For years we’ve been warned about the importance of getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night. We’ve read the studies suggesting too much or too little sleep is linked to obesity and chronic disease, and been told that Americans are sleep deprived. But a recent study may disprove all of those notions!
In the study, they observed the sleeping patterns of hunter-gatherer societies in Africa and South America, where they tend to sleep less hours than the average American. They found that despite sleeping less, these societies were relatively fit and healthy. Researchers had participants from the communities wear devices to track their sleep and found that both the African and South American participants had very similar sleep patterns, despite geographical difference. They also rarely took naps. Additionally, insomnia was not a factor in their societies, impacting only 2%, as opposed to the 20-30% of Americans suffering from the disorder. The study suggests that sleep quality is more important than the quantity (like everything else in life, right?).
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