Unsettled Sleep

(Image from Huffington Post UK)

It's a commonplace that our fondness for electronic stimuli has created a crisis of sleep deprivation. No less an authority than the American Medical Association

Recognizes that exposure to excessive light at night, including extended use of various electronic media, can disrupt sleep or exacerbate sleep disorders, especially in children and adolescents.

Despite their deleterious effects, the temptations of TV, tablets, and smartphones appear too great to resist. Before electricity banished the night, the theory goes, human beings both needed and got 8-9 hours of sleep, the minimum necessary for optimal daytime performance. However, that was only a theory.

In order to ascertain mankind's sleep patterns "before coffee and light bulbs existed," scientists monitored the sleep of three contemporary pre-industrial societies in Tanzania, Namibia, and Bolivia. Their findings:

They do not sleep more than “modern” humans, with average durations of 5.7–7.1 hr.

They go to sleep several hours after sunset and typically awaken before sunrise.

Temperature appears to be a major regulator of human sleep duration and timing.

It's not surprising that the iPad insomnia theory has been widely accepted: it's consistent with our own experience and common sense. It also mildly conforms to our own aspirational values (quiet time before bed, turn off the computer and talk to your kids, etc.) However, according to this study at least, 5-7 hours of sleep is all the average person needs.

What other scientific "findings" do we seize upon--perhaps too quickly--because we really want them to be true?