Psychologists have found out why our ancestors slept in two nights at night and spent a total of about 12 hours in bed
Your ancestors would be very surprised to learn that their descendants have developed the habit of sleeping for 8 hours in a row. Because even 300-400 years ago, human sleep was arranged fundamentally differently: it was divided into two large segments. So says the professor of history at the Virginia Polytechnic University Roger Eckrich. People typically went to bed 2 hours after sunset and woke up about 4 hours later. Then they spent a couple of hours doing some business: smoking, indulging in love pleasures, praying, reading, or just chatting with the household. And then came the second sleep phase, which also lasted four hours.
Do you think this is fiction? Nothing like this! Professor Eckrich, in his book "Night in the past", cites more than 500 documents where there are references to the segmental structure of sleep. These references are found in Homer's Odyssey, diaries, court records and other sources. For example, in the prayer books of the 15th century, you can find special prayers for the night gap between sleep phases. A collection of medical recommendations published in France in the 16th century advises married couples to choose for conception not the evening after a tiring day at work, but "the time after the first sleep, when you will have more pleasure."
The scientist believes that people in those distant times spent much more time in bed. This is due to the fact that human activities were closely related to the length of daylight hours. Our bodies rebelled against sleeping throughout the long winter night, so sleep was divided into two parts. Even wealthy people, who could afford to burn candles all night long, did not find any reason to change conventional practice.
Perhaps because the night then belonged to criminal elements: criminals, prostitutes and drunks. According to Ekirkh, the mention of the first and second dream began to disappear from written sources at the end of the 17th century. Partly the reason was such powerful religious and social movements as the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Protestants and Catholics were forced to use night hours for secret prayer meetings, when good people did not go out unnecessarily. Over time, the persecution stopped, but the habit of staying up late by candlelight remained.
Another powerful factor that has changed the habit of segmental sleep has been the emergence of street lighting. In 1667, the world's first wax candles in glass lamps for outdoor lighting began to be installed on the streets of Paris. After 2 years, artificial lighting appeared in Amsterdam, but they used a more progressive technology - oil lamps.
Then the industrial revolution began, the working day lasted for a long time and the gap between the first and second sleep became a luxury and excess. We still encounter echoes of this practice in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Remember the old prince Bolkonsky, who used to say: "After dinner, a silver dream, and before dinner, a golden one." But gradually by the twentieth century, the division of sleep into the first second became an atavism. And most of us have adapted to a full, uninterrupted 8-hour sleep. However, if you suddenly woke up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason - do not rush to panic. Nothing terrible happens, it's just that the genetic habit of segmented sleep reminded of itself. Do not force yourself to fall asleep at all costs. This is unlikely to work. Think back to the experience of your ancestors and keep yourself busy. You don't have to pray or have sex. You can read or at least dream about something. And after a while, sleep will surely come.
By the way, scientists believe that 12-hour double sleep (with a break of 2-3 hours of wakefulness) allows you to better recuperate, reduce stress levels and awaken creativity. In the 90s of the last century, the American psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an interesting experiment. For 15 volunteers, he simulated the conditions in which people lived before the beginning of the era of artificial lighting. The participants in the experiment were placed in a room where the lights were on from 6 pm to 8 am. At first, the men slept 11 hours a day (apparently compensating for the lack of sleep in ordinary life) and then suddenly switched to the double sleep system. It turned out to be natural for humans. Whether this is true or not, you can always check by conducting an experiment on yourself.
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YAROSLAV KOROBATOV