Sleep Like a Cave Man. Ancient Wisdom to Help Improve Nightly Sleep

We spend about a third of our lives in bed, yet millions of us experience sleep problems. We strive to rest for eight hours a day, as experts recommend, but often this figure proves to be out of reach—due to... stress, gadgets, a small child, or a cup of coffee consumed in the afternoon.

As Merijn van de Laar explains in his book, a sleep scientist who once suffered from insomnia, nighttime wakefulness is far from a new phenomenon. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when saber-toothed tigers posed the greatest threat to Homo sapiens, staying awake at night helped people protect themselves and their fellow tribesmen. Research shows that a fragmented sleep pattern gave our ancestors an evolutionary advantage. From their example, we can understand:
   • how to improve our sleep and thereby strengthen our health
   • why sleep patterns change with age
   • the benefits of co-sleeping
   • how important environmental factors like temperature and light are
   • what contributes to a full night’s sleep