> As we've reported before, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that until the late 17th Century people did not sleep in one long uninterrupted stretch, but i

> As we've reported before, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that until the late 17th Century people did not sleep in one long uninterrupted stretch, but in two segments, separated by a period of one or two hours in which they prayed, read, chatted, had sex, smoked, went to the toilet or even visited neighbours. > That may be more natural than the current tendency to sleep - or try to - in one stretch. Just because people did it up until very recently doesn't necessarily say anything about whether it is healthy or not. Up until very recently we didn't have electricity, which meant that we were more limited when it comes to what we could do at certain hours of the day-night cycle. The fact that people did it up until very recently says that people were able to survive reasonably well with that lifestyle, as a species. But "healthy" is more than that: you can live an unhealthy lifestyle, reproduce, maybe even help raise your grandchildren, and die at 60 of cancer or some heart-related disease. The other side of the coin is that: just because we can, doesn't mean that we should! Just because we can stay up until 3 am and read books or stuff on the Web, doesn't mean that it is good for us. Maybe some restraint might be in order.