Ye Olde Sleepe Patterns.

[autocannon]

I have been reading of how humans used to have much different circadian rhythms in pre industrial times. I find this idea of four hours of sleep, then one or two hours in a quiet wakefulness, then 4 hours sleep very intriguing. It wasn't until artificial lighting became prevalent that we went to bed late and slept through the night. I may have to reawaken the olde tradition of a midnight smoke and quiet but blissful meditation.
This is the full paper.

 

[autocannon]

Short version

 

[typical98]

i just read that article. It really makes me think about my sleep pattern. If i do go to sleep early i tend to wake up 4-5 hours later wide awake and after being awake for a couple hours i feel like i need a nap. I just thought it was some weird thing going on with me but this article really makes me wonder. Maybe i should try this and see how i feel and if i am actually able to get a good nights sleep.
Thanks for sharing it may sort me out.

 

[autocannon]

Makes you wonder what other "unnatural" technologies have done to us. What has the internet changed, what about cell phones and smart phones. What will be forgotten that we used to take for granted? I remember a time when if you wanted to play with your friends, you actually went to your friends house and knocked on the door and asked if he could come out an play. I remember when there were great swaths of time where I was simply unreachable. I think I'm turning into the youngest old geezer in the world.

 

[mp31guitar]

I'm right there with you autocannon.

http://www.dpaddbags.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/angry-old-man-thumb16260878.jpg

 

[typical98]

i remember all those times to were you had to bag your parents to let you out in the back to play hockey, or to the school for baseball or basketball. Closeing the street down for some street hockey with the block kids. Social skills are no longer with how well you speak with someone. Its all about how you type. i always wondered if every provider shut down the net and phones for a month... what would the kids do? I'm thinking the youngest/biggest riot in the world lol

 

[tjameson]

Street hockey was always the best and it was the block kids even if you just met or didn't like each other. Back to the topic though the article was a great read. I've found my sleep patterns always suck...except after I've been in the woods for a few days.

 

[lankfordjl]

I spent most of my childhood playing with string, cardboard, and masking tape; making forts in the dirt of my dad's garden; playing in the woods and creek; building clubhouses from dead wood; building models and doing woodcraft; and riding a bicycle. We only had 2 TV channels, no computers or internet, and no cell phones. We had a rotary phone that I could use to call a friend. There was a Walmart, 5 and 10 cent store, and drug store in town to visit on the weekends. By the time I was a teenager we had a mall in town... me and a friend would go to the movies or the arcade on the weekends. Times were good!

 

[wnghanglow]

The article doesn't give any References to any studies or any place to check facts that I could see. It also used terms like "may mean" and " some doctors believe" which to me screams none of this is proven. With that bing said I watch people sleep at night and monitor there sleep pattern, those who wake up after 4-5 hours of sleep never go through the stages of sleep they need and when they do go back to sleep they have to start there sleep stages over, usually progressing faster than the first time. I would not suggest anyone purposely trying this sleep schedule and if you do have sleep maintenance issue please talk to your doctor and get a sleep study done, it will change your life!

 

[autocannon]

The article doesn't give any References to any studies or any place to check facts that I could see. It also used terms like "may mean" and " some doctors believe"

Are you reading the paper in my original post or the BBC article? The paper has references.

 

[wnghanglow]

I'll admit I read the short version, let me go look at the longer one, honestly I knew it was wrong but still wanted to read something before posting about it lol

 

[pstlpkr]

When I studied the "Dark Ages" it was custom to go to sleep when the sun went down, wake somewhere around what we would call 10 PM, stay awake till nearly 2 AM, sleep again then wake at dawn, work at the toils of life, nap around mid-day (known as siesta today), then work again until sundown. 10 to 12 hours of sleep a day dependent on the season was normal.

 

[sailorsmoke]

The small non-tourist towns of Italy have held onto something very similar to what Lawrence has described. They wake about sunrise, work till noon, rest for about four hours, resume work for four more hours, then enjoy supper between 8-10pm. I've adopted the Ben Franklin pattern (early to bed, early to rise), which requires careful planning for traveling and shopping around the Italian pattern. Dinning out also requires me to stay up later than desired. But the food is always worth it.
I supppose the premise behind the afternoon rest revolves around the mid-day heat. Heat that is energy draining. Mid-day rest maybe be considered more productive. Wonder if any studies were done showing the pros and cons to both patterns and effects on all aspects of the individuals life.
things that make you go hhhhmmmmm. : )

 

[rigmedic1]

I read the same article a while back. I began having what I thought were sleep problems, since I had been sleeping in a similar pattern for awhile. My mother sleeps this way as well. I feel much better rested after second sleep, as long as I don't indulge in second breakfast like a hobbit, lol.