Posted on 09/09/2014 9:06:31 PM PDT by blam
Eric Barker, Barking Up The Wrong Tree
September 9, 2014
Roger Ekrich noticed many old books, including Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", referenced two periods of sleep being the norm in their era.
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
...Ekirch somehow rediscovered a fact of life that was once as common as eating breakfast. Every night, people fell asleep not long after the sun went down and stayed that way until sometime after midnight. This was the first sleep that kept popping up in the old tales. Once a person woke up, he or she would stay that way for an hour or so before going back to sleep until morning—the so-called second sleep. The time between the two bouts of sleep was a natural and expected part of the night and, depending on your needs, was spent praying, reading, contemplating your dreams, urinating, or having sex. The last one was perhaps the most popular.
So researchers did a study. When subjects had no exposure to artifical light they reverted to this 2 stage type of sleeping:
Soon, the subjects began to stir a little after midnight, lie awake in bed for an hour or so, and then fall back asleep again. It was the same sort of segmented sleep that Ekirch found in the historical records. While sequestered from artificial light, subjects were shedding the sleep habits they had formed over a lifetime.
Was this fragmented sleep bad? Far from it. Bloodwork showed that the time between the two sleeping periods was incredibly relaxing and blissful:
The results showed that the hour humans once spent awake in the middle of the night was probably the most relaxing block of time in their lives. Chemically, the body was in a state equivalent to what you might feel
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Oh my. Sorry that happened. I can’t imagine bow traumatic that must have been.
Hypnosis probably wouldn’t work for me either because I’m the same way about trusting people.
Antigonus, one of Alexander the Great's generals, was killed in 301BC during the Battle of Ipsus. He was 81 years old. Perhaps not as fit and hale as in his youth but at least he went down swinging!
Thanks
BTW I’m so going to steal your tagline.
Funny.
You can always FReepmail me when you’re freaking out.
God knows I’ll probably be awake.
I may not be much help otherwise but I’m shoulder to lean on.
I do OK with a fragmented sleep schedule if I don't have to accomplish anything in the hour between sleep blocks. I think it's because I never really wake up.
Way back in the day I used to watch the news until I got sleepy again.
I can’t do that anymore. The news is just too bad or too full of sxit.
I just get on FR or some other forum or just read awhilie til I get sleepy again.
Is your snake still alive? The one that disappeared and crawled out of a wall looking like he’d been tarred and feathered?
From Dean King's A Sea of Words, definition of "dog-watch": "Maturin's classic dog-watch pun... was, by the way, not original to O'Brian. SMYTH's Sailor Word-Book (1867) noted: "Theodore Hook explains this as cur-tailed."
“I think it might be some kind of PTSD because I wake up screaming or crying a lot”
Nah. You probably just remember what the U.S. was like when it was still a free country. And then you realise it isn’t that way anymore.
LMAO!
I have never seen a better description of him!
Yes, he is just fine and *still* looking for a way out of his new, Super Max house.
It took me *weeks* to get whatever that gunk was, off of him.
It had to be sap from the 300 year old cedar logs.
Can’t imagine any other possibility.
[and I don’t want to]
;]
Every time I see you on here I remember that snake.
: )
Have not tried those. Did take Ambien. It made me walk in my sleep. I almost burnt my house dow sleep cooking. I take Ativan, but it does absolutely nothing. Doc wants me to try Librium.
Argh..I wish I could forget it.
OTOH, it’s a testament to the wondrously good hearts of FReepers, that they’d jump right in and start prayer threads for some wayward Ball Python.
:)
“Is that like those dreams you have where you’re really aslep but dreaming you’re awake and can’t move or scream?”
No. No problem moving. I can get up and walk around, with my eyes open, and see my dream superimposed upon my normal surroundings. It’s kind of like looking through a transparent Persian rug.
“his wife had to get a king sized bed “
A pair of single beds has been the standard for three generations for the paternal side of the family. So the wives don’t get hurt.
Unfortunately, some of the meds I have tried have led to violent nightmares, which makes the thrashing around, and other symptoms worse. One doc thought I might have an abnormal amount of connections between the halves of my brain, resulting in the sleep problems but also high creativity.
Will ask my doc about Trazadone. Seems like it light fit my symptoms.
If it’s bad enough seperate rooms are in order. I can see how maybe you wouldn’t want to be too far away from your spouse and not do the twin beds
Ive read several of his books..
I got the movie several years ago...
:)
It’s ruined my relationships! I’ve learned to go it alone.
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