Pets sleep out of boredom | Inland

This concludes Dr. David Raizen, professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania.

He has reservations about the current theory that the larger a mammal, the less it sleeps. A large specimen needs all its time to get enough calories to survive. This is especially the case with herbivores, which take a long time to digest their food, according to the supporters of this statement. An elephant therefore only sleeps two hours a day.

Pussy pit 18 hours

“If a cat is pitting for 18 hours a day, that does not mean that it needs all that sleep,” notes the scientist on the LiveScience platform. “She also sleeps because it is nice. If she can’t go outside, there is no food nearby or is just bored, then she will goof. ”

Dr. Raizen points out that sleep is an elusive phenomenon. “Scientists still don’t understand what sleep really is for.”

Another theory, namely that a mammal needs naps for physical resistance and to develop his brain and memory, therefore does not convince him either. “This still does not explain the usefulness of sleeping and is misleading,” says the neurologist. “A bat is under sail for twenty hours a day and should therefore be a genius.

How long should people actually sleep? “What your body thinks you need!” Says Dr. Raizen. “For most people that is eight hours, but there are also those who are enough with five or not yet with eleven.”

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