Sleep is important. Good quality sleep is crucial for everyone. Rest keeps your body and mind healthy. Getting enough sleep is not only about 7 or 8 hours that everyone recommends. You need quality in your sleep, to function properly.
Most people are aware of the importance, and they take their quality sleep every night. However, some people have trouble sleeping. They tend to wake up in the middle of the night. Are you one of these people?
Do not jump to the conclusion that you have some health issue or insomnia. Although, that is possible, bear in mind that sleep has not always been a thing that lasts all night. We can reveal a new way of how we perceive the whole process of sleeping just by looking back at the past.
There are ancient references and historical records, also centuries-old literature that shows how people in the past perceived sleep.
Segmented Sleep is Normal
Do you tend to wake up in the middle of the night? Is that a common thing for you? You might ask yourself whether you have sleep apnea or insomnia. You should know that segmented sleep was normal for people before.
Seemingly the segmented sleep is an irregular sleeping pattern, but that may not mean that is a disorder. Rather it may be a biological response that is forgotten.
According to Roger Ekirch that is an English scholar our ancestors practiced segmented sleep. Our ancestors used to wake up in the middle of the night, to finish chores, meditate, or pray. Incredible right?
Roger Ekirch found literature, references in letters before the Industrial Revolution, and legal documents about “first and second sleep”.
For people back then, this segmented sleep was perfectly okay. On the other hand, unlike us, those hours between sleep people back then look at it as a time for relaxation. The middle period between the first and second sleep is approximately around midnight.
That is when the brain produces a hormone that gives the feeling of relaxation also known as prolactin.
There is a video with an explanation of how segmented sleep may lead to insomnia. Watch the video below if you want to know more.
Natural Preferences in the Human Body for Segmented Sleep
According to Roger Ekirch, most of the problems with sleeping are due to the natural preference of our body for segmented sleep. Many people have a condition where they wake up during the night and can not go back to sleep, i.e. “sleep-maintenance insomnia.” According to Roger E. that is due to our historical sleeping patterns.
Segmented sleep Mayo Clinic in the 19th century. In fact, at approximately the same time “sleep maintenance insomnia” appeared for the first time.
According to psychologist Greg Jacobs, we slept in a particular way before. Waking in the middle of the night is considered to be normal human psychology. The belief that your sleep must be constant, according to Jacobs may be damaging.
What may cause damage, is this conviction that might make people anxious when they wake up in the middle of the night. Getting anxious about it may contribute to having trouble going back to sleep again.
According to a professor at Oxford, of circadian (body clock) neuroscience Russell Foster most people when they wake up at night, panic. Sleep indirectly or directly causes more than 30 percent of the medical problems that doctors face.
They do not acknowledge that 8 -9 hours of sleep may not be natural. But that may be because sleep is not considered a lot and is mostly ignored in medical training. Only a few centers study sleep.
Next Time Before You Take Your Usual Sleeping Pill, Remember This
Our natural biorhythms are guided by exposure to darkness and light. Everyone organized their day according to the setting and rising of the sun. That was before the light bulb was discovered and introduced.