Segmented Sleep

[Renato1 (Renato)]

This is one of those little quirky things that caught my eye about sleeping.

It turns out that eight hours straight sleep is not normal.
Up until the industrial age, people would have two sleeps every night.
They’d go to bed early and sleep for about four hours, then get up for an hour or two, then back to sleep until morning.

Very handy for astronomy.
Cheers,
Renato




http://www.history.vt.edu/Ekirch/sleepcommentary.html

[xelasnave]

Yes ...think of why things changed..maybe to fit working conditions..I sleep wjrn tired but when on wages bedtime is dictated by shift start time..

[Regulus (Trevor)]

Renato, I read this a few months ago as a review on a book about pre-industrial lifestyles in GB and have forgotten the name of the book. Did u happen to have reference to it please?
The book talks about the need to go to bed early due to lack of lighting/evening entertainment etc and that the period of wakefulness between midnight and 4am was a time that many poems, plays and prayers were done. Oh, an lots of babies got made.
I notice that some elderly friend who are in bed very early also have a midnight ramble and then back to bed for 'second sleep', so it is still with us.
Trev

[Hans Tucker (Hans)]

Originally Posted by Renato1

This is one of those little quirky things that caught my eye about sleeping.

It turns out that eight hours straight sleep is not normal.
Up until the industrial age, people would have two sleeps every night.
They’d go to bed early and sleep for about four hours, then get up for an hour or two, then back to sleep until morning.

Very handy for astronomy.
Cheers,
Renato




http://www.history.vt.edu/Ekirch/sleepcommentary.html

Explains why I can only sleep in 4 hour stints

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by Regulus

Renato, I read this a few months ago as a review on a book about pre-industrial lifestyles in GB and have forgotten the name of the book. Did u happen to have reference to it please?
The book talks about the need to go to bed early due to lack of lighting/evening entertainment etc and that the period of wakefulness between midnight and 4am was a time that many poems, plays and prayers were done. Oh, an lots of babies got made.
I notice that some elderly friend who are in bed very early also have a midnight ramble and then back to bed for 'second sleep', so it is still with us.
Trev

Hi Trev,
This is the book mentioned in the link below,
http://www.booktopia.com.au/at-day-s...393329018.html
Cheers,
Renato

[Regulus (Trevor)]

Thx.

[Steffen]

Seems like different things work for different people:

https://podio.com/site/creative-routines

Cheers
Steffen.

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

I was working on a ship recently where the routine is fairly fixed. It entails turning in around 2100, then up for departure at 0200 to 0400, bed again until 0700 then arrival. It is a great routine and you feel really rested after that second sleep.

[N1 (Mirko)]

Interesting thread. I have done this many times now - go to bed early, get up around midnight for observing session, work or whatever, then back to bed between 3am and 4am, to wake well-rested 3 to 4 hours later. It does work. Somewhere I've read that 7 or 8 hours per day is about right for most. Those hours can be had in whatever portions you like, as long as one of them is 4 hours or more.

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by The Mekon

I was working on a ship recently where the routine is fairly fixed. It entails turning in around 2100, then up for departure at 0200 to 0400, bed again until 0700 then arrival. It is a great routine and you feel really rested after that second sleep.

Independent confirmation that it works among a group of people.
Very interesting, thanks.
Renato

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by N1

Interesting thread. I have done this many times now - go to bed early, get up around midnight for observing session, work or whatever, then back to bed between 3am and 4am, to wake well-rested 3 to 4 hours later. It does work. Somewhere I've read that 7 or 8 hours per day is about right for most. Those hours can be had in whatever portions you like, as long as one of them is 4 hours or more.

Thanks for sharing your experience of segmented sleeping.

As for how much sleeps one needs, during the Cold War, NATO did tests and found that people could work efficiently on 2 or 3 hours sleep a night. But there was a catch - they had to work their way down to it. The technique was to sleep for one week at 7 hours, the next at 6 hours, the next at 5 hours and so on. The problem was, if one then slept one night at 6 hours, one was right back at the 6 hour mark and it would take another 3 weeks to get back to 3 hours sleep.

