> >Another argument against my viewpoint is from people who cite studies on
> >one's inability to operate heavy equipment safely for long periods of
> >time after little sleep.
> Not having 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep is not the same as
> little sleep. I, too, beleive that we were not designed
> for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. We have periods of deep
> sleep and periods of lighter sleep, during which it
> doesn't take much to wake us momentarily (or long enough
> to use a bathroom or check on the kids) and then we go
> back to sleep.
>   Naomi Bar-Yam
>
Sorry I haven't replied before...
I guess I was prompted to post because of the way I read the study...
They concluded that anything less than 8 hours of sleep was too little;
in fact, they seemed to be testing people who normally slept for 8 hours
after waking them after 6 hours. Or did I read this wrong before I
deleted?
They *did* say that a) women fared better than men; b) the real problem
was in "vigilance" -- which made me think of that thing about drivers
staying awake and vigilant (how were they testing this? to what degree
were the subjects "less vigilant"? were we meant to be that vigilant?)
and c) that people fell into a deep sleep faster "in an effort to
compensate". Well, I have often thought that being able to fall asleep
quickly and wake up rested a short time later might be a normal pattern
of sleep, rather than an unhealthy or compensatory one.

I admit, though, that I am not an expert on this. I was sharing what my
husband reports from his culture (and, incidentally, dreams are *very*
important to him, so I know he dreams!), and what I observe in my
children (who run until they drop and then get up and run again after
what seems like far too little time in bed :-( and in myself, the queen
of power napping twins while nursing upright.

I should avoid anecdotal diversions, I know, but I can't help myself
from wondering about underlying assumptions of researchers. After all,
arguments against co-sleeping and for scheduling often stem from the
idea of needing a certain number of hours or a certain kind of sleep.

Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html