Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, so, 21-24 and 3-7/8. Took me a while.
I knew some people in college who might well have kept the 9-12 and 15-19 sleep routine...
Ah yes, the MMORPG sleep regimen.
The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
231–240 of 254 posts
Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah but one could argue that it's a time of more headaches because we have it so well that we have plenty of time to think about our lives. While people of old were busy working and were more exhausted than we are today. Of course this is the very definition of a 1st world problem but I think it holds some water in modern western society.
Ancient humans worked like 3 hours a day https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/for-95-percent-of-human...
I highly doubt that, first because you can just look back in time 100 years and observe people living in the country to see how hard they worked.
Secondly, ancient humans did everything themselves. Their clothes, food, bedding, house, roof, EVERYTHING. There was no global supply chain, there was no clothing industry, there was just you, your farm, and your two hands.
Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah but one could argue that it's a time of more headaches because we have it so well that we have plenty of time to think about our lives. While people of old were busy working and were more exhausted than we are today. Of course this is the very definition of a 1st world problem but I think it holds some water in modern western society.
Ancient humans worked like 3 hours a day https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/for-95-percent-of-human...
Skimming the inc.com article and the linked ft.com article, they both mention "rarely having to work more than 15 hours per week", but what "work" isn't well defined. I heard someone counter this narrative by saying that the definition of "work" used only included time spent gather food, and doesn't include other chores (eg. cleaning stuff, fixing clothes/shelter, preserving food).
Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#234Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#235Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
>this theory is largely thought false nowadays, or phrased too strongly at least. What theory? The article doesn't really claim that this kind of sleep is better or more natural, just that it was incredibly common. Is the idea that it was common now thought to be false?
I don't know about commonly thought to be false because I'm not sure it's commonly thought about at all, but it's a theory with considerable weaknesses Ekirch hypothesis: Early humans had two distinct phases of sleep with an important gap between. Lack of in-depth discussion or even a name for that gap in any language is actually evidence of it being so common it wasn't worth commenting on. It disappeared - again wit…
It has always struck me as an unlikely hypothesis. While I'm not a historian, I do get some insight into the Elizabethan period in particular by a very close familiarity with its plays. Shakespeare never mentions it, and he does talk about sleep quite a bit.
One example that comes to mind, from Henry V:
But, like a lackey, from the rise to set
Sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night
Sleeps in Elysium
I haven't done an exhaustive survey, but I don't believe Shakespeare characters ever wake in the middle of the night unless there is something to disturb them. They may drink late, or chimneys may come crashing down around them, but nobody ever says "Hey, see you in a few hours when we're both awake".
This is obviously far from conclusive. But the man writes about sleep often enough that I'd have expected at least some hint of it.
Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ancient humans worked like 3 hours a day https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/for-95-percent-of-human...
I highly doubt that, first because you can just look back in time 100 years and observe people living in the country to see how hard they worked. Secondly, ancient humans did everything themselves. Their clothes, food, bedding, house, roof, EVERYTHING. There was no global supply chain, there was no clothing industry, there was just you, your farm, and your two hands.
What's ancient? There were continental supply chains in the Bronze Age and earlier.
Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
I highly doubt that, first because you can just look back in time 100 years and observe people living in the country to see how hard they worked. Secondly, ancient humans did everything themselves. Their clothes, food, bedding, house, roof, EVERYTHING. There was no global supply chain, there was no clothing industry, there was just you, your farm, and your two hands.
What's ancient? There were continental supply chains in the Bronze Age and earlier.
Of course there were but that's still a weak argument for a 15 hour work week.
For the vast majority of people most of what they needed was around them and it required a lot of work.
There were local supply chains too. For example you could have a guy who just collects wattle all day, or someone who just spins wool all day.
But that doesn't take away that it's still a lot of work. Just to get water is work.
Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#239I regularly sleep in 4 hour blocks, and it's definitely the most productive and energetic ive felt. I encourage anyone who is curious to try it for at least 2 weeks, though i find it doesn't take long to get used to. The challenge is mapping sleeping times around the rest of society. In my experience the easiest way to transition from sleeping 8 is to wake up early on a weekend day and do a bunch of tiring activity,…
I don't usually wake up in the middle of the night, but I have noted the 4 hour (well, more like 3.5-4 hour in my case) block of sleep in my own sleep patterns. It's much easier to wake up after a block of sleep than in the middle of one, and I usually sleep 2 or 3 blocks rather than just a little bit more than 2. On the rare occasions when I was very well rested for a long period of time, I would occasionally wake u…
This was exactly how it started for me. Even if you don't switch your sleep cycle it can still be useful to keep in mind. For example if I have to get up in the middle of the night to take an early-morning flight and have 5.5 hours to sleep, I'll plan to wake up after 4 hours to avoid being wrecked the next day.
Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a parent of an 8 month old baby who wakes up literally every hour - what is that solid line from 10pm till 6am at around 10 weeks :P Feels like fantasy
there's something wrong with that baby They're sleeping _way_ too much for 15 weeks. two 3-4 hour naps?? 8 hours overnight is definitely possible but rare
no. it's gonna differ from family to family, but it is not abnormal for a baby to sleep 18 hours a day, overall.