Yet beyond Europe and America the old pattern was widespread until quite recently and according to a leading anthropologist in some nonwestern settings there are still no rigid bedtimes People go to bed for a few hours and then get up again The idea of a nights solid sleep does not apply For certain tribal societies human and animal noises and the need to supervise the fire and watch out for predators combine to make continuous sleep impossible It seems that people all round the world are badly in need of sleep