
Sleep is just the same as ever, say scientists - chrismealy
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/oct/15/modern-life-is-rubbish-sleep-is-just-the-same-as-ever-say-scientists
======
_delirium
There's a little more detail in this article imo:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/10/the-
many-...](http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/10/the-many-myths-
of-paleo-sleeping/410707/)

Including the question I was wondering about: do the authors think the
historians who have argued medieval Europeans had segmented sleep were
therefore wrong, and humans have never slept like that? The answer seems to be
"no", but here the explanation gets to be what sounds, to me at least,
plausible but a bit speculative,

 _[The historian Roger] Ekirch combed through centuries of Western literature
and documents to show that Europeans used to sleep in two segments, separated
by an hour or two of wakefulness. [Author of the present study Jerome] Siegel
doesn’t dispute Ekirch’s analysis; he just thinks that the old two-block
pattern was preceded by an even older single-block one. “The two-sleep pattern
was probably due to humans migrating so far from the equator that they had
long dark periods,” he says. “The long nights caused this pathological sleep
pattern and the advent of electric lights and heating restored the primal
one.”_

~~~
Erikun
Very interesting. It is also much more informative than the Guardian article,
for instance: "The data revealed that these groups all sleep for nightly
blocks of 6.9 and 8.5 hours, and they spend at least 5.7 to 7.1 hours of those
soundly asleep."

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zobzu
This seems pretty random as usual.

There's an easy test that applies to yourself only though. Go to a place
without tv/internet/books (electricity is fine) for a week, where you exercise
outdoors and spend time with people.

I always end up sleeping 2-3h more (from 6h regularly to 9h!), wake up
earlier, and sleep earlier - and in fact, feel better.

Most of the rest is just the stress inducing work/city life most of us zombies
"have" to go through.

~~~
scotchmi_st
There are plenty of confounding factors with your own "easy test", some of
which you admit yourself- the stress of the life in general. Who's to say that
living a neolithic existence isn't stressful? Indeed, it probably is far more
stressful. This has nothing to do with electric lights and computers. This is
just life in general. At least you can take a break every so often.

~~~
zobzu
yes id guess the no computer and tv helps with the stress levels, rather than
being "because of looking at the screen" by itself.

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mikekchar
It is interesting that they suggest that a room that progressively gets colder
through the night might help you sleep better. I'm currently living in a
fairly warm part of Japan and we have no heat in the house (or air
conditioning). I definitely sleep better here than I do when I'm in Canada or
the UK.

There are probably many other factors (for example, I sleep on the floor in
Japan and use a "pillow" that is really just a sack of grain -- it might sound
strange, but it is _so_ much nicer than the overly soft trappings of western
bedrooms IMHO). I had never really considered temperature as being a factor,
though.

~~~
cableshaft
I knew temperature was a factor. I have severe difficulty falling asleep
unless I'm slightly chilly, preferably with a fan blowing on me. So probably
around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything more than 70 degrees and I start to
have problems.

78 degrees or higher and I will probably be jumping in the shower, applying
wet towels to my legs, maybe bring a cold pack out of the freezer, sit in
front of the open refrigerator door for several minutes, anything to try to
cool me off, and it will take a couple hours to fall asleep, unless I'm
already super exhausted.

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dang
Also
[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/112251/](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/112251/)
via
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10396087](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10396087).

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dimitar
_Having unrealistic expectations of sleep can be dangerous, he said. “If you
go to your GP and say doctor I really think I should sleep more, they’ll give
you whatever the last sleeping pill rep who was in their office was handing
out.”_

It seems to me that unrealistic expectations are the least dangerous issue in
this situation.

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zafka
"Scientists say" Or perhaps "one researcher says" I found it interesting that
his study was done on people living as they did millenia ago, but they were ok
wearing fitbits. Tht other big question that pops up in my mind is" What about
siesta?

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x3ro
Interestingly, this seems to contradict findings of segmented sleep
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep)).

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bgilroy26
The write-up of this article on the economist reported an insignificant % of
people suffering from insomnia in premodern communities vs 20% of moderns

