

Apes reveal secrets to good sleep - romefort
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150415-apes-reveal-sleep-secrets

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mitchtbaum
These people's reasoning strikes me as laughable (and sad too since it comes
to us with elevated credibility):

* deep, relaxed sleep helps us develop.

* our relative apes also prefer deep, relaxed sleep.

* each prepares a sleeping surface.

* these sleeping platforms we [these researchers] have looked at must be what explains good sleep.

¶

How about what makes for a relaxed mind??.. Perhaps researching and writing
stories about that would give better help for people to live well... and rest
easy. ( Reminds me of a Harry Chapin quote from his grandfather,
[http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Harry_Chapin&...](http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Harry_Chapin&oldid=1657420)
)

\---

While we focus on sleeping surfaces instead, two data points in my view seem
to reflect well on exactly an opposite approach. I switched to sleeping
primarily on my floor (cushioned with a blanket on expanded foam mats [hoping
to upgrade to expanded silicone later]) and it feels wonderfully restorative.
This biomechanics researcher has had similar results with her family and
offers a rich theoretical frame,
[http://www.katysays.com/](http://www.katysays.com/) & Joe Rogan Experience
#601 - Katy Bowman
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ub5OLNnN-o](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ub5OLNnN-o)
. Humans who sleep in hammocks might also have an interesting take.

_Sleep is sacred._

P.S. Given this meeting ground: As a human with access to modern-ish computing
devices, I find that 'switching them off' makes a world of difference when
"unwinding" (perhaps rewinding?). Keeping artificial lights out of my room
where I sleep and letting my mind clear helps me relax. Alternatively, some
nights I need some way to get notes out so I keep a comp with me, and I also
can use a simple mp3 player with audio recording, easy button control, and and
a near 1 sec resume recording delay.. I rarely transcode them... Onward to
voice user interfaces!

~~~
jonah
Re your P.S.: There's a growing body of research[0] showing that the quality
(color, etc.) in addition to quantity of light in your environment has
profound effects on alertness and sleep.

It sounds like you're doing the right thing by keeping light out of your
sleeping environment. For the lights you do need, consider their spectrum and
color temperature.

[0]
[https://justgetflux.com/research.html](https://justgetflux.com/research.html)

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leaveyou
Nowhere in this article are any secrets revealed. It's the second article from
BBC with misleading title this week. I will avoid next time.

~~~
paublyrne
It says the secret is that they lie down, whereas monkeys do not, and -
consequently - do not sleep as well.

~~~
logfromblammo
What a cunningly well-hidden secret! I shall attempt it myself at my earliest
opportunity!

But wait! Surely there are multiple possible orientations and degrees of
freedom for a horizontal human body? Even collapsing left-right symmetries,
there is still a half-circle of potential orientations between supine and
prone. And even that ignores the multiple possible limb orientations.

Obviously, more research is required.

Also, if the monkeys sleep lightly for fear of predators, I wonder how
thoroughly the researchers disguised the human presence for the monkeys held
in captivity. Both chimpanzees and humans are, after all, known predators of
monkeys.

~~~
sitkack
I'd put dress clothes on monkeys and send them coach to the other coast where
they are to give a presentation to other monkeys on how best to convince a
third set of monkeys to buy brand x bananas. And if they do sleep, it will
definitely be sitting upright.

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drzaiusapelord
The scientists at Duke University aren't the most sophisticated around, but
calling them apes seems a bit harsh.

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ccvannorman
great, they get "better" sleep, but what tests were done to measure the real
world effects of this between the groups, other than "we think it was a factor
in cognitive evolution"?

