[seven4]

One unintended consequence of Covid19 related lockdown/work from home has been less commute and more hours to sleep.

This is the most regular/high quality sleep i've had in years and I'm only now seeing how badly my normal sleep habits have been effecting me. Experimenting with any non-monophasic sleep pattern sounds exhausting and I'm afraid could have serious health impacts...would love to see the science/literature evolve to a point of consensus though.

[ashtonkem]

Biphasic and triphasic are actually pretty normal, historically. Modern humans go to bed super late compared to our pre-electricity brethren; most people the world over would go to bed super early and have a “first” and “second” sleep, plus maybe an afternoon nap.

You’ll notice this effect if you go camping. The moment the sun goes down you’ll crash much sooner than you would at home, and you might find yourself fully awake at 2am or so.

[ghettoimp]

> Biphasic and triphasic are actually pretty normal, historically.

Is there evidence of this? I'm not doubting - I think I've seen this suggested before. I just don't know how people figured this out?

[ashtonkem]

Oh, there’s tons of evidence for this, largely in the writings of pre-electricity figures who clearly treated the subject as common knowledge. Advice manuals from the time even indicate that this was the best time for couples to conceive.

Modern tribes without access to continuous light actually still sleep like this too, which is fascinating.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783

[samtheprogram]

Anecdotally I remember reading that in Britain it used to be more common for some to wake up in the middle of the night and do light reading, but you’ll probably want to do some more research as I don’t recall the source.

[jabirali]

Maybe check the references in this article?

https://theconversation.com/did-we-used-to-have-two-sleeps-r...

[kccqzy]

Biphasic sleep is pretty common in Asian cultures. An afternoon nap is common in pre-schools and elementary schools, less common but still not non-existent in higher education and the workplace.

[eru]

Compare also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siesta

[forgotmypw17]

I have adopted this type of strategy, though I've had to adjust it for city life.

Because of round-the-clock lights, I do not get the same signals from the sun and the darkness as before.

So I stay up as long as I will until I feel tired. Then, I sleep for as long as I want to until I want to get up.

If I only want to take a nap, I lie down on the carpet without taking my clothes off. If I want to sleep longer, I go to bed.

This is similar to when I am outdoors. If I only want to take a nap, I just lie down wherever, as long as it's out of the way. If I want to sleep longer, I put everything away, get in my sleeping bag or blanket, etc.

The way I feel now compared to how I felt when I was working office jobs, coming in at the same time every day, working the same hours, and then going home, and having to force myself to sleep in order to get up in the morning, is night and day. I feel fully rested, clear-minded, like I've run a full defrag, charged my battery to 100%.

This is despite the office work being in my 20s, and me now being in late 30s.

[laurieg]

Midnight used to be the middle of the night, hence the name. Now it's when you think "Oh, I'll just check twitter one more time"

Try telling a modern person you go to bed at 8 and wake up 4. They'll look at you like you're insane.

[esperent]

Speak for yourself. I try and sleep by 10 every night, unless I'm socialising, then get up at 6am.

[ashtonkem]

That’s still far from the middle of the night for you.

[alessivs]

> Experimenting with any non-monophasic sleep pattern sounds exhausting and I'm afraid could have serious health impacts

I assume you speak for yourself. Biphasic sleep is not an abnormal occurrence and actually quite embedded in some non-anglo cultures (e.g. late afternoon opening times). Even when occurring naturally, it isn't extravagant to be aware of provisions so that nap time doesn't cause a naturally avoidable interference.[1]

[1]: https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Best_time_for_napping

[corty]

I would guess that biphasic sleep was killed by the common consumption of stimulant drugs like tea or coffee in western culture.

[ashtonkem]

Depends which kind of biphasic you’re talking about.

Afternoon naps were probably killed by stimulants. But the “first” and “second” sleep historically common were probably killed off by the electric light.

[abeppu]

That's an interesting guess -- I had read that biphasic sleep was common in the West prior to the industrial revolution, when work for long days away from home was common, and light began to be more available at night.

Maybe the right kind of historian is around to answer: Was biphasic sleep also the norm in preindustral societies that had tea or coffee cultures relatively early?

[taeric]

I would guess electric lights.

[corty]

That doesn't make sense to me, siesta wastes precious daylight. If anything, the availability of light at night should have promoted daytime sleep, if there was any influence.

[nijaru]

Growing up somewhere with a Mediterranean climate that has hot summers, I’ve always assumed it was to sleep through the heat before a/c was invented.

[taeric]

There is almost certainly something to this. Sun exposure is dangerous.

[nradov]

How can people sleep during the hottest part of the day? I've never been able to manage that.

[taeric]

Lights help extend the evening. Such that you sort of barrel through a time that would make you tired by just cranking up the light.

[tom_mellior]

> I assume you speak for yourself. Biphasic sleep is not an abnormal occurrence and actually quite embedded in some non-anglo cultures

I think you misunderstood the parent, and your reaction seems a bit confrontational. Surely the parent wasn't suggesting that a good night's sleep plus an afternoon nap "sounds exhausting" and "could have serious health impacts". They were talking about patterns that do not include a good night's sleep.

[alessivs]

Ah, that's an understandable interpretation, but my response was not meant to be unnecessarily confrontational. If anything, the closing sentence was an admission that, while we seem wired to sleep mono or biphasically and maintain good health, a poorly executed second sleep block had the potential to compromise it, and that there were provisions that in my judgment were worth knowing.

[m463]

I can take a nap if I feel tired. Usually in the afternoon, which would have been impossible when in the office.