[forgotmypw17]

Our body evolved for an environment without those things that you listed.

I think you were right to consciously remove those things from its access.

Sleep was always an essential part of the equation, however.

Try to imagine how you lived 10K years ago.

[Ma8ee]

Yes, sleep was always essential, but we didn’t have artificial lights and didn’t spend most of our days sitting on our asses. Both are things that probably disturb our natural sleep clues.

[forgotmypw17]

Sure... But I'm not giving those up for now. Not sleeping enough for optimal function, I'm not as attached to.

[Ma8ee]

I didn’t suggest that you shouldn’t sleep enough, just that our feelings about how much we need to sleep might not be reliable, in either direction. Maybe we would benefit from sleeping even more than we do because we rarely are physically exhausted at the end of the day.

[forgotmypw17]

I do find that physical exercise and exhaustion are helpful for good sleep. If I lay down and "can't fall asleep", I typically get up and keep working until I can't help but fall asleep.

[nradov]

If I lived 10K years ago I imagine I would have been frequently sleep deprived. Obtaining food, building shelters, and guarding against attacks were all higher priorities. We don't have any hard data on neolithic sleep patterns.

[forgotmypw17]

That's a good point, and one of my arguments for unscheduled sleep.

All the things you mention would indeed take priority, and we probably spent days sleep deprived at times, making up for it with extended long sleep when there was opportunity.

I think our lives were not nearly as difficult or demanding as some imagine, however, especially when you factor in the social and tribal factor. Sleeping in shifts would allow for plenty, attacks were not constant, especially with good shelter, and shelter only takes so long to construct, if that's necessary at all.

Remember, we started in an environment which provided everything we needed already, and one we were evolved for.

If you look at the lives of other apex predators like lions, bears, and eagles, their lives are pretty good in this respect, and their biggest threats are either their own species or humans.

[NoahParker]

I think we'd sleep less, but we wouldn't be deprived

Exercise and absence of artificial light would probably have us sleeping much more deeply and much more quickly

In modern hunter-gatherer societies there is also a lot of free time and play, so perhaps there would also be less stress to recover from at night