Cheers,
Renato

[xelasnave]

I an trying the system as we speak..only slept 3 hours and now awake. I an going to do a few laps of the ward grab a cupper and hopefully sleep until they bring me breakfast in bed.
I find sleeps just before breakfast the most restful.
If I have them I can function well.

[xelasnave]

I find my use of the segmented sleep idea productive where things seem clear..In this middle night arousal I find a solution to a problem we need not have

[Wavytone]

I always thought a siesta was very civilised - or at least a mid afternoon nap

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I an trying the system as we speak..only slept 3 hours and now awake. I an going to do a few laps of the ward grab a cupper and hopefully sleep until they bring me breakfast in bed.
I find sleeps just before breakfast the most restful.
If I have them I can function well.

Let us know if it works for you long term.
Cheers,
Renato

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

I always thought a siesta was very civilised - or at least a mid afternoon nap

I go to Italy on vacation a lot. It was/is actually mandated by regional governments - shops and tourist attractions had no choice, they had to close for 3 to 4 hours at 12.30pm lunch time or face fines.

It may be civilised, but the siesta often drove me batty. It was not unusual at around 1.30pm to see lots of other German tourists doing what we were doing namely, twiddling their thumbs "Well...we've finished lunch...how do we kill the next three hours?"
Regards,
Renato

[xelasnave]

I am at it again
The hideous dreams cause it to be so
They are really bad and I am scared to return to sleep
Nevertheless I could see 2 sleeps working well for me
One thing I feel I do some sort of project in this time
Not withstanding the terrible dreams or because of the relief of escape I certainly feel productive...

[xelasnave]

Seems the dreams will see me with 3 sleeps
Leaving light on helped cause if I can open my eyes I escape the horror of the dream
Man I could create some extreme art from some of the stuff my brain has generated.
This has only happened to me after they have me sleeping medication two nights ago
That stuff disagrees with me it must have caused damage I have never had this type of problem
The experience suggests to me their drugs are dangerous
That self serve job was evil
I was ready to kill to retain it only after ...well there's the point did I have it a day was it two.. But I know I did not more while it was in my arm other than to push the magic button
I hope my mind..my most precious thing..has not been damaged
I want it clean of theses toxins right away
I want me back badly

[Renato1 (Renato)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I am at it again
The hideous dreams cause it to be so
They are really bad and I am scared to return to sleep
Nevertheless I could see 2 sleeps working well for me
One thing I feel I do some sort of project in this time
Not withstanding the terrible dreams or because of the relief of escape I certainly feel productive...

If nightmares are a problem for you, get onto Ebay or an on-line book store and hunt up "Creative Dreaming" by Dr. Patricia Garfield.

By the time I got to Chapter 2, the technique for curing all nightmares forever was explained - simple and it works.

By Chapter 3 or 4, you can control the type of dreams you have every night.

You also discover interesting things like that most people dream three times a night, the first two times in Black and White, the last in Colour. And when you are trying to remember a dream next morning, and part of it doesn't come, gently roll over to the other side (which you were sleeping on when you dreamed the missing piece) and it all comes flooding back.

The advanced chapters are on lucid dreaming - where you wake up during your dream, but keep dreaming.

Cheers,
Renato

[ianB (Ian)]

I went to a sleep disorder clinic about 5 or 6 weeks a go, anyway apparently i strop breathing ( i was informed from the test results ) about 36 times each hour from 10 to 60 seconds each time.
Explains many things.
I can not remember ever having a period of sleep for more than three hours at a time, on average i never have more than three hours of sleep, often believe it ornot it is less and frequently i am awake for the entire night, id say this happens about once every 7 or 8 days.
My mind will not shut off, even with sleeping tablets, about 4 months a go i took 8 sleeping tablets and still did not get to sleep until around 5 am.
Believe me i hate not being able to get real sleep, i need it sooo much but it just does not come.