According to Helen Briggs writing in "Lizards Share Sleep Patterns with Humans" (2016), the human pattern of sleep may date back hundreds of millions of years before any human-like creature ever lived. Briggs reports that recent research by German scientists shows that bearded dragons have the same sleep pattern of "cycles of eye movements and deep sleep" that are characteristic of humans and birds, suggesting that sleep originated in more ancient shared ancestor from which we all evolved.
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My Yes/No question is:
Do you sleep enough?
My answer is:
No, I don't.
This question really has nothing much to do with the BBC News story, but that doesn't matter. It was the response that came to my mind. I always wish I got more sleep, but I'm a night person. I seem more alert and creative at night, so it's almost impossible for me to go to bed before midnight, even though I get up at 6:30 on weekdays, and an awful 5:55 AM on weekends, when I have an 8:00 o'clock class at AUA.
As I read the article, I was also interested in the fact that sleep is so ancient and shared by so many of our relatives, not just apes and other mammals, but also birds, and now even reptiles. It never ceases to amaze me that we are relatives of every living thing on the planet. At least, we were relatives until very recently, when we created new life forms synthetically, but even those are still DNA based, just made up by other means, by us, than evolution by natural selection. But then, we are a part of nature as much as any other plant, animal or bacteria, so if we create things, doesn't that also make them natural?
Finally, in Unit 3 of Quest 2, the topic of chapter 5, "States of Consciousness," is sleep and dreaming, which is also what Biggs discusses in her BBC News article. As Pamela Hartmann tells us, there is still much we do not know about our own need for sleep, except that we do need sleep, and apparently dreams, or at least the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep that accompanies our dreams. Whatever the reason we need it, we are not the only species on the planet. But I wonder if any other animal dreams? I would guess that other animals do. Many of our closer relatives have similar enough brains that it seems likely they have some similar mental life, including when asleep, although I'm sure that they do not remember or reflect on their dreams the way that human beings do. But then, I almost never remember my dreams either, at least not for more than a few minutes after waking, when the day's concerns erase the dreams.
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Reference
No, me too. I really have enough slepping hours. Even I've learned a lot of enough sleeping benefit. Still, I enjoy the serenity of the night without being disturbed. I think it's the most productive time for me. You can spend the night to do with very good flowing creativity. Anyway, my parents still insist on the other period of time in the day. They said it must be in the morning.
ReplyDelete"Do you sleep enough?" Your question here sounds very simple ,but I don't think we do answer it honestly. Let' me talk a little bit about meditation. Joining the meditation camp, I am taught that sometimes we feel so exhausted and need an calmly sleep ,but, in fact, it's just our lazy mind that tell us we need to sleep. Are we just too lazy to get up and work? Are we just want to do nothing apart from lay in our comfort beds?
ReplyDeleteSleeping is great ,but don't forget to think for a while that we do really "need" to sleep or we just "want" to. Don't waste your time seeing the big world for sleeping.
No, that's maybe my most confident answer of all time, I always spend time as much as i can on working, learning or doing project which sometimes i get tired from sleep late or not have enough rest. But one thing i found out after i do that as a habit is i won't get tired whenever i sleep after 4.30 am (This sounds a little weird right? But trust me i really feel like that) Sadly i always get tired and sleepy in the evening and if i get too sleepy everything i have listened too would go through my ears without any memory.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't. But I need more time to sleep in each day. sleeping is a best way for body repairing with various hormone, it will work when body movement is shut down into dead sleep. However, I know well about it, but I always alert when it's dark. So, I usually wake up late, if I don't have any activities for a day.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do. I think I am a morning person (ofcourse not too early). i can't work when my mind want to sleep. I did sometime to push it awake and it obey because of the pressure from the work; but I don't normally sleep late. However, It is out of my control, I mean I go to bed but can't sleep because of coffee or coke or energy drink overdose in the evening. When we sleep we are also working_the whole body system is working. In my opinion, go to bed and sleep on time is one of the way to discipline ourself, meaning not to over work or over entertain with internet, film. So, for me get enough sleep it doesn't mean lazy or wasting time but it is a discipline that train yourself to sleep on time and get up on time.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't. For me, I want to sleep at least nine hours because long hours sleeping enables me to become relaxed and to charge energy to do lots of activities tomorrow. Even though, on vacation, I usually sleep more than nine hours; but, on semester or days I have to go to study with tutors, I hardly sleep enough.
ReplyDeleteRegarding one week left before examination, I never sleep more than 8 hours as I have lots of books I don't read. Perhaps, I may be lazy in the beginning of semester. Sometimes, I think it my fault and I have to change myself to get more time to sleep than in the past.
No. I frequently have difficulty in sleeping in my home or other places as a result of several reasons such as being sensitive to surrounding noises, stress and stuff like that; however, I normally take a nap many times a day in the car, in the library or in the class—except for your class—because I have not enough sleeping time at night. My everyday cups of coffee sometimes do not work well to deal with my drowsiness. In fact, I want to sleep easily and enough a day. And now I spend time sleeping about 5 hours a day; I basically go to my bed very late and wake up in morning.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised that many people have similar answers to me, but sometimes different reasons. We have tons of activities to do in the modern world. They are so powerful that I could not stop doing them. I keep finding the most effective way to solve my problem. If anyone has very good ideas for this, please tell me immediately.