3 ms·

I wonder what are the drawback for such a gene since I would think the evolutionary pressure for it should be pretty strong. Or maybe there wasn't really much t

• vanderZwan 12y ago
  It wouldn't surprise me at all - sleep preserves energy, does it not? And since food has been a scarce resource for the majority of human history, there must have been a pressure to sleep longer to preserve energy on one hand, and shorter to have waking time available to find more food (and do other things that ensure survival and reproduction).
• brianchu 12y ago
  One proposed reason for the evolution of sleep is facilitating neural plasticity (growth and change). These studies merely show benefits in the short-term. An interesting hypothesis to test is if people with this mutation, over the long-term, have the same cognitive skills as those without, assuming both parties get the amount sleep they naturally need.
• ocb 12y ago
  I imagine this is it. What would you do at night if there wasn't technology enabling you to keep yourself preoccupied? The list of things we can do takes a pretty big hit when we can't see well.
  • eru 12y ago
    > What would you do at night if there wasn't technology enabling you to keep yourself preoccupied? I can't imagine boredom to be a major evolutionary force back in the day. There's lots you can do in the dark. And the night isn't all dark, either. There's the moon and stars. We have other senses, too. Just keeping watch and defending against lions seems like a good use of time already.