Word of warning: There's a chance this post will make you drowsy. If it does, take a nap and return to it with fresh eyes later. Trust me, it's worth the read! What's the secret to success? Getting the perfect amount of sleep! That's what lots of news stories these days will have you believe, anyway. So what is that magic number? I've heard from various sources that eight hours is ideal, that seven is much better than eight, that it must be a multiple of two or three hours, and that it doesn't matter the number, as long as you wake up at the end of a sleep cycle. With this mishmash of information, it's hard to know what to believe. But perhaps our slumberful confusion is related to the fact that we are now following sleeping patterns that are not natural to our species. That’s right, readers – turns out it’s not how much we sleep, but how.
Evidence suggests that until relatively recently, people didn't sleep for a long, single period during the night - they slept in two increments of three to four hours each, beginning just after dusk. Upon waking from their first sleep, they would get up for one to three hours, visit neighbours, pray, read, untangle their dreams, or have great sex with their partners. (That last bit isn't just me being crass; a doctor's manual from 16th century France advised couples that the best time to conceive was "after the first sleep", when "they have more enjoyment" and "do it better".) There are numerous literary references pointing to this “first sleep” and “second sleep” phenomenon, also known as segmented sleep. In his book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, Virginia Tech history professor A. Roger Ekirch cites more than 500 historical references to a segmented sleeping pattern including diaries, court records, medical books and literature, from Homer's Odyssey to an anthropological account of modern tribes in Nigeria. Ekirch argues that before the Industrial Revolution, segmented sleep was the norm throughout Western civilization. With the introduction of artificial lighting, however, the evening became a time for socializing and being productive. People stopped going to bed at nightfall and instead began staying up later and sleeping in one single chunk. By the 1920s, segmented sleep had all but disappeared. The period between the first and second sleep, sometimes referred to as “the watch,” was spent by many in philosophical reflection or even artistic creation. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright was known to wake at four, work for several hours, and then resume sleep. And U.S. President Thomas Jefferson had a habit of reading books on moral philosophy before bed with the intention of ruminating over them after waking from his first sleep. Even more commonly, people used this period to lay awake and reflect on their dreams, thereby allowing their consciousness to enter a part of the human psyche that is often ignored in our modern world of late nights and alarm clocks. Turns out, this period is the ideal time for pondering. According to psychiatrist Thomas Wehr of the US National Institute of Mental Health, the thing that makes this time of night so productive, even sacred, is a hormone called prolactin. Prolactin has a lot of functions: it’s what stimulates mammary glands to produce milk during pregnancy, it’s what prompts hens to happily sit on their eggs for long periods, and it’s what provides the body with gratification and relaxation after sex. Our levels of prolactin are at a peak high during REM sleep. This is why we may experience sensations of peace as well as dreamlike hallucinations during night-waking, possibly leading to periods of creativity. Ekrich also argues that the disappearance of segmented sleep corresponds with an increase in stress, anxiety and sleep disorders. Many people who wake up in the middle of the night assume insomnia is to blame. When they struggle to fall asleep again, they become anxious, and that spills over into their waking life as well. But historically, the period between sleeps was a welcome respite from the hubbub of daily life, and it played an important role in regulating stress. A study by Wehr seems to confirm this notion that segmented sleep comes naturally to humans. In the 1990s, Wehr confined eight healthy men to a completely dark room for fourteen hours a day. At first, the subjects slept for a straight eleven hours. But by the time four weeks had passed, they were following a segmented pattern, sleeping for about four hours, waking up for two to three hours, then going back to bed for another four hours. "For most of evolution we slept a certain way," says sleep psychologist Gregg Jacobs. "Waking up during the night is part of normal human physiology." Of course, our modern school/work/social schedules do not leave much room for segmented sleep (just try bailing on #squad nights out with “Sorry guys, I gotta catch my first sleep.”) But if you do find yourself lying awake in the middle of the night, try not to stress about it. Instead, pick up a pen, write the next chapter of that book you’ve been working on, compose the next verse of that song you’ve been writing, or nudge your pillow neighbor for some nighttime hanky panky. And take comfort in the knowledge that your ancestors slept like this every night, and they were probably better off for it.
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