isabella Capellini found in a scientific study that mammals that are more exposed to such dangers spend less time on average sleeping.

In addition, according to scientists who study sleep in small communities, it is possible that people in ancient times went to bed later in the evening because they exchanged information. Therefore, their night sleep lasted less.

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