Humans Are Masters of High-Quality Sleep | WPN World People News

You may not have noticed, but most mammals need twice as many hours of shuteye each night as you do.

That's what researchers discovered after examining the sleep patterns of hundreds of mammals, including 21 primate species.

And there is a reason for the difference.

"Humans are unique in having shorter, higher quality sleep," study said.

The research team found that people sleep an average of seven hours a night, while some other primates require as many as 14 to 17 hours a night.

People spend less time in light stages of sleep and more time in the deeper stages of slumber, according to the researchers.

Humans' shorter, more efficient sleep likely developed after they left the trees and started sleeping on the ground near fire and in larger groups, to keep warm and reduce the risk from predators. This enabled humans to get the most sleep in the shortest time possible, expert explained.

Devoting fewer hours to sleep also left more time for activities, such as learning new skills and social bonding, and deeper sleep helped maintain those skills, improve memory and increase brainpower, expert added.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services