lobotomyboy63:
I can’t find it, but IIRC there was something about the nature of sleep on NPR.
In the old, pre-Industrial Revolution days, we didn’t have electric light. In winter, maybe the sun set at 5 PM in northern areas. People would sleep from 7-midnight maybe, then get up and do chores or have sex or meditate or read or whatever. Then maybe they’d go back to sleep at 3 AM.
Due to the lack of light, and the fact that many towns had no police, they created neighborhood watch types of organizations. If they found someone had been murdered (for instance) they would yell “Fire.” They reasoned that if someone heard “murder” they would stay inside to stay out of harm’s way. But fire…that could spread and burn down their own homes, so they would come out and help.
Sorry, haven’t been able to locate the source. It’s a little pet subject of interest to me, so maybe I read some bits elsewhere.
Pretty funny if true, that this actually predates (and in fact only makes sense) prior to the industrial revolution. As whenever I’ve encountered this “fact” the subtext has been how awful, jaded and crime ridden “modern” (as in later 20th/early 21st century) cities are.