3 ms·

So I've seen a number of articles about Segmented Sleep and the idea that we used to sleep in two phases based on historical evidence, etc. However, this set of

So I've seen a number of articles about Segmented Sleep and the idea that we used to sleep in two phases based on historical evidence, etc. However, this set of circumstances applies rather uniquely to Western Europe. None of the articles I've looked at have explained, then, why the continuous sleep pattern we see now seems to hold true for the Middle East and Asia as well.

mbrubeck 11y ago
Some recent research suggests that normal human sleep has always been in one continuous block in places near the equator. Then segmented sleep developed after humans migrated to places like Europe where sunrise/sunset times vary more. According to this hypothesis, segmented sleep was only a temporary phenomenon, before electric light caused a return to continuous sleep. https://athensscienceobserver.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/the-science-of-sleep-unraveling-biology-and-culture/ https://athensscienceobserver.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/the-s... http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/112251/ http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/112251/
- jusben1369 11y ago
  Thank you for this. There's always this huge elephant in the room never addressed in these articles on sleep - particularly prior to the use of internal electrical lighting; the time of year. Your amount of sleep and how you sleep would change substantially based on whether there was 4 hours or 14 hours of darkness. Yet it never comes up in these catch all types of articles.
- TheCondor 11y ago
  The fantastically great podcast, backstory, did a piece on it as well. There was supposedly a stage of the us temperance movement against second sleep. http://backstoryradio.org/2014/11/02/sleep-well/ http://backstoryradio.org/2014/11/02/sleep-well/
ars 11y ago
> None .... continuous sleep pattern .... Middle East https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_Chatzot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_Chatzot (Jewish prayer said about an hour after midnight). I don't know if Jews had a different sleep pattern than their neighbors, but I can't imagine they would. At the time the prayer was instituted Jews mostly lived in what is now Iran/Iraq and in Israel. They were expelled and ended up in Europe only later.

mbrubeck 11y ago

Some recent research suggests that normal human sleep has always been in one continuous block in places near the equator. Then segmented sleep developed after humans migrated to places like Europe where sunrise/sunset times vary more. According to this hypothesis, segmented sleep was only a temporary phenomenon, before electric light caused a return to continuous sleep. https://athensscienceobserver.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/the-science-of-sleep-unraveling-biology-and-culture/ https://athensscienceobserver.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/the-s... http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/112251/ http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/112251/

jusben1369 11y ago
Thank you for this. There's always this huge elephant in the room never addressed in these articles on sleep - particularly prior to the use of internal electrical lighting; the time of year. Your amount of sleep and how you sleep would change substantially based on whether there was 4 hours or 14 hours of darkness. Yet it never comes up in these catch all types of articles.
TheCondor 11y ago
The fantastically great podcast, backstory, did a piece on it as well. There was supposedly a stage of the us temperance movement against second sleep. http://backstoryradio.org/2014/11/02/sleep-well/ http://backstoryradio.org/2014/11/02/sleep-well/

ars 11y ago

> None .... continuous sleep pattern .... Middle East https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_Chatzot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_Chatzot (Jewish prayer said about an hour after midnight). I don't know if Jews had a different sleep pattern than their neighbors, but I can't imagine they would. At the time the prayer was instituted Jews mostly lived in what is now Iran/Iraq and in Israel. They were expelled and ended up in Europe only later.