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The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

bbc.com

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Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

#91

Post by patentatt »

lyjackal wrote: post #68
agency wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also an interesting reflection on the historical moment we've find ourselves in. I'm sure the records of normal/daily life have been steadily increasing even before the computer age as earlier technologies made it cheaper to record these things but it feels like in my lifetime we have transitioned almost instantaneously to having more data than we could possibly ever sift through about every aspect of peoples' l…

I think you may also be overestimating the quantity of current data that will actually survive. Computer records are pretty ephemeral unless actively maintained and archived.

We could be living in a modern dark ages. Just imagine the treasure trove that will be lost when YouTube or the internet archive blinks offline for the last time. That's part of why I think patents are valuable. There will be multiple copies of a discrete set of systematized records of 'invention' or at the least just writings of people from this age. I estimate a good chance that the US patent database outlives the internet, for example.

Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

#92

Post by DantesKite »

What I find interesting is how there are references to a second sleep in literature, such as Charles Dickens and Don Quixote.

Whether it's cultural or biological remains to be seen, but it definitely seem to be common enough that it didn't merit explaining, except as a casual reference.

Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

#96

Post by ch4s3 »

lionsdan wrote: post #80
ch4s3 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a citation for that? Google scholar isn't turning anything up for me, and I'm interested.

Maybe this? "Melatonin synthesis in rice seedlings in vivo is enhanced at high temperatures and under dark conditions due to increased serotonin N-acetyltransferase and N-acetylserotonin methyltransferase activities" https://doi.org/10.1111/jpi.12111

"The opposite effect occurred during the night, in which the positive effect of darkness on melatonin synthesis was counteracted by the negative effect of a low temperature."

Seems suspect.

Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

#97

Post by 7thaccount »

wincy wrote: post #79
Arwill wrote: post #13

The article does not mention it, but mothers with small children have to nurse babies every couple of hours, even at night. So given that in middle ages, families had "copious numbers of children" (quote from the article), it is for sure that mothers would need to get up to feed a baby. And then possibly the whole family would woke up too. And if multiple generations were living in the same house, then even more prob…

Hah as a husband and father whose wife coslept and exclusively breastfed for the first year, this has little merit. My wife one day commented on how it was great how our 6 month old daughter slept through the night and didn’t complain or ask for food. My wife quite literally breast fed in her sleep. Waking up to feed the baby is a very WEIRD way of looking at the world.

I'm not sure how typical your experience is. My daughter needed to be fed every few hours for the first 11 months. Both my wife and I were freaking zombies. It was rough on us. My wife would basically get a couple of hours every time the baby went down, but no long and peaceful sleep.

In talking with friends, it would seem like our experience was extra crappy and yours is uncharacteristically mild. So the reality may be that many have to wake up at least once in the night to feed, so 2nd sleep kinda makes sense to me here. Not that I'm saying it's where the phrase comes from.

Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

#98

Post by square_usual »

I tried this for a few weeks in college and it was a pretty neat experience. I slept first from 9-12 and then 3-7/8. Those three hours between 12 and 3 ended up being super productive - I was very energized and had creative ideas about whatever I was doing. I had to stop because going to bed at 9 in college was like kissing your social life goodbye, but even these days if I naturally wake up in the middle of the night the hours that follow end up being amazing for my productivity. I think I'll try it out again.

Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

#99

Post by tjoff »

square_usual wrote: post #98

I tried this for a few weeks in college and it was a pretty neat experience. I slept first from 9-12 and then 3-7/8. Those three hours between 12 and 3 ended up being super productive - I was very energized and had creative ideas about whatever I was doing. I had to stop because going to bed at 9 in college was like kissing your social life goodbye, but even these days if I naturally wake up in the middle of the nigh…

Oh, so, 21-24 and 3-7/8. Took me a while.

Re: The medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’

#100

Post by AussieWog93 »

7thaccount wrote: post #97
wincy wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah as a husband and father whose wife coslept and exclusively breastfed for the first year, this has little merit. My wife one day commented on how it was great how our 6 month old daughter slept through the night and didn’t complain or ask for food. My wife quite literally breast fed in her sleep. Waking up to feed the baby is a very WEIRD way of looking at the world.

I'm not sure how typical your experience is. My daughter needed to be fed every few hours for the first 11 months. Both my wife and I were freaking zombies. It was rough on us. My wife would basically get a couple of hours every time the baby went down, but no long and peaceful sleep. In talking with friends, it would seem like our experience was extra crappy and yours is uncharacteristically mild. So the reality may…

My wife and I thought the same as you, BTW. Then she visited a sleep training centre with our daughter.

Turns out if you stop feeding them or going to them in the middle of the night, they adapt and sleep through in less than a week.

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