How is it that dogs can sleep all night then practically all day when I am lucky to get 4 hours sleep a night ! Is it just due to the fact their brains switch off ?
Sleeping dogs
- Thread starter Penny Less
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FinnishLapphund
There's no cow on the ice
Personally, I don't think that the difference only has to do with that it is easier for a dog to switch off their brain, than what it is for a human to do the same. I think that it is part of the explanation, but I also think that some of the difference, lays in that humans seems to have decided to change our sleeping pattern to something which better suits an industrialized society.
I've read that it actually isn't until the last hundred, two hundred years or so, that humans in general started to try and sleep the whole night in one go, so to say. Before that, it was actually more common for people to sleep a few hours, and then go up/be awake for one or more hours, before they slept some more.
And a while ago, I heard someone on TV make a comparison between humans, and e.g. dogs, cats, horses, and some other mammals, and they said that it is only us humans who have started to try and get all the sleep we need during a 24 hours period in one go. All the other mammals (at least the ones used in the comparison), have somewhat similar patterns, with their daily quota of sleep spread out in different intervals over the 24 hours.
Some of them, e.g. cats, can sleep in longer intervals, but even cats usually wake up a little here and there, and do something else for awhile, before they go back to sleep again.
I've read that it actually isn't until the last hundred, two hundred years or so, that humans in general started to try and sleep the whole night in one go, so to say. Before that, it was actually more common for people to sleep a few hours, and then go up/be awake for one or more hours, before they slept some more.
And a while ago, I heard someone on TV make a comparison between humans, and e.g. dogs, cats, horses, and some other mammals, and they said that it is only us humans who have started to try and get all the sleep we need during a 24 hours period in one go. All the other mammals (at least the ones used in the comparison), have somewhat similar patterns, with their daily quota of sleep spread out in different intervals over the 24 hours.
Some of them, e.g. cats, can sleep in longer intervals, but even cats usually wake up a little here and there, and do something else for awhile, before they go back to sleep again.
SadKen
Well-Known Member
I guess as per above it's because they can kip wherever they want.
Just imagine that for a minute. Kipping whenever you want. Not hungry? Not busy? Nothing demanding attention right now? May as well have a kip then.
I dunno about you guys but in a 2 week holiday with no pressures my sleep pattern shifts to 'dog'.
Just imagine that for a minute. Kipping whenever you want. Not hungry? Not busy? Nothing demanding attention right now? May as well have a kip then.
I dunno about you guys but in a 2 week holiday with no pressures my sleep pattern shifts to 'dog'.
FinnishLapphund
There's no cow on the ice
Perhaps I should mention that I can only speak about normal sleeping patterns in theory, because it is not something that I've ever really experienced myself, since I have narcolepsy.
In one way I suppose that it could seem as if my body is trying to make me sleep in intervals spread out over the day, but since sleep never really reloads my "batteries", I usually feel even more tired when I wake up, than when I go to sleep.
SadKen
Well-Known Member
FL I can't imagine how awful it must be to not get a proper sleep. Lots of sympathy from me.
FinnishLapphund
There's no cow on the ice
Thank you, SadKen. I've heard it described as that a narcoleptic person is someone who lives in a state of constant extreme sleep deprivation. But I was born with it, so I don't know anything else. I'm just grateful that I live in a time and place, where medicine which helps a little bit, is available.
oldie48
Well-Known Member
I don't know about the night time sleep but Stanley dozes during the day, the sound of a doorbell on a radio in another room, the sound of my OH eating toast (as he frequently does in the afternoon) or the smell of me taking a chicken out the oven (when he is elsewhere) is enough to bring him running. I think it's energy conservation!
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They always say dogs are like their owners, and I reckon my greyhounds are very like me - totally lazy and can sleep at the drop of a hat! 