Is today’s society really sleep deprived?
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February 8, 2017 at 9:11 AM
A Royal Society of Medicine Meeting Review by April Cashin-Garbutt, MA (Cantab)
Sleep deprivation often hits the headlines and we are frequently told we need 8 hours a night. But how much sleep do we really need? Are we sleeping less than we used to and is today's society really sleep deprived? A recent meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine aimed to answer these questions.
Sleep deprivation
Historian Professor Roger Ekirch, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA, reminded us that never before in human history should we be sleeping more soundly. Ekirch recounted the multiple ways in which sleep prior to modernity was highly vulnerable to disruption including bedding rife with house mites; frigid temperatures in poorly insulated buildings; and fear of demons and also of the peril of fire.
And so while we have every reason to think our sleep has never been better, we seem to have increasing complaints of fatigue and insomnia, in particular, middle-of-the-night insomnia. But is this really a new phenomenon?
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20170208/Is-todaye28099s-society-really-sleep-deprived.aspx
