from Hacker News

Apes reveal secrets to good sleep

by romefort on 4/28/15, 9:19 AM with 12 comments

  • by mitchtbaum on 4/28/15, 12:46 PM

    These people's reasoning strikes me as laughable (and sad too since it comes to us with elevated credibility):

    * deep, relaxed sleep helps us develop.

    * our relative apes also prefer deep, relaxed sleep.

    * each prepares a sleeping surface.

    * these sleeping platforms we [these researchers] have looked at must be what explains good sleep.

    ΒΆ

    How about what makes for a relaxed mind??.. Perhaps researching and writing stories about that would give better help for people to live well... and rest easy. ( Reminds me of a Harry Chapin quote from his grandfather, http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Harry_Chapin&... )

    ---

    While we focus on sleeping surfaces instead, two data points in my view seem to reflect well on exactly an opposite approach. I switched to sleeping primarily on my floor (cushioned with a blanket on expanded foam mats [hoping to upgrade to expanded silicone later]) and it feels wonderfully restorative. This biomechanics researcher has had similar results with her family and offers a rich theoretical frame, http://www.katysays.com/ & Joe Rogan Experience #601 - Katy Bowman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ub5OLNnN-o . Humans who sleep in hammocks might also have an interesting take.

    _Sleep is sacred._

    P.S. Given this meeting ground: As a human with access to modern-ish computing devices, I find that 'switching them off' makes a world of difference when "unwinding" (perhaps rewinding?). Keeping artificial lights out of my room where I sleep and letting my mind clear helps me relax. Alternatively, some nights I need some way to get notes out so I keep a comp with me, and I also can use a simple mp3 player with audio recording, easy button control, and and a near 1 sec resume recording delay.. I rarely transcode them... Onward to voice user interfaces!

  • by leaveyou on 4/28/15, 11:42 AM

    Nowhere in this article are any secrets revealed. It's the second article from BBC with misleading title this week. I will avoid next time.
  • by drzaiusapelord on 4/28/15, 4:19 PM

    The scientists at Duke University aren't the most sophisticated around, but calling them apes seems a bit harsh.
  • by ccvannorman on 4/28/15, 2:53 PM

    great, they get "better" sleep, but what tests were done to measure the real world effects of this between the groups, other than "we think it was a factor in cognitive evolution"?