107 ms·
The 8 hours "myth" seems to come from the fact that most people sleep about that long when they don't set an alarm clock. We are tuned by evolution.
by nsxwolf 14y ago
The 8 hours "myth" seems to come from the fact that most people sleep about that long when they don't set an alarm clock.
We are tuned by evolution.
- theon144 14y agoThat's not entirely correct, actually. Before artificial lightning got introduced, people slept in two phases, and woke up in the middle of the night to do things. There were even books that suggested things to do in the time before the two sleeps (besides having sex and praying, that is). More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep and I apologize for not finding a better source.
- nsxwolf 14y agoVery interesting. I'd have thought exactly the opposite - that without artificial lighting, it would make more sense to sleep off all the dark hours.