A recent study conducted by anthropologists from the University of Toronto Mississauga has debunked the common belief that people in industrialized societies suffer from lack of sleep. In fact, the study found that individuals in modern industrialized societies actually sleep longer than those in less-developed regions.
Published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study led by David Ryan Samson and Leela McKinnon analyzed data from 54 sleep studies involving 866 healthy adults from around the world. The researchers discovered that people living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle slept fewer hours on average compared to those in industrialized societies. While the hunter-gatherer group slept for just 5.5 hours per night, individuals in modern industrialized countries slept for over 7 hours each night.
Interestingly, the study also revealed that people in industrialized countries are more efficient sleepers, spending 88% of their time in bed asleep, compared to 74% for those in less industrialized regions. Despite the longer sleep duration in industrialized societies, the researchers found that individuals in these countries had less regular circadian rhythms than their nonindustrial counterparts.
The circadian function index, which measures the regularity of circadian rhythms, was lower in industrialized societies (0.63) compared to nonindustrial societies (0.7). This discrepancy may be attributed to the lack of natural cues that help regulate circadian rhythms in industrialized environments. The researchers suggested that the perceived poor sleep in industrialized societies could be linked to these irregular rhythms.
This groundbreaking study challenges the prevailing notion that industrialized life inhibits sleep and sheds light on the actual sleep patterns of people in modern societies. The findings provide valuable insights into the sleep habits of individuals across different cultural and societal contexts.
For more information, the study titled “Are humans facing a sleep epidemic or enlightenment? Large-scale, industrial societies exhibit long, efficient sleep yet weak circadian function” can be accessed in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences journal.
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