Link: Maybe You Don't Need 8 Hours of Sleep After All
Three hunter-gatherer and hunter-farmer groups -- the Hadza in Tanzania, San in Namibia, and Tsimane in Bolivia, who live roughly the same lifestyle humans did in the Paleolithic were observed and it was concluded that our ancient ancestors may not have slept nearly as much we thought - despite being healthy.
Any ideas why these tribes might need less sleep?
It looks good, although only two groups were sampled. It is worth noting that the "sleep period" was from 6.9 to 8.5 hr -- that is, while they were resting in bed.
The article is pretty clear on why this might be the case:
"In these societies, electricity and its associated lighting and entertainment distractions are absent, as are cooling and heating systems. Individuals are exposed, from birth, to sunlight and a continuous seasonal and daily variation in temperature within the thermoneutral range for much of the daylight perio...
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