AI Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the sleep patterns of the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer community in Tanzania, to understand ancestral sleep behaviors and their implications for modern sleep issues.
- Using actigraphy to monitor sleep for 393 days among 33 volunteers, researchers analyzed factors influencing sleep duration and quality, finding that the Hadza had shorter, poorer quality sleep yet demonstrated more robust circadian rhythms compared to Western populations.
- Results suggest that Hadza sleep is flexible and adapts to environmental conditions, indicating that the ability to adjust sleep-wake patterns may have been advantageous in human evolution.
Article Abstract
Objectives: Cross-cultural sleep research is critical to deciphering whether modern sleep expression is the product of recent selective pressures, or an example of evolutionary mismatch to ancestral sleep ecology. We worked with the Hadza, an equatorial, hunter-gatherer community in Tanzania, to better understand ancestral sleep patterns and to test hypotheses related to sleep segmentation.
Methods: We used actigraphy to analyze sleep-wake patterns in thirty-three volunteers for a total of 393 days. Linear mixed effects modeling was performed to assess ecological predictors of sleep duration and quality. Additionally, functional linear modeling (FLM) was used to characterize 24-hr time averaged circadian patterns.
Results: Compared with post-industrialized western populations, the Hadza were characterized by shorter (6.25 hr), poorer quality sleep (sleep efficiency = 68.9%), yet had stronger circadian rhythms. Sleep duration time was negatively influenced by greater activity, age, light (lux) exposure, and moon phase, and positively influenced by increased day length and mean nighttime temperature. The average daily nap ratio (i.e., the proportion of days where a nap was present) was 0.54 (SE = 0.05), with an average nap duration of 47.5 min (SE = 2.71; n = 139).
Discussion: This study showed that circadian rhythms in small-scale foraging populations are more entrained to their ecological environments than Western populations. Additionally, Hadza sleep is characterized as flexible, with a consistent early morning sleep period yet reliance upon opportunistic daytime napping. We propose that plasticity in sleep-wake patterns has been a target of natural selection in human evolution.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23160 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Circadian rhythm and lithium response in bipolar disorder: Insights from actigraphy and NR1D1 polymorphism.
Chronobiol Int
January 2025
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Balıkesir Atatürk City Hospital, Balıkesir, Turkey.
Lithium has long been used as a cornerstone mood stabilizer in the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). However, reliable biomarkers that can predict which patients will respond better to lithium are still lacking. This study aims to evaluate the potential of NR1D1 gene SNP; rs2071427 and actigraphic measurements in predicting lithium response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIrregular sleep/wake patterns in student-athletes exposed to early morning training.
J Sports Sci
January 2025
Department of Sport, Hartpury University, Gloucestershire, UK.
This study aimed to examine the sleep parameters and sleep/wake regularity of a cohort of student-athletes who start training between 06:30 and 07:00. Twenty-one male Rugby Union players, aged 21 ± 2 years and competing at a national level, were assessed using actigraphy over two weeks, and the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ). Sleep/wake regularity was calculated using the Sleep Regularity Index (SRI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSleep-wake patterns of fencing athletes: a long-term wearable device study.
PeerJ
January 2025
Department of Graduate, Nanjing Sport Institute, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Objective: Sleep is the most efficient means of recovery for athletes, guaranteeing optimal athletic performance. However, many athletes frequently experience sleep problems. Our study aims to describe the sleep-wake patterns of fencing athletes and determine whether factors, such as sex, competitive level and training schedules, could affect the sleep-wake rhythm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The locus coeruleus (LC) is the primary source of noradrenaline (NA) in brain and its activity is essential for learning, memory, stress, arousal, and mood. LC-NA neuron activity varies over the sleep-wake cycle, with higher activity during wakefulness, correlating with increased CSF NA levels. Whether spontaneous and burst firing of LC-NA neurons during active and inactive periods is controlled by mechanisms independent of wakefulness and natural sleep, is currently unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSleep Stewardship.
J Pak Med Assoc
January 2025
Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, Non communicable disease unit, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Sleep stewardship is a systematic effort to ensure relaxed and restorative sleep, by optimizing pre-sleep, intra-sleep and post-sleep environment and ambience, in a rational manner. It includes not only sleep hygiene and prevention of sleeping pill abuse, but also macro- and meso-level interventions to improve sleep quality. The person living with sleep disorder, their family, members of society, health care professionals, and policy makers: all have a role to play in sleep stewardship.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!