Tips to sleep quickly and deeply, learned from prehistoric people

Dr. Van de Laar, a sleep therapist, has spent many years learning about the lifestyle of prehistoric Homo sapiens, from about 230,000 to 300,000 years ago. He found they had healthier sleeping habits than most modern people. Specific rules in living and eating help them fall asleep more easily and sleep more deeply.

Eat more protein, less carbohydrates and sugar

The protein-rich Homo sapiens diet, which includes meat, fish, vegetables, fruits and nuts, has recently become popular as the famous Paleo menu. The Paleo diet recommends that people “learn how their Paleolithic ancestors ate.”

Citing research from the American Journalist of Clinical Nutrition, Dr. Van de Laar points out that eating more protein can improve sleep. Meanwhile, people with insomnia often eat a lot of carbohydrates and fats.

Prehistoric people also did not eat much sugar. Van de Laar commented, “a low-sugar diet has a positive impact on sleep in modern people.”

Move a lot

Hunter and gatherer tribes moved more than modern humans. Homo sapiens men take about 18,500 steps per day, women take about 11,000 steps per day. The figure is much higher than the average 5,444 steps for UK adults. They move a lot because they have to find food to survive. As a result, their bodies need a good night’s sleep to recover.

Nowadays, with modern lifestyles and the nature of work, people sit a lot and spend less time commuting. This causes the body to store a lot of excess energy in the evening, easily making people feel awake and restless even though it is late at night.

Studies published in the European Journal of Physical Therapy also show that “adults can improve their sleep following an exercise program”. For example, adding 500 walking steps per week helps postmenopausal women sleep better. Research notes that moderate exercise is more effective than high-intensity training or cardio.

Don’t obsess over sleep problems

Prehistoric people were not haunted by waking up at night or having restless sleep. They don’t even understand the concept of “insomnia”. This is the nature of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Research on the Hadza tribe of Tanzania shows that prehistoric people slept for 6 hours and 15 minutes, while the total time spent in bed was about 9 hours and 10 minutes. They stayed awake for an average of 22 minutes before falling asleep. At night, they wake up for about 2.5 hours. They don’t see waking up as a problem, though. They don’t even nap much – an average of just 17 minutes a day. In total, they slept about 6.5 hours.

“Modern people consider staying awake a problem. This causes mental pressure, because we inherently consider constant sleep a basic need. That’s why industrialized societies often glorify uninterrupted sleep,” said Dr. Van de Laar.

Many experts believe that the fact that older people sleep in many small naps at night and wake up about 30 minutes between each nap is a habit left over from prehistoric times. This helped the tribes survive, because they needed to keep watch at night and in the early morning.

Don’t spend much time in bed during the day

Prehistoric people had high “sleep pressure”. This is the scientific term for drowsiness, the process of falling asleep (to distinguish it from fatigue and lack of energy). They need to sleep in poor conditions, with “beds” made of rocks, insect-proof plants and the fear of being attacked by predators at night. For these reasons, they did not spend as much time in bed as modern people.

“The advice here is, if you want to sleep well, stay in bed less,” says Dr. Van de Laar.

Modern sleep research shows that, “short total time in bed helps people sleep more deeply at night.” An effective treatment method for insomnia is to create high sleep pressure, which causes the patient to significantly increase the feeling of sleepiness, fall asleep easily and wake up less at night.

“In other words, go to bed late tired and you’ll sleep more deeply,” says Dr. Van de Laar.

Long periods of bed rest reduce adenosine levels in the brain, he explains. This is the compound involved in storing and releasing energy throughout the day. Reducing adenosine causes more fragmented sleep, meaning people wake up more easily at night.

Sleep in low temperatures

Prehistoric people often slept in cold weather. This is a method that helps the body enter a state of rest. Turning down the heat and air conditioning can help people sleep better.

To promote the effectiveness of this method, experts recommend creating a temperature difference by taking a hot bath a few hours before bed. The ideal bedroom temperature is between 15.5°C and 20.5°C.

Besides temperature, light is also a determining factor in sleep hygiene. According to experts, a few hours before going to bed, the amount of light in the room should be lower or equivalent to 10 candles. When you sleep, you can turn off all the lights. You need to avoid exercising too close to bedtime. Prehistoric people also did not hunt or gather too much at night.