How the unique sleep habits of early humans fostered survival, innovation, and social evolution—and how this evolutionary legacy holds insights into how we sleep today Despite sleep’s critical role in maintaining health and cognitive function, humans sleep less than any other primate. The Sleepless Ape reveals the reasons for this evolutionary paradox, showing how our unique sleep patterns evolved when our ancestors left the safety of the forest canopy for more dangerous ground, which led them to form more secure, social sleeping arrangements. As a result, early humans developed shorter, deeper, and more flexible sleep patterns that provided survival advantages and freed more time for crucial activities such as toolmaking, social interaction, and migration. In this groundbreaking book, David Samson draws on his extensive fieldwork to explain how these sleep patterns contributed to our cognitive and social evolution. He delves into how the human brain adapted to achieve deeper, more restorative sleep, enabling advanced memory consolidation, fostering creativity, and contributing to our success as a species. Samson also addresses modern sleep challenges, demonstrating how an understanding of our evolutionary sleep heritage can help us to address sleep disorders and improve overall health and well-being. He tackles contentious issues such as co-sleeping, whether we should embrace paleo sleep or optimal sleep, and whether we are in fact suffering from an epidemic of too little sleep. Blending the latest science with engaging storytelling by a leading expert, The Sleepless Ape shares compelling insights into how a fundamental yet overlooked aspect of human biology has shaped our evolutionary trajectory and continues to profoundly influence our daily lives. “How do we sleep, and why do we dream? Packed with eye-opening stories from the frontiers of sleep science, Samson’s book takes us from hunter-gatherer camps to high-tech sleep labs to explore the many ways that sleep made us human and shapes our lives and our health today.” —Herman Pontzer, author of Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us “A fascinating account of why we sleep—and why human sleep is so extraordinary.” —Nichola Raihani, author of The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World “ The Sleepless Ape explains that sleep isn’t just a biological necessity—it’s a cultural superpower. This is science writing at its best: deep research wrapped in gripping narratives from the savanna to the sleep lab.” —Jay J. Van Bavel, coauthor of The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony David R. Samson is associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Toronto and the author of Our Tribal Future: How to Channel Our Foundational Human Instincts into a Force for Good . His pioneering research has been featured in National Geographic , Time , and The New York Times and on NPR and the BBC.