By ancestors I mean like “cavemen” in a sense. If they had to sleep in caves surrounded by a million different noises, predators, insects, and sleeping on primitive beds – I just cant see them getting any good night rests.
In today’s world sometimes we cant sleep even with great pillows, mattresses, soothing sounds, sleep aid medicine, etc. For some even the tiniest noise or light wakes them up. Thanks for and whatever the reason early hominids must have been pretty hardcore.
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The two main reasons are brain development and environment.
Environment is probably the biggest. We lead lives filled with lights which, day or night, fool our brain into thinking it’s daytime and definitely not time to sleep yet. We live less active lives, which makes us less tired once comes the time to sleep. We live more complex, chaotic lives, which goes against our circadian rhythm’s need for a constant routine.
We also, ironically, have more stress in our lives due to the fast pace life in the productive, industrialized world. Stress-wise, predators and food scarcity couldn’t even begin to compete with our current lifestyle as far as inducing stress. Deadlines, schedules, custody or legal battles, information about the hundred ways in which we’re all doomed. It’s even worse for parents with all the extra scheduling comes from conciliating kids, their school/afterschool activities, and work.
I’m not so sure on the brain front, but if I recall correctly having more higher brain functions also interferes with sleep, especially with things like ADHD and chronic anxiety attacks becoming more widespread. Thinking too much and being unable to stop these runaway thoughts definitely doesn’t help with sleeping.
The primitive brain ignored insect bites easily, and we setup guard rotations for predators so we felt safe enough to sleep soundly.
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