5 ms·
Humans are naturally biphasic sleepers. Pre-industrialization, humans would wake up at sunrise, go to bed quite early, and wake up for a couple hours in the mi
by rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago
Humans are naturally biphasic sleepers.
Pre-industrialization, humans would wake up at sunrise, go to bed quite early, and wake up for a couple hours in the middle of the night to have sex, chat, or do light activities like reading or writing (this is where the phrase "burning the midnight oil" congress from). When societies industrialized, most of this went away because people needed to be in one physical location (the factory) for an entire work day.
The important thing is that the human brain isn't built to be active for 16 or 17 hours nonstop. Some cultures that understand this take siestas, but I'd argue that even the mediation or prayer breaks in other cultures can be enough to punctuate the day and give the mind a chance to decompress a bit.
- kqr 3y agoWhat's your source for that specific biphasic schedule? Piotr Wozniak has quite convincing hormonal evidence that seems to indicate to me that humans are meant for a full night of sleep and a nap -- which is still biphasic, but not in the sense you describe.
- tinyhouse 3y agoHard to imagine anything different. Without light and frequent bordem (no phones etc.), very unlike to stay awake for 15 hours straight.
- kqr 3y agoI don't think either of us are claiming 15 hours straight. GGP is claiming something along the lines of AAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSAASSSS repeated, with A=awake and S=sleeping hours, which is 12 hours straight at most. What I remember Wozniak claiming is something like AAAAAAASAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS, which would be 8 hours straight at most.
- gabrielsroka 3y agoAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSAASSSS = A12, S6, A2, S4 AAAAAAASAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS = A7, S1, A8, S8
- euroderf 3y agoCats sleep 16 hours a day so I guess it might work out as something like ASSASSASSASSASSASSASSASS. You're welcome.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y agoHumans: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS Cats: ASSASSASSASSASSASSASSASS Sounds about right.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y agoThe Thomas Wehr experiment [1] in the 90s (which showed that people settle into 2 distinct periods of sleep throughout the night when they're removed from all artificial light), as well as Roger Ekirch's [2] historical research (which documented the mentioning of "first sleep" and "second sleep" throughout many cultures in pre-industrial society). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wehr#Research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wehr#Research [2] https://harpers.org/archive/2013/08/segmented-sleep/ https://harpers.org/archive/2013/08/segmented-sleep/
- kqr 3y agoThanks! It's hard to tell from a glance how realistic the Wehr experiment was in terms of simulating a workday, but I'll look into it! The historic research seems focused primarily on the biphasicity of sleep, but I'll see if I can find out what evidence there are for specific biphasic schedules.
- moffkalast 3y agoThe problem is that we don't all have the same sleep schedules, which makes sense so the tribe would naturally have some people awake at all times to watch for predators. This doesn't mesh with our modern world where everyone needs to conform to the majority's work schedule. Trying to find a universal inherent schedule that everyone can follow to the letter is fundamentally based on wrong assumptions.
- dpc050505 3y agoOur modern world has people working the night shift, service workers that finish around midnight (restaurants) or in the middle of the night (bars), people on vacation or who don't work and stay up late, night people who get to make up their own schedule, etc. The fact that working a 9-5 is the social norm doesn't mean everyone does that.
- gpvos 3y agoWe did that during the agrarian period before modern times, but evidence suggests that hunter-gatherers did not do it, or at least much less, instead staying up late at the camp fire.
- sidewndr46 3y agoHow do you wake up in the middle of the night without artificial light? What are you doing at that time?
- soligern 3y agoMaybe in Europe. In sub tropical and tropical places, people just went to bed at 8p and woke up at 4a throughout the year.
- Melatonic 3y agoI have heard this argument but also the argument that the reason people woke up in the middle of the night was to stoke a fire (or other heating device). Personally I am not entirely convinced. I am a believer in some people being more tuned to night owls or morning people however (not that it is super firmly set in stone - just a bit of a trend). There is also the theory that this benefited smaller societies since having a few people awake at all hours while others slept would have been good for noticing threats. Combining these two thoughts actually may be the answer - perhaps we are not biphasic but that few hour window in the middle of the night was driven by the night owls and the morning peoples drive to socialize with one another (sex, eating, etc as you say)