Famed author Charles Dickens suffered from severe insomnia at one point in his life, waking up in the middle of the night to wander the gas-lit streets of London. He wrote at length about his “night walks,” but he wasn’t the only one to experience such intermittent sleep patterns. In the distant past, before electric light, most people had similar sleeping habits. A 2015 paper published in the journal Current Biology The study highlights that this “split sleep” practice existed in three pre-industrial civilizations: Tanzania, Namibia, and Bolivia. reverse This medieval practice was associated with what is known today as “polyphasic sleep.”
In this study, scientists who studied three hunter-gatherer and hunter-horticultural societies found that these people stayed up for hours after sunset. These civilizations had no electricity, and the only source of light after dark was a campfire. They slept for four to five hours, then got up to do certain activities, such as reading, taking a walk, or having a snack. This is similar to what the Spanish call an “afternoon siesta,” where the Spanish close up shop in the middle of the day to relax, take a nap, or have a cup of coffee.
In fact, “polyphasic sleep” or “segmented sleep” is a well-known concept in sleep psychiatry. Polyphasic sleep is the practice of sleeping in several small segments during the day, as opposed to the single sleep period that is common in many countries. Besides Dickens, some of the most famous people in history have had this habit, including Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Napoleon Bonaparte, Salvador Dali, Benjamin Franklin, and even Albert Einstein.
“The strange sleeping habits of these historical figures may seem outlandish, but they offer a unique lens into the human sleep experience. From polyphasic sleep to midnight walks to dream-infused art, these unusual sleep patterns remind us that throughout history, sleep has been both a science and an art — a canvas where creativity, genius, and individuality gather in the dream world,” explains Alen Djuginovich, a physician and researcher at Harvard Medical School who studies the health effects of poor sleep. article.
In addition to ancestral sleep habits, the researchers of the 2015 study linked modern-day insomnia to the advent of electric light and technological advances. “The invention of electric light, followed by the development of television, the internet, and related technologies, and increased use of caffeine, significantly shortened sleep duration from ‘natural’ levels and disrupted evolutionary timing,” the researchers wrote in their paper, adding that “reduced sleep duration has been linked to obesity, mood disorders, and many other physical and mental illnesses that appear to be on the rise recently.”
One of the biggest benefits of polyphasic sleep is that it allows a person to fall into a deep sleep more quickly. “If you look at a standard sleep period, our sleep is generally deepest at the beginning of the night and then gets lighter and lighter,” Matthias Basner, professor of sleep psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, told Inverse, adding, “You’re basically tapping into this deep sleep at the beginning of your sleep period.”
But this sleep pattern has its downsides. Basner said the switch between falling asleep and waking up isn’t as easy. “Your brain needs time to come online to start all your systems up again,” he said. “Depending on what state you woke up from, it can take up to an hour or more to be fully awake again.” This sleep inertia can affect your productivity and prevent you from making the most of your daytime hours.
However, Roger Ekirch, perhaps the greatest expert on “fractionated sleep,” believes that this type of sleep can be extremely beneficial for people who suffer from insomnia. He explains: Harper’s Magazine For insomniacs, segmenting their sleep can help them “reduce anxiety and get back to sleep,” he said. But for people without insomnia, it’s probably best to stick with your normal seven to eight hours of sleep. Changing your sleep can disrupt your circadian rhythm. “You’ve changed things, and you can’t go back,” Ekirchi said. BBC.
