Posted on 07/01/2015 3:29:41 PM PDT by dontreadthis
For most of history people have had two periods of sleep each night, with the time in between being perhaps the most calm and relaxing part of their lives. Then came the lightbulb. This unexpected "two sleep" phenomenon was uncovered by historian Roger Ekirch when he began to do research for a history of the night:
(Excerpt) Read more at delanceyplace.com ...
Cool! This is what I do. Go to bed around 10, sleep until about 2 or 3, wake up and do some reading, some freeping, and go back to bed for a few more hours. It helps that I don’t have to get up for work!
Somebody needs to stoke the fire in the middle of the night!
Geez, and I had nightmares about mufflers all night and woke up exhausted.
Get rid of blue light. It makes your brain think it’s time to Get Up & Go.
I was aware of this. In the past, people used to sleep about ten hours a night, with it being split in two. For the thirty minutes or 45 minutes it took them to go back to bed, it was a traditional prayer time for many people or reading time.
And somebody (the mother) needed to nurse the baby. Our 2- to 3-hour basic sleep cycle is, coincidentally (?), the typical feeding interval of a nursing infant.
By these standards, at my age, I sleep three times each night — I get up twice to go to the bathroom.
It is those random 0300-0400 wakeups with no going back to sleep regardless of what I do that madden me. Toss and turn for 2-3 hours sucks.
I often wake up in the middle of the night for about an hour. Usually listen to am radio. The interesting thing is it always felt natural.
I’ve learned to keep a calm mind when that happens to me. Just don’t try and, even if you can’t fully sleep you will get some rest, even napping without knowing it.
I actually did this when my kids were younger. I’d go to bed around the same time they did and I’d get up around 11pm and stay up until sometimes 2 or 3am. I used to treasure that quiet time when the kids were sleeping and I got to do whatever I wanted for a few hours.
I am one with my body. Especially my bladder. Especially my bladder after drinking beer. “Bill,” it sez to me, “gitcher sorry butt up if you don’t want me pee all over yer Scooby Doo sheets.” There is, to be sure, a feeling of cosmic relaxation and satisfaction afterward. Assuming I get all the way to the john. I think I should stop typing now.
Oh yes. Mustn’t forget the kidney depressurizing. Vital.
I’m going to guess this was a valuable phenomenon in ancient days. SOMEBODY in the village would likely be naturally up and alert at any time of the night.
At least they’ll be awake for the pre-dawn SWAT raid.
The sleep apnea/CPAP mask hucksters are not going to like this story.
I’ve found that paying attention to one’s breathing while taking deep, slow breaths helps me fall asleep again.
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