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Hunter-gatherers and farming villagers who live in worlds without lightbulbs or thermostats sleep slightly less at night than smartphone-toting city slickers, researchers say.
"Contrary to conventional wisdom, people in societies without electricity do not sleep more than those in industrial societies like ours," says UCLA psychiatrist and sleep researcher Jerome Siegel, who was not involved in the new research.
Different patterns of slumber and wakefulness in each of these groups highlight the flexibility of human sleep — and also point to potential health dangers in how members of Western societies sleep, conclude evolutionary biologist David Samson of Duke University and colleagues. Compared with other primates, human evolution featured a shift toward sleeping more deeply over shorter time periods, providing more time for learning new skills and knowledge as cultures expanded, the researchers propose. Humans also evolved an ability to revise sleep schedules based on daily work schedules and environmental factors such as temperature.
Samson's team describes sleep patterns in 33 East African Hadza hunter-gatherers over a total of 393 days in a paper published online January 7 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The team's separate report on slumber among 21 rural farmers in Madagascar over 292 days will appear later this year in the American Journal of Human Biology.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday February 01 2017, @02:53AM
It's a problem. I didn't go to work yesterday because I didn't want to get out of bed.
Depression makes me sleep even more, but I sleep quite a lot even when not depressed.
The worst part is when I wake up in the morning, only rarely do I feel rested. Usually I feel completely wrecked. I want nothing more than to go back to bed but were I to do that consistently I couldn't hold a job.
It is one reason I work as a consultant - I'm paid to deliver a project on-time. Provided I meet my deadline I don't have to show up on any particular days. But if I don't show up at all I cannot deliver.
I've been round and round and round about this with all manner of medical and mental health professionals. Nothing helps.
Oddly if I can stay awake for two hours - somehow - I start to feel fine and can work productively for the rest of the day.
The gig I've got now is a problem because there is a very long commute. I don't have a key to the office, so I have to work when everyone else does. That means I must leave home early and return late.
I just bought a Mac Mini. Soon I should be able to work at home, which will eliminate the commute and let me sleep a little more.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by jelizondo on Wednesday February 01 2017, @05:05AM
I have a similar problem, I really feel better working at night and sleeping during the day, except I can’t because my job practically demands daytime activity.
So I got me a dog, a border collie. They (now I have two) will get restless around 6 or 6:15 in the morning. They will not be quiet until let out of the house, the longest I can wait is about 7, the racket is just too much. Then I have to go downstairs, let them out and guilt comes to the rescue, I must feed them before I go out, so I must remain awake waiting for them to do their business outside, get them in, feed them and then, I’m fully awake and ready to rock and roll.
YMMV, but it has worked wonders for me. Usually I’m ready to get out by 8 in the morning and some mornings, even earlier. Hell, last Sunday I was ready to roll by 6:45 and I had nowhere to go!
And sleeping in a tent with a dog will provide you with additional heat. Of course, there’s the problem with you going to work and what happens to the dog? Maybe, call me crazy, just adopt a stray one. Like Mark Twain commented, unlike humans, dogs are faithful to he who feeds them.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m NOT making fun of you, I’ve had to deal with my own demons and I know how hard it can be. I’m just suggesting what has worked for me, but your circumstances are different and you need to be creative on solving your particular problems.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 03 2017, @03:28AM
Ultimately it is funded by Housing and Urban Development, but now that I'm working I'll be paying my rent myself.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by jelizondo on Friday February 03 2017, @05:59AM
Cheers!
Glad to hear you're doing better. Keep it up, man.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 01 2017, @08:26AM
This may sound strange, but have you tried high doses if Vitamin D?
That, and vitamin B injections really helped me.
(2 digit UID but posting AC for Reasons)
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 03 2017, @05:57PM
At this point I'd be willing to try waving a dead chicken over it.
I got 2000 IU Vitamin D3, also some Vitamin B12. The article I read also recommends B5 but the drugstore didn't have any.
I just took my first doses, I'll take more tonight at bedtime.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 01 2017, @08:47AM
Are you thirsty in the morning too? Because it really sounds like you have sleep apnea. Try to get that checked - it saved my life.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 03 2017, @03:40AM
at least at the time it worked. Possibly it has come back.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]