# People used to sleep in two parts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927 "2013-11-14T20:24:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/1 "2013-11-14T20:24:18Z")
I have read a few articles lately about evidence that people used to sleep in two parts. Apparently there is reference to this in the Canterbury Tales. They claim people used to wake up in the middle of the night, stay awake for a couple of hours, and then go back to sleep. Is there any truth to this? If so what would make more than one person regularly wake together at the same time during the night? ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/2 "2013-11-14T20:35:42Z")
Monastic houses awake for worship at regular hours throughout the 24. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/3 "2013-11-14T20:42:40Z")
I have read about it too. It is called [Second sleep or segmented sleep.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep) I suppose it makes sense in some times and places especially before electric lights were invented. People went to bed when it was dark but there are a whole lot of dark hours in northern North America and most of Western Europe during the winter. Most people don’t sleep for 12+ hours at a time plus the fires needed to be tended to in the middle of the night. It would make sense to go to bed, wake up when it was time to stoke the fires and do other chores and then go back to bed. More cites: > **[The myth of the eight-hour sleep](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783)** > > Sleeping in one eight-hour chunk is a very recent phenomenon, and lying awake at night could be good for you, according to scientists and historians. > **[Opinion | Rethinking Sleep (Published 2012)](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/rethinking-sleep.html?_r=0)** > > It’s not the quantity of sleep that restores and refreshes, but the quality. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/4 "2013-11-14T20:44:58Z")
> [@amorali](#): > > I have read a few articles lately about evidence that people used to sleep in two parts. Apparently there is reference to this in the Canterbury Tales. > They claim people used to wake up in the middle of the night, stay awake for a couple of hours, and then go back to sleep. > Is there any truth to this? If so what would make more than one person regularly wake together at the same time during the night? Yes it is true. It is called segmented sleep - having issues with Wikipedia now, but here’s another site: > **[The myth of the eight-hour sleep](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783)** > > Sleeping in one eight-hour chunk is a very recent phenomenon, and lying awake at night could be good for you, according to scientists and historians. There is no doubt in my mind that this is real. Once I learned about this, much of my sleep “problems” made sense. ETA: ninja’d by shagnasty! ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/5 "2013-11-14T20:56:25Z")
Never heard of the stuff in the link. I awake 2 or 3 times during the night - I would rather not! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/6 "2013-11-14T21:17:01Z")
Was there a previous thread about this? It sounds familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/7 "2013-11-14T21:19:06Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > Yes it is true. It is called segmented sleep - having issues with Wikipedia now [Happy to help.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/8 "2013-11-14T21:24:51Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Was there a previous thread about this? It sounds familiar. Yes there [was.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=646519&highlight=Ekirch) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/9 "2013-11-14T21:36:27Z")
In merchant ships the traditional watches were 4 hours on / 4 hours off so the most sleep you could get was 4 hours at a time. I realize this is very different from life ashore but it may have been set that way for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/10 "2013-11-14T21:41:08Z")
Sorry, newbie here. ---
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/11 "2013-11-14T22:45:23Z")
Thinking about this…what if it was just a cultural norm? If it’s “natural”, then we should see preindustrial people all over the world who sleep like this. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/12 "2013-11-15T00:46:01Z")
> [@amorali](#): > > Thinking about this…what if it was just a cultural norm? If it’s “natural”, then we should see preindustrial people all over the world who sleep like this. I don’t think you can really separate out cultural, “natural” or technological factors in this case. Humans are a tropical species yet we spread all over the globe before good sources of artificial night lighting were invented. If there is such a thing as a “natural” sleep pattern, you would only see it among non-industrial people in tropical regions where the daylight doesn’t shift much over the course of the year. Everyone else had to adapt to a sleep pattern that either shifted over the course of the year, was augmented by artificial lighting or both. Those adaptions could be considered cultural but they are also born out of natural necessity as well. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/13 "2013-11-15T01:04:00Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > Never heard of the stuff in the link. I awake 2 or 3 times during the night - I would rather not! I like to say that I sleep like a baby, because I wake up 3 or 4 times a night, to pee in my case. I didn’t think this kind of thing was supposed to happen to a woman; I know it does with men. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/14 "2013-11-15T01:04:58Z")
> [@amorali](#): > > They claim people used to wake up in the middle of the night, stay awake for a couple of hours, and then go back to sleep. I’ve been doing this the past couple years but my doctor blames it on menopause, not archaic behavior patterns. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/15 "2013-11-15T01:25:25Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’ve been doing this the past couple years but my doctor blames it on menopause, not archaic behavior patterns. It could be both - it isn’t a stretch to think that menopause is effecting your melatonin production/secretion/whatever to an extent that would cause you to revert to more of a bimodal sleep pattern. There isn’t a hole lot of research done on this as it takes a while to do these studies and most people have a life and can’t participate - they aren’t cheap - and there isn’t much money in it. Most doctors aren’t going to be trained in this theory - as it was not really “rediscovered” until recently and there isn’t much that can be done with it from a practical standpoint. The one thing I have found helpful is to change my perspective from “you should have 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep” “It was one time very common - in fact normal to get two periods of ~ 3 - 4 hours of sleep” And basically not feel like something is necessarily wrong if you wake up after 4 hours. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/16 "2013-11-15T03:09:59Z")
If you have young kids, you know a lot about segmented sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/17 "2013-11-15T04:18:32Z")
I frequently do this. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/18 "2013-11-15T15:47:49Z")
I often wake up between 4 to 6 AM, begin my morning routine, then go back to sleep for another couple hours after realizing I’m still tired. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/19 "2013-11-15T18:15:33Z")
Does this have any bearing on three squares a day? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927/20 "2013-11-15T22:09:20Z")
I experience interrupted sleep any time we have a power failure. Setting around with flashlights sucks. So we go to bed right after dark (6pm). Wake up at 11pm or earlier. Stare at the wall for an hour or two until falling asleep again. You manage to sleep until dawn if you’re lucky. I have a generator now. My fridge uses most of its power. But I still go to bed early because it still sucks being awake in a dark house with only one light plugged into an extension cord. Still need flashlights to visit the toilet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-sleep-in-two-parts/673927.md?page=2)