Ancestral sleep
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While we do not yet understand all the functions of sleep, its critical role for normal physiology and behaviour is evident. Its amount and temporal pattern depend on species and condition. Humans sleep about a third of the day with the longest, consolidated episode during the night. The change in lifestyle from hunter-gatherers via agricultural communities to densely populated industrialized centres has certainly affected sleep, and a major concern in the medical community is the impact of insufficient sleep on health [1,2]. One of the causal mechanisms leading to insufficient sleep is altered exposure to the natural light-dark cycle. This includes the wide availability of electric light, attenuated exposure to daylight within buildings, and evening use of light-emitting devices, all of which decrease the strength of natural light-dark signals that entrain circadian systems [3].
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These non-industrialized populations have higher physical activity, diets composed mainly of fresh or minimally processed foods, less exposure to environmental pollutants, circadian rhythms more synchronized with sunlight, and different social stressors from those in industrialized environments.
“Their lifestyles, for example, are characterized by higher levels of physical activity67,71,87, diets composed mainly of fresh or minimally processed food sources66,88,89, and less exposure to environmental pollutants66. In addition, individuals living in these environments generally have circadian rhythms that are more closely synchronized with diurnal fluctuations in sunlight exposure90 and the”
From Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span (2019) · cites this paper as [90]
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- Authors
- de la Iglesia, H. O., Moreno, C., Lowden, A., Louzada, F., Marqueze, E., Levandovski, R., Pilz, L. K., Valeggia, C., Fernandez-Duque, E., Golombek, D. A., Czeisler, C. A., Skene, D. J., Duffy, J. F., & Roenneberg, T.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal do Paraná (BR)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (BR)
- Yale University (US)
- National University of Quilmes (AR)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- University of Surrey (GB)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Roenneberg, Till
- ORCID
- Venue
- Current Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-04
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- R271-R272
- ISSN
- 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4210721790
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
- Open Research (University of Surrey) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- CONICET Digital (CONICET) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- sleep, circadian rhythm, light-dark cycle, circadian entrainment, insufficient sleep, sleep deprivation, artificial light exposure, light-emitting devices, hunter-gatherers, industrialization
- MeSH terms
- Circadian Rhythm, Humans, Light, Melatonin, Sleep, Photoperiod, Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm
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