These people's reasoning strikes me as laughable (and sad too since it comes to us with elevated credibility):<p>* deep, relaxed sleep helps us develop.<p>* our relative apes also prefer deep, relaxed sleep.<p>* each prepares a sleeping surface.<p>* these sleeping platforms we [these researchers] have looked at must be what explains good sleep.<p>¶<p>How about what makes for a relaxed mind??.. Perhaps researching and writing stories about that would give better help for people to live well... and rest easy. ( Reminds me of a Harry Chapin quote from his grandfather, <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Harry_Chapin&oldid=1657420" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Harry_Chapin&...</a> )<p>---<p>While we focus on sleeping surfaces instead, two data points in my view seem to reflect well on exactly an opposite approach. I switched to sleeping primarily on my floor (cushioned with a blanket on expanded foam mats [hoping to upgrade to expanded silicone later]) and it feels wonderfully restorative. This biomechanics researcher has had similar results with her family and offers a rich theoretical frame, <a href="http://www.katysays.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.katysays.com/</a> & Joe Rogan Experience #601 - Katy Bowman <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ub5OLNnN-o" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ub5OLNnN-o</a> . Humans who sleep in hammocks might also have an interesting take.<p>_Sleep is sacred._<p>P.S. Given this meeting ground: As a human with access to modern-ish computing devices, I find that 'switching them off' makes a world of difference when "unwinding" (perhaps rewinding?). Keeping artificial lights out of my room where I sleep and letting my mind clear helps me relax. Alternatively, some nights I need some way to get notes out so I keep a comp with me, and I also can use a simple mp3 player with audio recording, easy button control, and and a near 1 sec resume recording delay.. I rarely transcode them... Onward to voice user interfaces!
great, they get "better" sleep, but what tests were done to measure the real world effects of this between the groups, other than "we think it was a factor in cognitive evolution"?