La evolución del sueño: un viaje de dos millones de años

Francisco Javier Galatuart Alonso; Diana Armida Platas Neri

doi:10.22201/ceide.16076079e.2026.27.2.4

Authors

Francisco Javier Galatuart Alonso Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Cognitivas, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1541-2743
Diana Armida Platas Neri Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Centro de Investigación Transdisciplinar en Psicología, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6738-0974

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/ceide.16076079e.2026.27.2.4

Keywords:

Cognitive anthropology, Dreaming, Sleep, Evolution, Paleoanthropology

Abstract

Around two million years ago, deep environmental shifts transformed hominin life: arboreal habits gradually gave way to terrestrial living, expanding mobility, social relations, and sleep patterns. Sleep is essential for organismic function and is closely tied to cognitive processes shaped over a long, socially driven evolutionary history. This article highlights insights from cognitive anthropology and paleoanthropology on the evolutionary aspects of hominins.

References

Boyd, R., Richerson, P. J., y Henrich, J. (2011). The cultural niche: Why social learning is essential for human adaptation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(supl. 2), 10918-10925. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1100290108

Burns, A. C., Windred, D. P., Rutter, M. K., Olivier, P., Vetter, C., Saxena, R., Lane, J. M., Phillips, A. J. K., y Cain, S. W. (2023). Day and night light exposure are associated with psychiatric disorders: An objective light study in >85,000 people. Nature Mental Health, 1, 853-862. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00135-8

Carrillo-Mora, P., Ramírez-Peris, J., y Magaña-Vázquez, K. (2013). Neurobiología del sueño y su importancia: antología para el estudiante universitario. Revista de la Facultad de Medicina de la unam, 56(4), 5-15. https://tinyurl.com/ycw84z28

ColloquiumMX. (2020, 4 de octubre). ¿Qué pasa con tu cerebro mientras duermes? (Sueño rem y nrem) [Video]. YouTube. https://tinyurl.com/4vdrkyaz

Coolidge, F. L., y Wynn, T. G. (2009). The rise of Homo sapiens: The evolution of modern thinking. Wiley-Blackwell.

Coolidge, F. L., Wynn, T., Overmann, K. A., y Hicks, J. M. (2015). Cognitive archaeology and the cognitive sciences. En E. Bruner (Ed.), Human paleoneurology (vol. 3, pp. 177-208). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08500-5_8

Díaz Gómez, J. L. (2018). Registro de sueños: Atisbos a la conciencia onírica desde las ciencias, las artes y la filosofía. Editorial Herder.

Fruth, B., Tagg, N., y Stewart, F. (2018). Sleep and nesting behavior in primates: A review. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 166(3), 499-509. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23373

Fundación Palarq. (2021, 19 de julio). La Industria Lítica: modos y cronologías [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLeR2U6MIeQ&t=66s

Hodder, I. (1993). What is Cognitive Archaeology? Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 3(2), 247-270. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095977430000086X

Keenan, S., y Hirshkowitz, M. (2011). Monitoring and staging human sleep. En M. H. Kryger, T. Roth, y W. C. Dement (Eds.), Principles and practice of sleep medicine (5.a ed., pp. 1602-1609). Elsevier Saunders. https://apsychoserver.psychofizz.psych.arizona.edu/JJBAReprints/PSYC501A/Readings/Keenan%20Hirshkowitz%202011.pdf

Le Bon, O. (2020). Relationships between rem and nrem in the nrem-rem sleep cycle: a review on competing concepts. Sleep Medicine, 70, 6-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2020.02.004

Li, X., Kawachi, I., Buxton, O. M., Haneuse, S., y Onnela, J. P. (2019). Social network analysis of group position, popularity, and sleep behaviors among U.S. adolescents. Social science & medicine, 232, 417-426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.026

Norscia, I., y Palagi, E. (2011). Yawn Contagion and Empathy in Homo sapiens. PLoS ONE, 6(12), e28472. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0028472

Perrin, M. (1990). Lógica chamánica. En J. Galinier, I. Lagarriga, y M. Perrin Coords.), Chamanismo en Latinoamérica (pp. 1-20). Universidad Iberoamericana-Plaza y Valdés-Centro Francés de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos.

Ponce de León, A. (2005). Arqueología cognitiva presapiens. Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Políticos y Sociales Vicente Lombardo Toledano. https://tinyurl.com/4vzzfyjb

Rechtschaffen, A. (1971). The control of sleep. En W. A. Hunt (Ed.), Human Behavior and its control (pp.). Shenkman Publishing Company.

Renfrew, C. (1994). Towards a cognitive archaeology. En C. Renfrew y E. B. W. Zubrow (Eds.), The Ancient Mind. Elements of Cognitive Archaeology (pp. 3-12). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511598388

Samson, D. R., y Nunn, C. L. (2015). Sleep intensity and the evolution of human cognition. Evolutionary Anthropology, 24(6), 225-237. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21464

Samson, D. R. (2021). The Human Sleep Paradox: The Unexpected Sleeping Habits of Homo sapiens. Annual Review of Anthropology, 50, 259-274. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-010220-075523

Senut, B. (2021). Rôle des environnements dans les origines et l’évolution de la bipédie chez les hominidés. Revue de primatologie, 12. https://doi.org/10.4000/primatologie.11037

Shepard, R. N. (1978). The mental image. American Psychologist, 33(2), 125-137. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.33.2.125

Silva-Caballero, A., Ball, H. L., Kramer, K. L., y Bentley, G. R. (2023). Sleep deprivation among adolescents in urban and indigenous-rural Mexican communities. Scientific Reports, 13, 1058. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28330-8

Simon, E. B., y Walker, M. P. (2018). Sleep loss causes social withdrawal and loneliness. Nature Communications, 9, 3146. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05377-0

SYNLAB. (2024). Melatonina: La Importancia de la Hormona del Sueño. https://tinyurl.com/5n6us8wc

Vitaterna, M. H., Takahashi, J. S., y Turek, F. W. (2001). Overview of Circadian Rhythms. Alcohol Research & Health, 25(2), 85-93. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6707128/

Yetish, G., Kaplan, H., Gurven, M., Wood, B., Pontzer, H., Manger, P. R., Wilson, C., McGregor, R., y Siegel, J. M. (2015). Natural Sleep and Its Seasonal Variations in Three Pre-industrial Societies. Current Biology, 25(21), 2862-2868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.09.046

Wagner, U., Gais, S., Haider, H., Verleger, R., y Born, J. (2004). Sleep inspires insight. Nature, 427, 352-355. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02223

Wynn, T., y Coolidge, F. L. (2016). Archaeological insights into hominin cognitive evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology, 25(4), 200–213. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21496