According to the National Sleep Foundation found at the site http://sleepfoundation.org, “more than 85% of mammalian species are polyphasic sleepers…” This means that most mammal species around the globe sleep for short periods throughout the day. Humans are in the minority. Due to our routines of dividing our days into two distinct periods of wakefulness and sleep, we are considered monophasic sleepers. Studies have shown that it is not clear this is the natural sleep pattern for humans, just that we have adopted this practice and stuck to it. Evidenced by the fact that young children and the elderly regularly take naps, it seems intrinsic in human nature to rely on a midday snooze to function efficiently.
There are three different types of naps one can take. The “planned nap” is one in which you decide to sleep before you actually get very tired. This is often employed when a person knows he or she will be up late studying or working on a project. There is the “emergency nap” as well. This occurs when a person is suddenly tired and needs to sleep in order to continue functioning. Also, the “habitual nap” is one that a person takes at the same time every day, which is often seen with children that nap at the same time each afternoon or a student who sleeps for a short time every day after class for instance.
The United States as a nation is increasingly becoming more sleep deprived at an alarming rate. Our busy lifestyles and driven work ethics are keeping us from getting a solid night of sleep, let alone fitting an adequate nap into our daily lives. These short naps, however, can seriously improve mood, alertness, and performance, and should be taken into account for improving efficiency in the workplace.
This is really interesting and I hadn’t really thought much about this fact. When you read something like this, though, it does make sense. I never really took many naps and I don’t really this semester but last semester I had an 8AM and would take a nap after that class.
The fact that the US as a whole is getting less sleep is also interesting, especially in the wake of a new study that shows lack of sleep might damage your brain.
This was well written and interesting, keep up the great work.
–K.E. Van Develde
I’ve never really considered that perhaps taking naps is actually the more natural way of us getting sleep. Personally I try to avoid naps in favour of getting a solid nights sleep. I try and stay awake and get everything done so I can then go to sleep for the night. But it is interesting to consider that maybe we could be more productive by splitting our sleep into naps instead of sleeping for 7-10 hours straight at night.
I know some people with the weirdest sleeping habits, and your post makes me wonder what life would be like if we adopted a polyphasic sleeping pattern. I have some days where I get around 5 hours of sleep through the night and then take a 2-3 hour nap during the day. But at the end of that daytime nap, I still feel pretty groggy and unmotivated to do any work. I suppose its our overall working lifestyle that would prevent us from adopting this sleeping pattern; if we were like any other mammal, the human race would just be as lazy as ever.