Medieval sleep patterns

[Jacklinger]

Did you know that pre-industrial peoples had 2 different sleep times? They literally called it 1st sleep and 2nd sleep. 1st sleep started about an hour after sunset (so around 7pm) and ended right at midnight. Then you would get up and spend a few hours doing stuff like cleaning out your chamber pots, checking on your kids, or even having a midnight meal with neighbors by torchlight. 2nd sleep started around 3 AM and went till sunrise when your regular day started.

Imagine that, for thousands of years, every human had a night-life when they could do secret things in the dark. And they still got 8 hours of sleep because there was no point in staying awake after sundown unless you were rich and could afford piles and piles of candles and lamps. That sounds enchanting actually. Imagine going out for a walk at midnight and running into all of your friends and neighbors doing the same thing and you all decide to go get coffee at the local pub. It would be like having a little party every night of your life.

Why did we abandon that? Stupid Thomas Edison ruined everything!

[philsen]

i saw this and laughed!

I honestly wish it was still like that now!

... i blame TV... but still how awesome would that be! i mean even if you don't get a restfull sleep at nite you at least have something to look forward to at nites (meeting up with people at such late hours)!

sounds like we lost a very good thing...

[silver_elf]

I love getting up at night... or having my schedule so I'm in bed from 2-4am until 11am-1pm ish. because it's so quiet! (and my city has NO night life whatsoever, lame-o and weird and scary downtown but anywho, it's kind of cool too at the same time)

[Jacklinger]

Even Los Angeles can get really quiet at 2am, but I'm worried about random crazy people that I've seen come out of the woodwork at those hours. Nothing stopping me from strolling around the apt complex at that hour though.

[iliketurtles]

Well it's to do with industrialised society, getting all the worker drones to the same place at the most productive (daylit) time. A lot of non-industrialised societies still don't follow the sleeping patterns we do. There's a book called "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes" (I forget who wrote it, sorry), and amongst the many interesting things one can learn about one of the most remote Amazonian tribes there's the fact that they sleep in blocks of 2-4 hours, with no set time for it. AFAIR they don't want to go into too deep a sleep because the rainforest is populated almost exclusively by things which are actively trying to sneak up and kill them. Imagine that, a whole society where people have NEVER had more than 4 hours sleep at a time.

[Starfish Loves You]

Well it's to do with industrialised society, getting all the worker drones to the same place at the most productive (daylit) time. A lot of non-industrialised societies still don't follow the sleeping patterns we do. There's a book called "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes" (I forget who wrote it, sorry), and amongst the many interesting things one can learn about one of the most remote Amazonian tribes there's the fact that they sleep in blocks of 2-4 hours, with no set time for it. AFAIR they don't want to go into too deep a sleep because the rainforest is populated almost exclusively by things which are actively trying to sneak up and kill them. Imagine that, a whole society where people have NEVER had more than 4 hours sleep at a time.

Do you mean this book (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.), by Daniel Everett? I got curious and looked online :D Sounds like an interesting read. Personally, I really enjoy going out at night (or just before dawn) for a walk -- it's positively beautiful, a lot of the time. No one else around; the streets completely deserted. I agree, it would have been lovely indeed to have been able to meet up with friends in the middle of the night for a coffee or drink, and then to have returned to bed for a short while. I don't think it would be the same, these days, though.

It annoys me, somewhat, that darkness in itself is perceived almost as 'evil', these days...