As a rule, life in large urban centers is more stressed and complex. Confusion, traffic, noise… Still, even with so much bustle, who is from the city seems to have more time to sleep.
It is often departed from the principle that increasing electronic appliances means that people today sleep less than before-in a phenomenon called Epidemia de perda de are.
This debate opens up several theories about the fact that modern lifestyles mean that “We are not sleeping enough”.
Now, a study this Wednesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B demystifies these theories, revealing that People resident in industrialized societies sleep longer than those who live in rural.
“Everyone who I talk to in Canada and the US says your sleep is horrible, but the numbers don’t show that,” said the study co -author Leela McKinnonfrom the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada, to.
An analysis of 54 sleep studies in healthy people around the world over 18, has revealed that many of these studies are fallible as they are based only on asking people how long they sleep.
The new investigation, based on measures described as “more reliable” – such as physical activity monitors and use of electrodes to monitor brain waves – has not found a decrease in sleep in recent decades.
The new study compared sleep habits in industrialized societies, including the US, Australia and Sri Lanka, with those of smaller and non -industrialized communities, including the indigenous peoples of Amazon, Madagascar and the Pacific Island of Tanna.
In general, individuals sleep on average 6.8 hours: but In non -industrialized societies, the average was 6.4 hours; compared to 7.1 hours in industrialized societies.
For example, among the recolector hunters, the SAN sleeps on average 6.7 hours a night, the Hadza 6.2 hours and the Bayaka 5.9 hours. The shortest duration found was the 5.5 hours sleep from the Himba community in Namibiawhich are nomadic pastors of cattle.
“City boys” live in peace
In an interview with New Scientist, the investigation leader, David SamsonAlso from the University of Toronto Mississauga, it attributed the longer sleep duration and greater sleep efficiency to a better quality of life.
That is, in industrialized societies there are more conducive conditions to sleep.
“We found that we got real gains in the safety and protection of our sleeping sites. We don’t have to confront rival human groups at night or with predators, ”he exemplified.
Although they did not evaluate this aspect, McKinnon and Samson suspect that the existence of less regular circadian rhythms can have adverse effects that explain the fact that many people consider that their sleep is bad.
Circadian rhythm is the variation in the biological functions of various living beings, which is regularly repeated with a period of approximately 24 hours.
The new study evaluated the regularity of these rhythms, using a measure called circadian function index, where the score of 1 is perfect. In rural people, the average was better: 0.7; compared to 0.63 in large urban centers.
