Author Topic: The myth of the eight-hour sleep (Read 6015 times)

Ron · « **on:** February 24, 2012, 10:02:21 AM »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

Very interesting, I've been concerned for some time about my waking up late nights or very early mornings.

Turns out that used to be considered the norm.

Quote

In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks.

His book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, published four years later, unearths more than 500 references to a segmented sleeping pattern - in diaries, court records, medical books and literature, from Homer's Odyssey to an anthropological account of modern tribes in Nigeria.

Much like the experience of Wehr's subjects, these references describe a first sleep which began about two hours after dusk, followed by waking period of one or two hours and then a second sleep.

"It's not just the number of references - it is the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge," Ekirch says.

Balog · « **Reply #1 on:** February 24, 2012, 11:06:38 AM »

It should be noted that the title of the article is a bit misleading. People in ye olde dayes didn't necessarily sleep less, they just slept in two separate stages (according to the article).

brimic · « **Reply #2 on:** February 24, 2012, 11:12:19 AM »

I just sent this one to my wife.
She always bitches at me for going to bed early (right after the kids go to bed), getting up between 11PM-Midnight, reading /puttering around in my workshop for and hour or two, then going back to bed.

Tallpine · « **Reply #3 on:** February 24, 2012, 11:34:40 AM »

I always thought it was just because of nightmares

MrsSmith · « **Reply #4 on:** February 24, 2012, 03:48:55 PM »

Makes perfect sense to me. Especially if I could also have the reverse at mid-day with an hour or two nap.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #5 on:** February 24, 2012, 04:02:55 PM »

In an era before electric lighting, I'm surprised that one to two hours after dusk would be considered the normal bedtime.

I don't have segmented sleep like the article describes, but I actually like waking up a couple of hours before I need to, just so I can go right back to sleep. It's like starting the day with a nice, long nap.

230RN · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2012, 04:28:23 PM »

Since I retired and have an ad lib sleep and eat schedule, I find myself running about four hours of sleep and five or six hours up, and not because I have to go to the bathroom or anything. It just is.

I started to develop that pattern a couple of times in my life when I had the opportunity.

BlueStarLizzard · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2012, 07:04:59 PM »

When I work, I generally get three or four hours of sleep after, and wake up and putter about till ten or eleven, and then back to sleep.

zahc · « **Reply #8 on:** February 24, 2012, 11:17:22 PM »

For a while when I was in college, I didn't really sleep at all. I just napped when I was tired; never more than 3 hours. It worked pretty well for someone on a college+pizza delivery schedule.

Northwoods · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2012, 12:38:39 AM »

When I was working graves at the juvinile prison/treatment center I went 48 hours with about 1 hour of sleep. That was unpleasant.

Most nights if I don't get something roughly approximating 8 hours sleep I'm a zombie the next day. One or two nights with less sleep is doable, but beyond that and my function starts to suffer. With the baby I usually get up around 5AM to bring him into mama, then try to sleep for another 30-60 minutes and then get up for the day. Otherwise, once I manage to fall asleep (rarely takes less than 30 minutes unless I'm nearly psychotic from sleep deprivation) I'm out until the morning.

Lee · « **Reply #10 on:** February 25, 2012, 11:30:45 AM »

Thomas Edison would sleep 3-4 hours, then go to work in his lab, where he kept a napping couch for part II.

BridgeRunner · « **Reply #11 on:** February 26, 2012, 02:54:21 AM »

I often go to bed around 11 or midnight and wake around 3:30 or 4 just full of energy. If I didn't have to be up for my day by 6 at the latest, I'd use that time for all kinds of productive things. With having to be up for the day in just a few hours, I usually get up for a few minutes, do something quick, and grab another hour or two of sleep.

I was really bummed to find out that the part-time temp job I'll be doing all spring can only be done between 7 am-11 pm. Had really been looking forward to going to bed at eight with the kiddos, then working for a while late at night. It's very hard for me to get productive work done between getting home from work and sleeping. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Very frustrating to be bound to cramming everything into the daytime hours that run over into the night, leaving no ability to effectively use the early morning hours when I can really do my best work.

Right now it's 3 am, and despite being a bit tired from a long day and then an evening out with friends, I'm relaxed, in a good mood, feeling like all is right with the world, and mentally pretty sharp. Wish it was practical to set down to two hours of paperwork, but I gotta get up in the morning, and need a few hours of sleep, even on the weekend.

Chuck Dye · « **Reply #12 on:** February 26, 2012, 03:59:07 AM »

Long ago I read a journal article suggesting we sleep in blocks. The test population had an average block length of about 1.5 hours, but, as I recall, the range was from roughly a third to triple that. My main take away was that, if time does not allow you to sleep through a complete new block, it is better not to start. I played with the idea, found it seems to work well for me. My block length is near enough the 1.5 hour mean as makes no difference. That discovery has been a benefit as trucking requires such irregular hours that using the word schedule is silly or fraudulent. YMMV

BridgeRunner · « **Reply #13 on:** February 26, 2012, 11:58:34 PM »

Weirdly enough, there's an app for that.

