Ancient Ancestors Didn't Sleep That Much, Just Like Us

These days, most of us are running on few hours of sleep and a whole lot of coffee. But while you might think that our ancient ancestors knew better about getting their rest, think again. New research published in the journal Current Biology shows that we've been restless since the dawn of time.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles studied the sleeping habits in three preindustrial societies, including the Hadza of Tanzania, the San of Namibia and the Tsimane of Bolivia. They found that our poor sleep habits are actually similar to that of our early human ancestors--with the average amount of sleep for most ranging from 5.7 hours to 7.1 hours a night.

During the study, researchers asked 94 members of the three groups to wear watch-sized devices that help monitor sleep patterns, body temperatures, temperature of environment and the amount of light they're exposed to.

Findings revealed that participants didn't go to sleep when the sun set; they typically stayed up about 3 hours and 20 minutes after sunset. Furthermore, while researchers found that participants in the study rarely took naps, they did sleep an hour longer in the winter.

Yet this contradicts previous research, suggesting that our use of cell phones and computer screens are, in part, to blame for our insomnia. And while there's no time machine to determine how those who came before us slept, this could be a good indicator of the past.

"The short sleep in these populations challenges the belief that sleep has been greatly reduced in the 'modern world,'" Jerome Siegel of the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement. "This has important implications for the idea that we need to take sleeping pills because sleep has been reduced from its 'natural level' by the widespread use of electricity, TV, the Internet, and so on."

All groups also showed surprising similarities regarding their sleep patterns. "Despite varying genetics, histories, and environments, we find that all three groups show a similar sleep organisation, suggesting that they express core human sleep patterns, probably characteristic of pre-modern-era Homo sapiens," Siegel added.

Though the study participants were less likely to suffer from insomnia than those of industrialized society, researchers think that it might have something to do with naturally cool temperatures the hunger-gatherers encounter. 

The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults 26-64 get between 7-9 hours of sleep a night. The amount of sleep needed may vary by age and certain genetic components. 

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