TO YOUR HEALTH
TO YOUR HEALTH
Biphasic Sleep: A Historical Perspective on Insomnia
The Sleep Debate: Experts Weigh In There is an ongoing debate among sleep experts about the necessary amount of sleep for every individual. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults need more than seven hours of sleep a night, but more than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis. Many other studies suggest the ideal amount of sleep can vary significantly from person to person. Some individuals may thrive on just six hours of sleep, while others may require nine or even ten hours to feel fully rested. Furthermore, the concept of sleep itself is not as straightforward as simply counting the hours spent in bed. The practice of sleeping through the night did not take hold until just a few hundred years ago, according to historian A. Roger Ekirch, a professor at Virginia Tech University. His research shows this change was influenced by the advent of electric lighting and the Industrial Revolution, which promoted the capitalist idea that sleep was unpro- ductive, and time could be better spent working. The work of Ekirch, and other historians, anthropologists, and sleep experts, is helping sleep scientists gain fresh perspective on what con- stitutes a good night’s sleep. It also offers new ways to cope with and think about sleep problems like insomnia. “There is value in knowing about this prior biphasic pattern of sleep in the Western world,” said Ekirch. He believes people today who suf- fer from “middle-of-the-night insomnia” (a common sleep disorder in most industrialized countries) are in fact experiencing a powerful remnant of this earlier pattern of sleep. While studying nocturnal life in preindustrial Europe and America, Ekirch found evidence many people used to sleep in biphasic stages. The waking interval was practical, allowing people to tend to fires, pray, write, and check on animals. He and other researchers believe this midnight quietness broke up long winter nights, made time seem shorter, and may have aided emotional regulation by allowing the mind to wander without the pressures of daytime obligations. When sleep scientist Thomas Wehr put volunteers in long winter darkness in the 1990s, their bodies did the same thing: two sleeps, with a calm, reflective interval in between. Biology, it seems, remembers what cul - ture forgets. The demise of the second sleep was brought on initially by the use of oil, followed by gas, and eventually electric lighting that enabled people to remain awake longer. This postponed the start of sleep and consolidated rest into a single period. The necessity for factory work to adhere to fixed schedules, along with the advent of the light bulb, made a single, extended sleep cycle more feasible and widely accept- ed, supplanting the pre-industrial biphasic pattern. The Industrial Revolution completed this transition by valuing punctual, continuous workers and establishing the eight-hour night as the norm. This shift, combined with modern distractions, has contributed to decreased to- tal sleep duration and sleep-related health issues. Questioning the Sleep Science Rethinking insomnia, Russell Foster, a professor of circadian neu- roscience at the University of Oxford, said Ekirch’s findings on bipha - sic sleep are not without controversy. Experiments in sleep labs have shown that when humans are given the opportunity to sleep longer, their sleep can become biphasic or even polyphasic, replicating what Ekirch found in historical records. However, Foster, who is also the director of the Sir Jules Thorn Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at Oxford, doubted it was a sleep pattern that would happen for everybody. “Nobody should impose a
BY ANNIE LARSON Imagine a time when waking up in the middle of the night wasn’t a sign of insomnia, but rather a natural part of how humans were meant to sleep. The concept of segmented sleep challenges the modern no- tion of uninterrupted, consolidated sleep often idealized in today’s fast-paced society. With the end of Daylight Savings time on Novem - ber 1st this year, we will gain sleep added by turning the clock back an hour. While the idea of gaining an extra hour of sleep may sound appealing, it raises interesting questions about our sleep patterns and what historically constitutes a healthy amount of rest and what bor- ders on insomnia. Biphasic sleep consisted of two separate phases of rest during the night, known as “first sleep” and “second sleep.” It was typical for peo - ple to go to bed shortly after sunset for the first sleep, aligning with the natural rhythms of the earth’s day and night cycles. First sleep usually lasted several hours. As the night went on, individuals would often wake up for a short period, typically ranging from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. This waking time was not met with worry or stress; rather, it was seen as a chance for quiet reflection in the calm of the night. Second sleep would then begin and continue until dawn. With the advent of electric lighting and the demands of contem- porary life, the natural inclination to wake during the night has been largely suppressed. Instead, individuals strive for a continuous block of sleep, often leading to frustration and the mislabeling of natural waking as a sleep disorder. The biphasic sleep phenomenon has historical roots, as it was once
common before the Industrial Revolution. Research shows that hu- mans often experience sleep in multiple phases, including light sleep, deep sleep, and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. It is entirely pos - sible some people may find themselves waking mid-evening, only to return to sleep a few hours later.
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22—PATHWAYS—Fall 26
PATHWAYS—Fall 26—23
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