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Are your sleep patterns out of whack?

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Are our sleep patterns completely wrong?

If you tend to wake up in the middle of the night, don’t be alarmed. This might be exactly what your body is meant to do.

As humans, one of our basic needs is getting enough sleep. But, try as we may, some of us just can’t sleep all the way through the recommended six to eight hours per night, causing us to suspect insomnia, anxiety and other health problems. If you’re one of these people, you might be surprised to learn that these waking periods may be a very natural, healthy habit.

Segmented or biphasic sleep, where you sleep in two phases during the night, could suit the human body better than trying to sleep in one long stretch.


How humans slept centuries ago

Sleep deprivation is a common problem, and sleep experts worldwide are seeking ways to help us get a good night’s rest.

In his own search for alternative sleep practices, Virginia Tech University anthropologist and historian Professor Roger Ekirch did a 16-year-long research project on the sleeping patterns of people some 600 years ago. He found that, back then, sleeping in stages was the norm. In his book, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past (2001), Ekirch reveals a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks. “Homer and Chaucer both refer to the ancient practice of a short ‘fyrste sleep’ at dusk, after which people awoke and talked, read, prayed, had sex, brewed beer or pondered their dreams before a second sleep till dawn,” Ekirch writes.

At the time, Ekirch’s research attracted much interest from sleep scientists. However, some experts voiced their concern that sleep patterns from six centuries ago might not be applicable to modern times.

A case in point 
So, to investigate the benefits of segmented sleep in modern times, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr left a group of study participants in a dark environment for 14 hours a day for a study period of one month. The subjects were allowed to sleep as often as they wanted to. Although adapting to the new sleep environment was difficult at first, by the fourth week the test subjects remarkably started sleeping in segments: they first slept for four hours, then awoke for about two hours, and finally slept again for another four-hour segments.

In his published results in Sleep, under the title “Homeostatic Regulation of REM Sleep in Humans during Extended Sleep”, Wehr concluded that biphasic sleeping is the most natural sleep pattern – and that it may be beneficial, rather than a form of insomnia.

He also deduced that modern humans are chronically sleep-deprived, which may be why we usually take only 15 minutes to fall asleep, and why we try our best not to wake up in the night.

Ekirch’s writings echo these findings: “A glance through history books... shows that our idea of an eight-hour sleep is actually very recent and only came about with gas lighting and industrialisation in the late 18th century. Before this, people did what many insomniacs still do: they had two sleeps.”

With the advent of artificial light, manufacturing and the working week, sleep evolved into a fixed period of six to eight hours in one long sleep period every 24 hours, says Dr Irshaad Ebrahim, a neuropsychiatrist at the London Sleep Centre.

But this doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it.

From a sleep biology perspective, the brain does need between six to eight hours of sleep every 24 hours, says Dr Ebrahim. “But as long as one gets the requisite amount of the different types of sleep, the benefits (of segmented sleep) should be the same as having sleep in a single sleep period.”

Sleep tips:

  • Set consistent sleep and wake schedules, even over weekends.
  • Create a regular, relaxing routine (a hot bath and/or listening to soothing music) an hour or two before getting into bed.
  • Keep your bedroom as dark as possible, and also quiet, comfortable and cool.
  • Invest in a comfortable mattress and pillows.
  • Keep TVs, phones, tablets and computers out of the bedroom.
  • Have your last meal at least two to three hours before bedtime.
  • Exercise regularly.
  • Don’t have caffeine or alcohol before bedtime.
  • Quit smoking.

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