Human slumber differ in a lot of ways from the manner our animal relatives rest . For one thing , it typically involves feathery pillows and not tree branch . But it ’s also comparatively effective , harmonize to a new cogitation in the journalEvolutionary Anthropology . Two investigator from Duke University examined the sleep patterns of hundreds of animals , include 21 hierarch species , to see how our sleep is different .
They feel that we make do with a mint less sleep than some other mintage . Chimpanzees , for instance , log Z’s 11.5 hours a night , andgray mouse lemurssleep up to 17 . On the other hand , humans sleep for seven time of day on average ( and former Orion accumulator societies probably sleptsix to seven , as a different study establish ) .
And humanity make the most out of their sleep time . Much of that rest prison term involves speedy eye bm eternal sleep ( REM ) , the level in the eternal rest bicycle when hoi polloi have vivid dreaming . REM makes up 25 percent of human sleep ( andhalf of baby ’ sleep , according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke ) , but for some primates like monkeys and lemur , REM is only 5 percent of the total sleep cycle .
The researchers luff out that many primates sleep in trees , rather than near the ground , as man do . Great aper , for instance , make sleeping platforms in the trees , while modest prelate find holes or clusters of leaves to drowse in . They hypothesize that humans ’ shorter , more intense design of sleep could be related to early hominins ’ ability to catch some Z’s in group near blast , protect them from piranha . Because they had this protection , they could spend more time in the useful but vulnerable point of quietus like paradoxical sleep , while other animals might need to be in lighter nap stages in edict to be ready to defend themselves during the dark .
But before you go boast how efficient your sleep is — and how you may function on justa few hoursa night — remember that those seven plus hours arepretty importantto your health , cognition , and more .
