Jun
16
What are you doing up so late, staring at the computer screen reading this? For that matter, 
what am I doing up late writing this at 11pm? Are we all nuts?
Until not long ago, just about until electricity became ubiquitous, humans used to have a sleep pattern quite different from what we consider "normal" today. At dusk you go to sleep, at some point in the middle of the night you wake up for an hour or two, then fall asleep again until dawn. Thus there are two events of falling asleep and two events of waking up every night (plus, perhaps, a short nap in the afternoon). As indigenous people today, as well as people in non-electrified rural areas of the world, still follow this pattern, it is likely that our ancestors did, too.The bimodal sleep pattern was first seen in laboratory animals (various birds, lizards and mammals) in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, i.e, before everyone moved their research to mice and rats who have erratic (un-consolidated) sleep patterns. The research on humans kept in constant conditions, as well as field work in primitive communities (including non-electrified rural places in what is otherwise considered the First World) confirmed the bimodality of sleep in humans, particularly in winter.
Larks and Owls
There is a continuum of individual sleep patterns ranging from extreme "larks" who fall asleep at the first inkling of dusk but wake up before dawn, all the way to the extreme "owls" who stay up quite late and wake up once the day is in full swing, and of course everything in between. No matter where you are on this continuum, you tend to sleep more during the winter long nights than during the short summer nights. A Blog Around The Clock : Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sleep (But Were Too Afraid To Ask)
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Heart Disease, Prevention, Diet and Exercise Information and General Health Tips.
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Recently Written- Sleep Apnea May Trigger Nighttime Heart Problems
- A pacemaker can be hacked
- Effects of Heavy Drinking on Heart Health Differs Between Genders
- 30 Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke
- Good Night, and Good Luck
- High Blood Pressure Runs In Families
- Why Beer Can Be Good for You
- The Science Of Sleep
- 10 Ways to Burn Calories Without Noticing
- Liquid diet strips weight off obese man
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