I was looking for alarm clock apps and stumbled across this thing that claims to wake you at the correct point in the sleep cycle (post REM? I dunno) to avoid feeling tired. Supposed to sleep with your phone so's it detects movement. All the commenters thought it was the bee's knees. Personally, I figure that develop has a lot of friends.

gunsmith · « **Reply #14 on:** February 27, 2012, 01:18:35 AM »

I find I do best if I go to bed late, like after 2300 then wake up at 0600/0700 get stuff done then go back to bed until 10 or 11, cant always do that though.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #15 on:** February 27, 2012, 02:10:33 AM »

I work the graveyard shift, 10-6. Sun-Thurs. Wintertime I'll usually get home, eat a bite, feed the animals, bring in firewood and whatever other morning chores need done. I'll get to bed around 8:00 am and try to sleep for at least 7 hours. On Friday I try to get in bed a little sooner and get up by noon and spend the rest of the weekend on a day schedule. Sundays I'll try to get a 3-4 hour nap before work. Tonight is sucking out loud though. Got up before 7:00am to get potatoes planted and when I laid down to nap I couldn't sleep. So I'll have been awake for at least 25 hours by the time I get to sleep again.

wmenorr67 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 27, 2012, 08:45:01 AM »

Lately I'm lucky to get to sleep before midnight. Alarm is set for 0500 but I'm lucky to get to sleep until then. Usually wide awake by 0430.

230RN · « **Reply #17 on:** March 01, 2012, 04:47:05 AM »

Chuck Dye said,

Quote

The test population had an average block length of about 1.5 hours, but, as I recall, the range was from roughly a third to triple that.

Count me in with the "triple" crowd, with my usual four hours "block," plus or minus a half hour.

Interesting. The only problem I have about my ad lib sleep patterns is a little guilt that it's not <ahem> "normal."

Hmmm... maybe it is, after all. Late to bed and late to rise, but sometimes early to bed and early to rise.

BTW, I believe Sir Winston Churchill had the same kind of cat-napping sleep pattern as Thomas Edison (Reply #10 by Lee.)

Terry, 230RN

grampster · « **Reply #18 on:** March 01, 2012, 07:39:30 AM »

I always sleep or wake depending on what the Voices tell me.

Ron · « **Reply #19 on:** March 01, 2012, 09:24:01 AM »

When I did the tour at the Edison house in FL they pointed out his cot where he napped. They then told the story of how he would nap with a steel ball, like a larger ball bearing, in his hand.

He would doze off with his hand holding the ball over a metal plate to the side of the cot. When he would slip into sleep his hand would drop the ball making a clatter waking him up.

He would quickly grab his notebook and write down the ideas he had while in the in between stages of consciousnesses and sleep.

I think he might still hold the record for individual patents in the USA.

coppertales · « **Reply #20 on:** March 01, 2012, 08:07:32 PM »

I go to bed between 10 and 11 pm. I very rarely sleep past 7 am because the cat's feeding time is 7:30 and if I am not up, they come in the bedroom and pull my covers off. If I happen to wake up in the wee hours, 3-4 am, I just make a cup of coffee and drink it while watching TV. I go right to sleep after that.....still get waken up at 7 am by the cats though....chris3

Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas · « **Reply #21 on:** March 01, 2012, 08:20:23 PM »

Quote from: Ron on March 01, 2012, 09:24:01 AM

When I did the tour at the Edison house in FL they pointed out his cot where he napped. They then told the story of how he would nap with a steel ball, like a larger ball bearing, in his hand.

He would doze off with his hand holding the ball over a metal plate to the side of the cot. When he would slip into sleep his hand would drop the ball making a clatter waking him up.

He would quickly grab his notebook and write down the ideas he had while in the in between stages of consciousnesses and sleep.

I think he might still hold the record for individual patents in the USA.

IIRC, he dropped the ball not to wake him up completely, but to bring him into a state of lucid dreaming.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #22 on:** March 02, 2012, 12:29:58 AM »

Pulled a straight 10 hours today. No sleep aids. Don't remember waking during the time I was down and slept through an alarm clock setting. I think I must have been tired. Odd thing is I feel tired like could go back to bed and sleep now.

BridgeRunner · « **Reply #23 on:** March 02, 2012, 01:01:38 AM »

Quote from: RoadKingLarry on March 02, 2012, 12:29:58 AM

Pulled a straight 10 hours today. No sleep aids. Don't remember waking during the time I was down and slept through an alarm clock setting. I think I must have been tired. Odd thing is I feel tired like could go back to bed and sleep now.

Damn, I'm jealous. At this point I'm just avoiding sleep because I know that my next conscious thought will be "holy *expletive deleted*it I'm too *expletive deleted*ing tired to open my eyes." I can be pretty sure of this because it pretty much always is.

The only times I'm woken up feeling rested in the past several months has been with the help of Ambien and many hours of sleep. I'm out of Ambien until I manage to get to the pharmacy, and I have to get up in 4.5 hours. I have not had an adequate night of sleep in weeks.

Oh, I'm sorry, was there a conversation or something before I appropriated this thread for the purpose of whining?

Nick1911 · « **Reply #24 on:** March 02, 2012, 01:04:12 AM »

Quote from: Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas on March 01, 2012, 08:20:23 PM

IIRC, he dropped the ball not to wake him up completely, but to bring him into a state of lucid dreaming.

Very interesting. Lucid dreaming has always fascinated me.

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Author Topic: The myth of the eight-hour sleep (Read 6015 times)