The opinion that a person needs to sleep at least 8 hours a day for the normal functioning of the body, and waking up at night indicates pathological insomnia, is quite firmly entrenched. However, some historical documentation, coupled with research by scientists, prove that such an opinion is fundamentally wrong, but about everything in order.
Experimental method
At the end of the last century, an entertaining experiment was carried out - a group of volunteers was "immersed" in the dark to sleep for 14 hours. For some time, the subjects got used to the new sleep pattern, and it took them several hours to fall asleep. On average, sleep lasted 4 hours, then people woke up and the phase of active wakefulness began.
Many scientists consider insomnia to be the norm. The evidence is that babies wake up and stay awake for several hours a night.
It is noteworthy that all members of the group felt a surge of strength, that is, they felt rested. After 2-3 hours, they went back to sleep for about 4 hours. Researchers were surprised that the results they obtained crossed out the dogma of biologically mediated eight-hour sleep.
The legacy of ancestors
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In 2001, a book was published by the American historian Roger Ekirh, on which he worked for 16 long years. The publication contains more than 500 historical evidence that the dream of our ancestors was shorter and was divided into several parts - quotes from old diaries, excerpts from court records and medical books, analyzed works from Homer's Odyssey to modern tribes in Nigeria.
In all sources, the author found evidence that earlier people slept differently - the first sleep for several hours, then 2-3 hours of waking and sleep again. This phenomenon has been termed biphasic or segmented sleep.
Where did biphasic sleep go?
Scientists attribute the phenomenon of intermittent sleep to short daylight hours in winter. Only representatives of the upper classes could burn a large number of candles, while ordinary people, as soon as the sun went down, went to bed. There was plenty of time for night rest, even too much, so our ancestors spent part of the night actively - doing household chores and even visiting each other.
I woke up, got bored, visited a friend from a neighboring house - today, this behavior is unacceptable, and was previously considered the norm.
However, when street lighting appeared, and later electricity, daylight hours increased artificially, and at the same time, human biochemistry was rebuilt. People began to get up earlier and go to bed later, which is why the time for sleep was significantly reduced and a continuous eight-hour rest came into use.
Explanation of insomnia
Some psychiatrists note that once they manage to convince their insomnia-prone patients that their problem is nothing more than an ancestral legacy, sleep problems disappear without a trace.