In the course of evolution, people began to sleep less than other primates

People need much less time for rest than our closest relatives from the animal kingdom. According to a new study, the secret is that human sleep is much more effective, phys.org reports .

Researchers at Duke University analyzed a wealth of scientific literature and created a database of hundreds of mammals' sleep patterns, including 21 primate species, from baboons and lemurs to orangutans, chimpanzees, and humans. Then, using a number of computational methods, the positions of each species in the so-called primate pedigree were determined.
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As it turned out, people need a very short sleep - on average, it lasts about 7 hours, while other primates, for example, southern pig-tailed macaques and gray mouse lemurs, need up to 14-17 hours of rest.

In addition, our sleep is usually more effective, that is, the stage of light sleep in a person is much shorter than the stage of deep. The stage of REM sleep, or, as it is also called, the stage of rapid eye movements, BDG, is almost 25% of the total duration of a person’s sleep. And in primates, such as mouse lemurs, mongoose lemurs and African green monkeys, fast sleep does not exceed 5%.

"People are unique, because they sleep less, and sleep at the same time much better quality," said co-author of the study, anthropologist David Samson of Duke University. Before joining the University in the process of writing his dissertation, Samson spent nearly 2,000 hours exploring the orangutan's fast and slow sleep phases.

Scientists explain that the reduction of human sleep is not just the result of constant access to artificial light sources from lamps to computer screens. According to the results of a separate study on the study of sleep patterns of residents of three countries, whose peoples are divided into groups of hunters and gatherers and do not use electricity — Tanzania, Namibia and Bolivia — these people sleep a little less than supporters of electronic gadgets.

Samson argues that if artificial sources of light and other aspects of modern life were the only reason for reducing the duration of sleep, people who live in hunting and gathering and do not have access to electricity, would sleep longer.

Anthropologist Charlie Nunn, who also took part in research based at Duke University, suggests that the human body most likely restructured from quantity to sleep quality long before the advent of smartphones.

According to scientists, the tendency to reduce the duration and simultaneously improve the quality of sleep is partly due to the transition from resting on trees, as was probably the case with our ancestors, to sleep on earth, as we do.

Samson suggested that, having moved to the ground, the ancient people most likely slept by the fire and in large groups, which provided warmth and protection from predators such as leopards and hyenas, and therefore, it was possible to sleep peacefully and not necessarily long.

Samson assured that reducing the duration of sleep has freed up time for other activities, for example, to master new skills and form social bonds, while slow sleep has strengthened these achievements and stimulated improvements in memory and mental abilities.