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The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

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Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#71
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right (and very observant) that this is mostly Ekrich when you dig into it. I didn't realise this until quite recently, and I too had assumed there was a lot more work about this. But what he's found in literature is pretty consistent, and biphasic sleep was once quite normal in a specific context: the siesta. It's dying out in continental Europe alas -- a lost cultural touchstone -- and in the contemporary W…

Question for people who sleep like this: do you live with anyone? How do they tolerate it? I can't imagine it's great to wake up to your roommate scraping pans in the kitchen on odd nights.

> Question for people who sleep like this: do you live with anyone? How do they tolerate it?

I tried it and it worked, but I have a family and no, it didn't work for them, so I stopped. Couldn't get a schedule right that allowed me to be with the family for normal social interaction times, AND be at work when THEY expected me to be available for the work-team.

So I had to go to a socially acceptable "norm".

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#72
post #69
post #3

Has this evidence been examined sceptically? I've heard this theory a few times, but it always sounds like one person's obsession, and I struggle to credit it.

the data to support this is extensive. ex: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4720388/

>The sleep period consistently occurred during the nighttime period...was not interrupted by extended periods of waking...

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#73
post #3

Has this evidence been examined sceptically? I've heard this theory a few times, but it always sounds like one person's obsession, and I struggle to credit it.

Anecdotal / from memory, they did a study (at least) once where people didn't have artificial light (not sure if they had candles or nothing at all), and found that people naturally went to sleep when it went dark - not much else to do - but also woke up after a few hours.

But I'm not entirely sure; how much can you do awake if it's dark?

But then, it's rare for it to be truly dark, with moonlight and the like.

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#74

When my wife was pregnant with our first kid I did this for a while. She was exhausted and went to bed early and so did I. Bed at 8, up 1-3, bed 3-7. I got a ton done in those two hours. I remember looking for an e ink display to use with my computer so I could do it by candlelight, to no avail

i tried using an e-ink tablet (Boox Note Air) but found it cumbersome compared to my iPad mini on greyscale mode with night shift enabled.

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#75
post #54
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP, but most of the people I know above 30 don't "go out" on weekday evenings nor regular weekends tbh. Even people without kids. Various trips and meets in friends' houses during the day (usually Sunday) is the main form of socializing.

For the most part, going out just sounds awful. The parking, the people, the price for mediocre drinks. I’m good lol.

But have you really tried any? :)

Because I go out regularly and does not have any problems with parking (uber / public trans. / choosing places with plenty of parking generalny solves this headache) , the people (you know that you can choose who you meet), prices (free meetups rules) and mediocre drinks (not drinking is an option ,but if somehow not, craft beers seems to work)

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#76

Ever since I learned of sleep cycles, and how to measure my own, I've pretty much governed my life around them. Each person has a cycle where they go between waking and resting state. The trick is to go to bed when you're headed into resting state. And if you wake up and can't go back to sleep, get up and do something for X number of minutes until you go back into resting state. For me the cycle is about 45-50 minute…

Can you share more about how you got accurate measurements on this?

I've got some moderately interesting graphs from my fitness tracker, and I'm broadly aware that my sleep cycle is not the "usual" 90 minutes that the standard-issue human gets. But I've had a lot of trouble refining the data to a useful point, let alone building a routine around it.

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#77

I do that a lot these days. I went to bed around 8:30pm, woke at 4am... It's 6:50 now and I've done a lot of work! It's nice, quiet, I just really crack on. I'm waiting for 8am, then feed + walk the dogs, then I'll go back to bed for 1h or a bit more (tops), and it'll still be early when I wake up again. Most of my colleagues will show up around 10 with bleary eyes while I've done most of the stuff I wanted to do alr…

I want to implement something like this so badly. It's just impossible when one is in the strict 9-5 meat grinder.

I'm a night owl that crashes around 2 AM, and honestly, I think it's why I can barely function on an average day. I try to make up for lost sleep on the weekends, but it doesn't quite work that way.

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#78
post #75
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the most part, going out just sounds awful. The parking, the people, the price for mediocre drinks. I’m good lol.

But have you really tried any? :) Because I go out regularly and does not have any problems with parking (uber / public trans. / choosing places with plenty of parking generalny solves this headache) , the people (you know that you can choose who you meet), prices (free meetups rules) and mediocre drinks (not drinking is an option ,but if somehow not, craft beers seems to work)

I think it depends on a variety of factors. The given city, day of the week, popularity of the establishment, etc. Going to a great brewery in Columbus on a Wednesday is a great time. Going out to a super packed bar on a Friday night in Los Angeles is a different experience.

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#79
post #3

Has this evidence been examined sceptically? I've heard this theory a few times, but it always sounds like one person's obsession, and I struggle to credit it.

You are right (and very observant) that this is mostly Ekrich when you dig into it. I didn't realise this until quite recently, and I too had assumed there was a lot more work about this. But what he's found in literature is pretty consistent, and biphasic sleep was once quite normal in a specific context: the siesta. It's dying out in continental Europe alas -- a lost cultural touchstone -- and in the contemporary W…

One college summer I worked on a highway landscape crew. They put us on a schedule of 6 am to 2:30 pm, which got us out of the hottest part of the day. I would come home, clean up, and nap until dinner, say 5:30, then have a normal evening, turning in at about 10 pm and waking up at 4:30.

It wasn't bad. I did like waking up at 4:30 on the weekend, rolling over, and going back to sleep.

Re: The medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (2022)

#80

Ever since I learned of sleep cycles, and how to measure my own, I've pretty much governed my life around them. Each person has a cycle where they go between waking and resting state. The trick is to go to bed when you're headed into resting state. And if you wake up and can't go back to sleep, get up and do something for X number of minutes until you go back into resting state. For me the cycle is about 45-50 minute…

The trick to going back to sleep is often, after waking too soon, to do something boring. A chore. Try it for 5-15 mins, go back to bed. Repeat if you're not nodding off. The thinking is, you'll prefer sleep to the boring chore.
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