British Science Festival

Event details

SLEEP ON IT: HOW ANTHROPOLOGISTS ARE EXPLORING THE NIGHT TIME WORLD

£ 5.00

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Organisation:	Anthropology and Archaeology Section
Collaborative organisations:	Durham University
Date of Event:	Start Date: 16/09/2010 End Date: 16/09/2010
Time of Event:	Start time: 17:00 - End time: 19:00
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Event Summary:	We spend a third of our lives asleep. But why did sleep evolve? Is it good for us? And can dreams guide us? Investigate sleep in mammals, examining links with strong immune systems. See how new parents cope with disrupted sleep and why understanding sleep improves well-being. Explore dream incubation techniques that help resolve dilemmas, including marriage choices, in daily life.
Audience level:	4. All adults
Event Category:	Medicine and health
Keyword:	weekly pass
Booking information:	Included in weekly pass
Venue:	MB517, Aston University

Event Agenda

16/09/2010 17:00 - 17:05	Welcome and Introduction Dr Sarah Elton -	Welcome / Introduction

16/09/2010 17:05 - 17:40	Evolution of sleep in mammals Dr Isabella Capellini - Durham University	Talk
	Sleep makes animals vulnerable to predation and also detracts from vital activities like foraging and socialising. I will show how these factors have all strongly influenced the evolution of sleep duration in mammals. I will also outline the strong evolutionary links between sleep and immune system: longer sleep times increase immunity levels and decrease parasitic load.

16/09/2010 17:40 - 18:00	Is life too short for sleep? The anthropology of sleep and health from infancy to adulthood Professor Helen Ball - Durham University	Talk
	Sleep is crucial to health and well-being. I will examine normal sleep across the life-course, including balancing parental and infant sleep, the need to ensure pre-schoolers get enough sleep and exploring variations in adult sleep. This will help to redefine the concept of ‘sleep problems’ and advance the notion of ‘healthy sleep’ as an adaptive and responsive element of human behaviour.

16/09/2010 18:20 - 19:00	Using sleep for dream healing: Islamic Ishtakara dream incubation healing in Bosnia and elsewhere Dr Iain Edgar - Durham University	Talk
	Ishtakara is a commonly practised though little known form of dream incubation, used in many Islamic communities including in the UK. Historically, it may be related to ancient Greek temple dream divination practices. I will explore how today Ishtakara is used particularly, though not exclusively, by families as a form of divination for marriage choices.

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