Researches have been looking at the differences in sleep patterns between humans and other animals. now they have found out that humans need less sleep. but sleep better than other mammals 21 primate species were studied, including monkeys, chimpanzees and lemurs.
Human sleep is of higher quality. one of the big differences is the time we spend in rem sleep, a kind of intensive, deep sleep, in which we dream a lot.while, for example, monkeys spend only 5% of their total sleep in rem status, we humans reach 25%, the highest rate of any primate species. according to scientists, REM sleep is good for brain development.
We can get along with about 7 hours of sleep a day,while other primates need much more. lemurs, for example, can sleep for up to 17 hours while chimpanzees sleep around 11 hours a day.
Over millions of years of education our sleeping patterns have change. our ancestor, millions of years ago, could not sleep as deeply as we do. they had to spend most of their time in the wilderness and be aware of enemies at all times. the first humans probably slept in trees, where they built plat forms to rest properly.
About 2 million years ago the homo Erectus left the trees. as they got heavier they started sleeping on the ground where they gathered in groups around fires. they could sleep more deeply because they took turns protecting them self from enemies around them.
We could imagine that street lamps, computer screens and other forms of artificial lighting are responsible for people sleeping for shorter periods of time, but researches have found out that this is not necessarily true.
The report shows that hunters and gatherers in Africa and South America, who don't have that much access to electricity and artificial lighting, sleep even less than people in modern societies
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