I seem to hear from a variety of people that they struggle to fall asleep at night; but the difficult to fall asleep sounds like an evolutionary downside. Even as hunter-gatherers, being able to sleep whenever and wherever sounds like it would be an advantage.
Is it a recent product of modern times and people didn’t actually struggle with it a while back? In which case, what of modern life is causing this? If not, what is the evolutionary advantage of not falling asleep easily?
I’d love to be able to sleep on command.
Usually I need to take a melatonin pill after tossing and turning before I get some sleep.
I’ve learned to fall asleep much faster as I’ve gotten older. I turn the tv off, put down my phone, get as comfortable as i can, and relax each body part for 3 breaths starting at my feet.
I read a book long ago that talked about lights and how our bodies are programmed to fall asleep when it’s dark… but now we have street lights, indoor lights, etc. this was back when I read books on a Palm Pilot… 😔
First, for something to be and evolutionary advantage, the people that struggle to fall asleep would have to die more easily or fail to reproduce, while in this case I can only see the opposite: dropping dead asleep regardless of the environment means to be an easy prey.
Secondly, the reason you probably see it as a downside is because of the hectic way most people go through life today, were you can hardly find a time to sleep; but it’s not that during our evolution we could hunt 16 hours/day, nobody was in an hurry :)
I remember from the book “Why We Sleep” that our sleep cycle takes cues from both light and temperature levels throughout the day, which we isolated ourselves from in modern times. The day doesn’t end after sundown anymore thanks to lightbulbs, and many of us live at a constant temperature due to AC. That’s two clues of “night is near, prep to sleep” that we no longer receive. Maybe our ancestors had an easier time due to more consistent clues?
I would imagine our hunter gatherer ancestors had a far easier time falling asleep given their activity level during the day, their diet, and their lack of artificial lighting (particularly blue light).
That blue light thing is pseudo-science. Bodily activity though, yup, that’s a big one.
