Why did our ancestors in hunting and nomadic societies sleep well? There is a lot we don't know in this regard. There are also some assumptions that prevailed for a long time before losing much of their credibility - including that they slept from sunset until dawn.
But research conducted on contemporary hunter-gatherer societies has generally revealed that members of these societies rarely suffer from sleep problems.
It is also possible to infer from this research - by more than 95 percent - about the sleep patterns that humans have known throughout the history of their development.
If you ask people from a fishing community, “Do they have sleep problems?” Your words may not make sense in their native languages, according to Jerome Siegel of the Center for Sleep Research at the University of California.
Siegel studied the sleep patterns of peoples: the Hadza in Tanzania, the Tsimane in Bolivia, and the San in Namibia.
But research has generally shown that people who lived in non-industrial societies slept less and woke up more, compared to their counterparts in industrial societies. So what is the secret?
In my study, “How to Improve Your Sleep,” I identified some methods and methods that may have helped our ancestors sleep more deeply, and from which we can benefit, too. Below I reveal five of them.
Light
Good sleep has many aspects, both quantitative and qualitative. Although individuals in industrialized societies get good sleep in some of these respects, one of the main foundations of good sleep remains lacking – this foundation is the circadian rhythm.
The body's biological clock regulates the times of sleep and wakefulness - and for this clock to work correctly, it needs to provide some external environmental factors such as daylight, meal times, temperatures, and other social factors (the sum of these factors is called "Zeitgebers" in sleep psychology).
At the top of the factors regulating the biological clock is “daylight,” which is why researchers advise exposure to light as soon as possible after waking up, given the importance of this in terms of adjusting the biological clock rhythm, especially in industrialized societies.
This revelation could mitigate the effects of using artificial light at night (which may not be as harmful as we imagine).
The researchers found that using a very bright screen for several hours before going to bed could delay falling asleep by about ten minutes. But this effect disappears if the person is exposed to bright light throughout the day.
This will of course be difficult in dark conditions, or for those working under ceilings. But these difficulties can be easily overcome - by taking a walk for a few minutes instead of taking the train, or by eating lunch outside instead of indoors, or by sitting at a desk tucked under a window.
Heat
One of the factors that regulates the biological clock, which helps improve sleep: “temperature”, which - even in hot climates - tends to fall during the night and rise during the day.
Jerome Siegel, from the University of California, among other researchers, believes that the temperature factor is not given the importance it deserves in this regard, pointing to members of non-industrialized societies such as the Hadza people of Tanzania, who prefer to go to sleep a few hours after sunset and wake up before sunrise - setting their biological clock to temperature and not to sunlight.
In industrialized societies, many people live in homes with similar day and night temperatures. In order to regulate the biological clock, it is possible to lower the temperature indoors by a few degrees before sleeping.
Because light and temperature levels change with the seasons of the year, the sleep patterns of members of hunting communities change accordingly - not only in terms of the timing of sleep, but also in terms of the duration of this sleep: some sleep fewer hours when the days are longer than the nights and warmer; While they sleep more hours when the days are shorter and cooler.
Relax
When evening comes in hunting and nomadic societies, people do not go to bed directly, but rather begin to relax - by gathering around stoves, telling stories and anecdotes, or even by visiting each other.
“The moment the sun goes down, everything goes quiet,” says Alyssa Crittenden, an anthropologist at the University of Nevada who spent time among the Hadza people of Tanzania.
“During the day, most of the activities and conversations revolve around practical matters – logistics, childcare, food security,” Crittenden says, “but when evening comes, that’s all over.”
The researcher believes that the distinction between day and night at the “business” level is extremely important. It sends an additional signal to our bodies and minds that it is almost time to go to sleep.
This may be an incentive to stop the habit of checking e-mail or paying bills before going to sleep, and perhaps it will prevent managers in the workplace from assigning these tasks to their subordinates before going to sleep.
Social interaction
You may have noticed that the night activities of people in fishing communities are not limited to interruption from work, but extend to social interactions.
Researcher Alyssa Crittenden emphasizes the importance of these social activities in creating a sense of cooperation and cohesion among the individuals and families of these communities.
It goes so far that some people in these societies sleep in one room or on one roof, with not only their spouses next to them, but also their children and perhaps even their friends or neighbors - so that this feeling of social cohesion remains present even during the night.
Even in non-industrialized societies, there is evidence that sleep feels better when in the company of others than when sleeping alone.
Numerous studies have revealed that people who suffer from loneliness sleep worse than others, making it clear that this type of activity is not only good for cooperation and social cohesion, but is also beneficial for improving sleep.
It may not be possible to do such activities on a routine basis for people who live in small housing units, but here we mention the importance of such people participating in evening activities with others, whether by attending a group yoga class, going out with friends for dinner, or even making a phone call to check the latest developments - such activities can improve sleep.
Stress
Once again, researchers confirm that people who live in hunting, nomadic, and other non-industrial societies sleep less and wake up more than people who live in industrial societies.
When people living in industrialized societies strive to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, they are "trying to get something physiologically 'imaginary'," according to researcher Crittenden.
In this regard, our fear may reach the point of stress about not being able to secure this targeted amount of sleep, and this stress in itself is enough to make our sleep worse.
In such societies, which are obsessed with controlling even the duration and quality of sleep, and other aspects of health and well-being, it may be helpful for many of us to accept that “not all nights are the same, nor is it necessary to get exactly what we want every night.”
No doubt, the researcher noted, part of the problem is that we expect to get the same level of sleep every night, as long as we take measures and set the same standards every day - so this way of thinking may need to be adjusted.
Our feeling of enthusiasm and energy varies on different days, and we may find ourselves more focused on some days than others, and sometimes this can be an indication of a sleep problem (or other health problems) - which may require a visit to a doctor. Chronic insomnia or chronic stress should never be overlooked.
But this disparity in general is only because we are humans, not machines - and it is ironic that adopting such a fact in itself can be a contributing factor in improving our sleep!
