This chapter covered all things sleep. It was very interesting to learn about the African tribe !Kung who do not have any social rules regarding sleep. Members stay awake for as long as they can and only sleep when they feel like it (including the children) which is vastly different than in our society where parents dream of having their children on tight sleeping schedules. I wish the textbook would have discussed if as a culture their sleeping pattern has rendered them were more or less exhausted than us.
I also really enjoyed the section on Death and The End of Consciousness. It stated that it is only a recent update to define death by a lack of brain function, before it was thought to be the absence of a heartbeat. I will try not to romanticize that sentiment, but I feel like a lot can be said on why people felt their heart held the spirit of life. This section also reminded me of that one time people thought a gif from The Walking Dead was a real MRI of someone dying.
Haven,
ReplyDeleteI also thought the african tribe that didn't have any social rules, even for children, regarding sleep was very interesting. With sleep being such a crucial role in development for children, it would be interesting to see how this plays out in statistics.