Sleep "myths" debunked

Professor Gayle Greene has attempted to dispel five popular "myths" about sleep, Newsweek has reported.

In the book Insomniac, Professor Greene looks at why people sleep – and why they don't.

The idea of having eight hours sleep a night appears to be a modern western concept, and the pre-industrial Europeans' sleep pattern, where people would have two periods of sleep per night, is cited as an example.

People in places such as Bali and New Guinea tend to take short naps throughout the day, Professor Greene said.

The belief that sleep is simply a bodily function is also debunked, with the author likening sleep's biological system to the cardiovascular and nervous systems.

The book also attacks the ideas than animals do not suffer from sleep problems, that falling asleep is a gradual process and that sleeping less helps to lose weight.

In fact, shunning your contemporary beds can increase weight gain, a study of adolescent girls published in the Journal of Paediatrics has indicated.

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