Deep Sleep Evolved โฃwith Descent from Trees,researchers Find
BARCELONA,SPAIN – A growing body of research suggests a โขpivotalโข link betweenโ humanity’sโค evolutionary descent fromโข arboreal life and the development of deep,restorative sleep. While the biological mechanisms of sleepโค – involving melatonin,glucose,cortisol,and brainwave phases – have long been โunderstood,the why of consolidated,nightly sleepโ remains a subjectโข of intense study. Newโข findings indicateโ that shifting from sleeping in trees to sleeping on theโ ground necessitated โa moreโ profound and protective sleep state.
For our primateโ ancestors, life in the trees offered inherent security. Sleeping aloft โขmeant relative safety โfrom โpredators, reducing the need for extended periods of deep sleep. Though, coming downโ from the trees exposed early humans to increased โvulnerability. This environmental shift, researchers believe, drove the โevolution of deeperโค sleep phases -โฃ particularly slow-wave sleep – as โขa survival mechanism.
“Our bodies are genetically programmed to make changes throughout our development,and sleep is no exception,” explains sleepโค expert Madrid,whose work highlights the โvarying sleep patternsโข across โthe human lifespan.โ The deepest and most restorative phase of sleep, crucial for physical recovery, became increasingly importent as humans โฃadapted to terrestrial โฃlife.
This evolutionary pressure coincides with a important historical turning point: the Industrial Revolution and the advent of artificial light. Prior to these developments, human sleep patterns were intrinsically linked to โnatural daylight cycles.โฃ The shift to schedulesโ dictated by โartificial illumination has contributed to a rise in sleep โขdisorders – now numbering over eighty – disrupting โคthe natural rhythms honed over millennia.
Experts now recommend prioritizing exposure to natural daylightโข upon waking and minimizing โฃexposure to blue light fromโข screens in the hours leading up to bedtime. “ideally, as soon asโ we get out โof bed, weโฃ should be exposed โto natural daylight; and three hours beforeโ going toโค sleep, we should be in a warm light environment, not the white or blue light of screens,” Madrid advises. โขThis return to aligning with natural โlight cycles may help restore theโค deep, restorative sleep โthat evolved alongside ourโ ancestors’ journey โขdown from the trees.
