Niko LaamanenFounder, Publisher at Konsensus Network

Humans vs Animals: Why We Cut Sleep? #naturelovers #natural

23 Dec 2025 · 2 min

1:31

In this brief conversational excerpt, the speakers discuss how humans are unique among animals in deliberately cutting sleep by using alarms to meet work or meeting obligations. Speaker A notes that, unlike other species, people set alarms to wake up, questioning why this practice exists. Speaker B asks if the speaker ever wakes up without an alarm. Speaker A explains that without a fixed 9‑to‑5 schedule, listening to one’s body can eliminate the need for an alarm: by going to sleep before midnight, the body naturally awakens around 7 am. The dialogue highlights the contrast between artificial sleep interruption and natural circadian‑driven waking, suggesting that aligning sleep timing with the body’s rhythm can reduce reliance on alarms.

TranscriptAuto-generated · 2 min

And an interesting anecdote might be that humans are the only animals that engage in, you know, artificial cutting of sleep, which is putting on the alarm to get to work. And no other animal does this, right? Why is that?
Interesting. You wake up every day without alarm?
Yeah, most of the time, unless I have a meeting or something that I really need to get into, or I had a long night and for some reason I need to get up. There's uses for that, but I don't have a 9-to-5 schedule anymore. If you listen to your body, I don't think you need an alarm even. Even if you sort of have to wake up at 7, you go to sleep before midnight and then you will wake up at 7.
Absolutely. Especially if you open the curtains and the sun is coming in. I think a lot of people don't use the— I really enjoy going up in the morning and going into the sun as as soon as the sun is here. I usually, now in the winters, I actually stand up before the sun comes out. But as soon as it comes out, I just like to be in the sun either for a quick run or just like, if I don't have time, at least like 10 minutes just walking around the block and seeing the sun. That really sets your— how do you call the internal rhythms of your circadian rhythm? Yeah. That's really important. And then you can also sleep better.