Tag Archives: Gathering

People in industrial societies sleep longer than those in hunting and gathering societies.

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Technology may be falsely blamed for lack of sleep

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Unlike our ancestors who lived in technologically advanced times, there is much written about how modern lifestyles mean that we no longer get enough sleep. However, an analysis of 54 sleep studies conducted around the world has shown that people in small, non-industrial societies actually sleep less than people in industrialized communities.

“Everyone I talk about in Canada and the US are talking about how bad their sleep is.” Leela Mackinnon At Toronto Mississauga University, Canada. “The numbers don't show that.”

It is often assumed that the rise of gadgets like big screen televisions and smartphones means that people today are less sleepy than in the recent past.

However, many studies reporting sleep declines over the past few decades are based on asking people how long they spend sleep. This is an unreliable measure. Even using this method, The results are mixedmany studies have found that there is no change or even an increase in sleep duration.

Studies based on more reliable measurements, such as using physical activity monitors and electrodes to monitor brain waves, have not declined over the last few decades. For example, we found a 2016 review of 168 studies. There is no decline Sleep period for the past 50 years.

However, these studies have been conducted in developed countries and reveal the question of whether people had more sleep before industrialisation. Wrist-based activity monitors are now available, making it easier to study sleep in a non-industrial society.

Such studies have revealed an incredible short period of sleep. For example, among hunter-gatherers, Sun sleeps on average 6.7 hours per night, Hatza sleeps 6.2 hours, and Bayaka sleeps 5.9 hours per night. The shortest time ever found is 5.5 hours of sleep in the HIMBA community in Namibia, a herdsman of nomadic livestock.

McKinnon and her colleagues David SamsonUniversity of Toronto, University of Mississauga, is also involved in several such research. They now compare sleep habits in industrialized societies, including the US, Australia and Sri Lanka, with people from small, non-industrial communities, including the Amazon, Madagascar and the Pacific indigenous people.

Overall, the analysis is based on 54 studies that include direct measures of sleep in people over 18 years of age without serious health conditions. In total, only 866 people are involved in these studies, but the dataset is the most comprehensive to date, says Samson. “It's the best now.”

Overall, these individuals slept on average 6.8 hours, while in non-industrial societies the average was 6.4 hours, while in industrial societies it was 7.1 hours.

The two also found that people from the industrial world were asleep for 74% of their time in bed.

McKinnon and Samson also evaluated the regularity of people's circadian rhythms using a measure called the circadian function index, where the score of 1 is perfect. In non-industrialized communities, the average was 0.7 compared to 0.63 in industrial societies.

Samson attributes the higher period of sleep and increased sleep efficiency in industrialized societies to conditions that encourage sleep more. “We see that we have some real benefits from the safety and security of our sleep scene,” he says. “There's no need to dodge the night or predators with rival human groups.”

Conversely, people in industrial areas are less exposed to clues that help to maintain a circadian rhythm, such as low night temperatures and bright daylight exposure. Although they did not appreciate this, both MacKinnon and Samson said that a low normal circadian rhythm would have a negative effect explaining why many people perceive their sleep as poor. I doubt there is a possibility of giving it.

What is not clear from the paper says that individuals in these 54 studies are representatives of the overall population. Nathaniel Marshall At Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. “Special sampling is required to make a statement about epidemiological prevalence,” he says.

Samson said he looked into whether large sample sizes could change results, and concluded that there was no significant difference.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The Giant of San Abbas Served as a Gathering Base for the West Saxon Army, According to Archaeologists

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A giant naked figure called Sarn Giant It was carved into the Dorset hillside not in prehistory or early modern times, as many think, but in the early Middle Ages, particularly in the 9th or 10th century, when there was much interest in the classical hero Hercules. It is said that it was at the beginning.to new paper in diary Speculum. He was probably created to mark the meeting place for West Saxon military meetings on the lands of the chieftains of the western provinces. By the mid-11th century, he was repurposed by monasteries founded or re-founded at his feet. St. Eadwolda convenient way to erase Hercules and declare the monastery's rights to the saint's relics.

Sarn Abbas Giant, Sarn Abbas, Dorset, England. Image credit: Ray Gaffney.

The Sarne Giant is a gigantic statue of a naked man carved into chalk rock on a hillside above the village of Sarne Abbas in Dorset, England.

He is approximately 55 meters (180 feet) tall, wielding a club in his right hand and extending his left arm.

The feet are turned to the right as if walking. His bald head is teardrop shaped with his eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth.

His naked torso shows an erect penis, nipples, ribs, belt, and belly button. The latter appears to have been incorporated into his phallus in 1908, and is now more prominent than originally.

When the Cerne Giant was first carved has been debated for centuries.

Dr Helen Gittos, a researcher at the University of Oxford, said: “It turns out that the Sarne Giant is just the most prominent of a whole group of early medieval features in the landscape.”

“While Hercules was well known in the Middle Ages as a flawed hero who was both admired and criticized, interest in Hercules in particular increased in the 9th century.”

“By at least the 10th century, Cern was in the hands of the elders of the western provinces, the leading lords of the kings of the south-west.”

“The Tern Giant's topographical location, on a spur projecting from a ridge, makes it a unique type of Anglo-Saxon meeting place in that it has spectacular views and is close to major highways.”

“Nearby Viking attacks, access to abundant fresh water, and local land supplies made this an ideal location to muster a West Saxon army against the backdrop of Hercules.”

In the 11th century, the monks worshiping at the monastery at the foot of Giant Hill reimagined the Giant of Sarne as a statue of their saint Eadwald, implicit in the lessons they read on that feast day. I mentioned this person.

This is one of the many ways the Cologne giants have been reinterpreted over the centuries, from Hercules to the Hermit.

“The identity of the Cern giant was already open to reinterpretation,” said Dr. Tom Morkom, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo.

“The monks of Cern would not have depicted their patron saint as a naked saint if they had carved their patron saint from scratch, but they gladly adopted him as a statue of Eadwald for their own purposes. .”

“Giant has long been loved and cherished, and that rediscovery continues today.”

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Thomas Morcombe and Helen Gittos. 2024. Giant of Cologne in the early Middle Ages. Speculum 99 (1): 1-38; doi: 10.1086/727992

Source: www.sci.news