Many mammals are now known to have a flexible need for sleep. However, humanity is not one of them. Not only have apes found ways to make sleeping-places which are safe from predators. Pre-humans tamed fire at least several hundred thousand years ago. Nearly all wild animals keep a safe distance. Then we can also sleep safely on open ground.
How is it then with parents of babies and toddlers that oftentimes suffer from sleep deficiency? In the original human society having more than one baby or toddler at the same time was rare. Babies slept beside their mums. When the babies woke up at night they could easily be taken to their mums’ breast. After the baby had been nursed the mum quickly fell asleep again. Dads helped with other things than just nursing too. When toddlers did not need to be nursed anymore friends and relatives could take care of them.
Another evidence of how humans function consists of the Eskimos. They can live up to four months without the sun rising or setting. Humans are not capable of being awake for months in a row. Neither are we capable of hibernation. To the opposite also the Eskimos have nearly the same needs year round. Before they got access to watches they had a sleep-wake cycle of 23 – 25 hours. People in northernmost Eurasia have midnight sun and polar night too. But not for quite as long as the northernmost Eskimos have.
It should be noted that need for sleep varies from person till person. Children need to sleep considerably more than adults. Their need for sleep decreases gradually as they grow up. However, for adult humans it also varies individually. Most need to sleep 7 – 8 out of every 24 hours. At the same time there are individuals needing up to 10 hours. On the other hand there are those which can do with only 5 – 6 hours. That some humans can are able to do this does not mean everybody can. The belief everyone would be capable of something at one end of the normal range of variation is to the opposite dangerous to one’s health.
How did then the myth arise that need for sleep could be reduced trough training? In 1756 the oil lamp with glass around its flame was invented. This gave considerably more light than earlier oil lamps. Until then the possibility of working in the dark of night were limited. With something in the style of kerosene lamps one could work equally well at any time of day. That something might be done was mistaken for one ought to. Sleep begun to be wrongfully seen as a waste of time. Unfortunately people had poor grasp of the limits of the humanly possible. The increase in knowledge since then is unknown to far too many people. To me they seem to be stuck in the 19th century view of humanity.
Denial of the need for sleep is part of a larger destructive pattern. Short-sleeping workaholics are made into an ideal. Behaving like them is believed to make people “successful”. Whatever that is supposed to mean other than “having more money”. The only results to most are loneliness and a destroyed health. Not only is it unhealthy to habitually sleep less than one personally needs. Few can cope with workaholism without their health being damaged. Moreover wealthier individuals are not necessarily happy. The boundary is where one has enough to be saved from worries about survival. More money beyond this does not make us much happier.
Uploaded on the 29th of August 2026.
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This site was last changed on the 29th of August 2026.