The brain exhibits high levels of the pituitary hormone prolactin during the period of nighttime wakefulness, which may contribute to the feeling of peace that many people associate with it. Superimposed on this basic rhythm is a secondary one of light sleep in the early afternoon. Ekirch suggests that it is due to the modern use of electric lighting that most modern humans do not practice interrupted sleep, which is a concern for some writers. : 311–323 The human circadian rhythm regulates the human sleep-wake cycle of wakefulness during the day and sleep at night. This was also a favourite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted, whereas still others visited neighbours, engaged in sexual activity, or committed petty crime. This time was used to pray and reflect, and to interpret dreams, which were more vivid at that hour than upon waking in the morning. According to Ekirch's argument, adults typically slept in two distinct phases, bridged by an intervening period of wakefulness of approximately one hour. Other historians, such as Craig Koslofsky, have endorsed Ekirch's analysis.
He draws evidence from more than 500 references to a segmented sleeping pattern in documents from the ancient, medieval, and modern world. Roger Ekirch has argued that before the Industrial Revolution, interrupted sleep was dominant in Western civilization. Ī belief in the need for biphasic sleeping as essential to the health of children is mentioned in a letter in the seminal nineteenth-century text Street Music in the Metropolis: Correspondence and Observations on the Existing Law, and Proposed Amendments: "With children to whom it is essential that they should have sleep twice a day, being very young, street music is a great nuisance." A case has been made that maintaining such a sleep pattern may be important in regulating stress. Along with a nap in the day, it has been argued that this is the natural pattern of human sleep in long winter nights. Interrupted sleep is a primarily biphasic sleep pattern where two periods of nighttime sleep are punctuated by a period of wakefulness. In a New York Times article, author Jesse Barron asserts that this practice was common in the past: "in the preindustrial West, most people slept in two discrete blocks." Benjamin Franklin was a prominent example of this sleeping pattern. Ī separate biphasic sleep pattern is sometimes described as segmented sleep, often consisting of going to sleep early at night, awakening in the post-midnight hours, and then returning to bed for a second period of sleep into the morning. It is the traditional daytime sleep of China, India, South Africa, Italy, Greece, Spain and, through Spanish influence, the Philippines and many Hispanic American countries. The siesta is historically common throughout the Mediterranean and Southern Europe. Such a period of sleep is a common tradition in some countries, particularly those where the weather is warm. One classic cultural example of a biphasic sleep pattern is the practice of siesta, which is a nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal. Historical use įurther information: Siesta Six hours sleep and a mid day siesta There is no scientific evidence that this practice is effective. The term polyphasic sleep is also used by an online community that experiments with alternative sleeping schedules in an attempt to increase productivity. Polyphasic sleep is common in many animals, and is believed to be the ancestral sleep state for mammals, although simians are monophasic. The circadian rhythm disorder known as irregular sleep-wake syndrome is an example of polyphasic sleep in humans. It does not imply any particular sleep schedule. Szymanski, who observed daily fluctuations in activity patterns. The term polyphasic sleep was first used in the early 20th century by psychologist J. Napping behaviour during daytime hours is the simplest form of polyphasic sleep, especially when the naps are taken on a daily basis. Segmented sleep and divided sleep may refer to polyphasic or biphasic sleep, but may also refer to interrupted sleep, where the sleep has one or several shorter periods of wakefulness, as was the norm for night sleep in pre-industrial societies.Ī common form of biphasic or polyphasic sleep includes a nap, which is a short period of sleep, typically taken between the hours of 9 am and 9 pm as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Biphasic (or diphasic, bifurcated, or bimodal) sleep refers to two periods, while polyphasic usually means more than two. Polyphasic sleep is the practice of sleeping during multiple periods over the course of 24 hours, in contrast to monophasic sleep, which is one period of sleep within 24 hours.
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