2 Sleeps Better Than 1?

I read an article once that claimed that ancient Egyptians used to sleep once during the day and once during the night in short intervals. This intrigued me, so I decided to do some research and found that apparently our ancestors used to sleep twice in one night. Back in the 1800’s it was common, actually I’m pretty sure it was the norm, for people to get “a sleep of three to four hours, wakefulness of two to three hours, then sleep again until morning.” (Slumber) During the 2-3 of being awake, apparently they would just relax, read, pray, etc. This sleep s heavily documented throughout old literature, and is even mentioned in the Canterbury Tales. (Slumber)

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and panicked because you were afraid you wouldn’t get a good sleep? Well research shows that this is just a tendency the human body has due to our ancestors’ practices. A study was done to mimic our ancestors light exposure, as they didn’t have all the electric lights that we do, and the results were that participants would sleep for about 4-5 hours, wake up in a peaceful state for a few hours, and then go back to sleep for the rest of the night. So, when put under the same conditions, our bodies naturally revert back to ancient practices. (Slumber)

Another article I found shares why this type of sleeping might be beneficial to some. It’s not certain if everyone would benefit from having 2 sleeps, but studies show that those with insomnia or who wake up in the middle of the night would benefit from having 2 sleeps. The reasoning behind this is that for those with insomnia, this is reverting back to their natural and ancestral method of sleep, which might work better with their bodies. And for those who wake in the middle of the night, if they started to accept that as normal instead of panicking that they wouldn’t get enough sleep, or that people aren’t supposed to wake up in the middle of the night, that they could have a few hours of peace and easily fall asleep again until morning. (Live Science)

Although there needs to be more evidence and experiments done on the subject, it would be interesting to try having 2 sleeps. What if studying a little in between sleeps could help achieve a better understanding? The possibilities are endless.

http://slumberwise.com/science/your-ancestors-didnt-sleep-like-you/

http://www.livescience.com/12891-natural-sleep.html

 

3 thoughts on “2 Sleeps Better Than 1?

  1. Jordan David Unsworth

    Very interesting! I love taking naps. I feel though if I took more than one nap I would be wasting my day away.

  2. Danielle Parisi

    In highschool I used to take a long nap after almost every day of school. My mom sent me an article saying that napping is unhealthy and cuts time off of your life. I wonder what the difference is between a long nap each day and taking 2 sleeps tonight

  3. Nicolas Scott Chambers

    I can see how sleeping twice in a day would leave make a person feel “better”. You really would not feel a loss of energy considering you slept in two intervals. In my opinion, in todays world one almost must sleep strictly at night considering almost all business and work is done during the day.

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