Human beings don’t hibernate, but they need more sleep in winter – breaking latest news

Even though evolution has transformed the way humans live over the millennia, we are still “animals”: our biological clocks are regulated by the sun. And this is why, despite living in artificially lit urban environments, we experience longer REM sleep in winter than in summer (and shallower sleep in autumn).

REM sleep in winter

This was confirmed by the research of a team from the Institute of Physiology of the Charity Medical University of Berlin, the results of which have just been published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. Scientists studied a group of 188 people, finding subtle but impactful changes in sleep over the seasons. Even though patients lived in an urban environment with low natural light exposure and high light pollution, total sleep time in the winter it was about an hour longer. Even more significant, however, was the measurement of the duration of REM sleep, which is directly linked to the circadian clock (in turn influenced by the change in light): it was 30 minutes longer in winter than in summer.

Man is a “seasonal” animal

“In our study, we demonstrate that human sleep architecture varies substantially between seasons in an adult population living in an urban environment,” the team wrote.
We don’t hibernate, but going to sleep earlier in the winter might help satisfy the «human seasonality», which has remained measurable, although most people’s waking hours are governed by school, work and the rhythms of contemporary society. «Seasonality is omnipresent in every living thing on this planet. In general, companies should adjust sleep habits… or adjust school and work schedules to accommodate seasonal sleep needs.”