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Biphasic / Polyphasic Sleep

MrRING

Android Futureman
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
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I have heard that Biphasic sleep was a common phenomenon in the European Middle Ages, where people would wake up in the middle of the night and be active for a few hours, then go back to sleep. I was curious, so I set out to learn a little bit more.

What it is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphasic_and_polyphasic_sleep
Biphasic sleep (or diphasic, bimodal or bifurcated sleep) is the practice of sleeping during two periods over 24 hours, while polyphasic sleep refers to sleeping multiple times – usually more than two.[1] Each of these is in contrast to monophasic sleep, which is one period of sleep over 24 hours. Segmented sleep and divided sleep may refer to polyphasic or biphasic sleep, but may also refer to interrupted sleep, where the sleep has one or several shorter periods of wakefulness. A common form of biphasic or polyphasic sleep includes a nap, which is a short period of sleep, typically taken between the hours of 9 am and 9 pm as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period.

Here's some of the historical work from the same article:
Historical norm
Historian A. Roger Ekirch[17][19] has argued that before the Industrial Revolution, interrupted sleep was dominant in Western civilization. He draws evidence from documents from the ancient, medieval, and modern world.[18] Other historians, such as Craig Koslofsky,[20] have endorsed Ekirch's analysis.

According to Ekirch's argument, adults typically slept in two distinct phases, bridged by an intervening period of wakefulness of approximately one hour.[19] This time was used to pray and reflect,[21] and to interpret dreams, which were more vivid at that hour than upon waking in the morning. This was also a favorite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted, whereas still others visited neighbors, engaged in sexual activity, or committed petty crime.[19]:311–323

The human circadian rhythm regulates the human sleep-wake cycle of wakefulness during the day and sleep at night. Ekirch suggests that it is due to the modern use of electric lighting that most modern humans do not practice interrupted sleep, which is a concern for some writers.[22] Superimposed on this basic rhythm is a secondary one of light sleep in the early afternoon.

The brain exhibits high levels of the pituitary hormone prolactin during the period of nighttime wakefulness, which may contribute to the feeling of peace that many people associate with it.[23]

The modern assumption that consolidated sleep with no awakenings is the normal and correct way for human adults to sleep, may lead people to consult their doctors fearing they have maintenance insomnia or other sleep disorders.[18] If Ekirch's hypothesis is correct, their concerns might best be addressed by reassurance that their sleep conforms to historically natural sleep patterns.[24]

Ekirch has found that the two periods of night sleep were called "first sleep" (occasionally "dead sleep") and "second sleep" (or "morning sleep") in medieval England. He found that first and second sleep were also the terms in the Romance languages, as well as in the language of the Tiv of Nigeria. In French, the common term was premier sommeil or premier somme; in Italian, primo sonno; in Latin, primo somno or concubia nocte.[19]:301–302 He found no common word in English for the period of wakefulness between, apart from paraphrases such as first waking or when one wakes from his first sleep and the generic watch in its old meaning of being awake. In old French an equivalent generic term is dorveille, a portmanteau of the French words dormir (to sleep) and veiller (to be awake).

Because members of modern industrialised societies, with later evening hours facilitated by electric lighting, mostly do not practice interrupted sleep, Ekirch suggests that they may have misinterpreted and mistranslated references to it in literature. Common modern interpretations of the term first sleep are "beauty sleep" and "early slumber". A reference to first sleep in the Odyssey was translated as "first sleep" in the seventeenth century, but, if Ekirch's hypothesis is correct, was universally mistranslated in the twentieth.[19]:303

In his 1992 study "In short photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic", Thomas Wehr had eight healthy men confined to a room for fourteen hours of darkness daily for a month. At first the participants slept for about eleven hours, presumably making up for their sleep debt. After this the subjects began to sleep much as people in pre-industrial times had. They would sleep for about four hours, wake up for two to three hours, then go back to bed for another four hours. They also took about two hours to fall asleep.[16]

And I did come across this site where somebody experimented with a biphasic pattern with mixed results:
http://renaissancehumans.com/what-two-weeks-of-biphasic-sleep-did-to-me-polyphasic-sleep/

Does anybody here have any long-term experience with trying it?
 
I've evolved (devolved? ... ) into a biphasic lifestyle over the last decade, with it becoming my standard in the last 3 - 4 years.

Some background:

In my younger days I was a very regular sleeper - 5 to 6 cycles of circa 1.5 hours each, all in one session. Once I got into my 50's I noticed this dropped to 4 to 5 cycles. At present I find it difficult to stay 'down' for more than 3 - 4 cycles at a stretch.

I've been privileged to work from home, on my own schedule, for some 17 years now. This has afforded me the luxury of going to bed whenever I want, whether for the daily 'major' sleep or a discretionary nap. In other words, the only 'clock' I usually have to attend to is my somatic state.

The 'major' sleep period nowadays typically runs for 3 or 4 cycles. The 'minor' daily nap typically runs for 1 or 2 cycles. I informally track my daily sleep, and I consistently get 4 - 6 cycles during any 24-hour period.

On those occasions when I'm really tired / exhausted (e.g., rare full-day waking exertions; on road trips adhering to others' timetables) my 'major' sleep period will naturally extend to 5 - 6 cycles as needed. Even in these situations where my sleep period 'chunking' varies, I maintain the overall daily average without willful management. Shifting from biphasic to temporarily all-in-one (uniphasic? ... ) isn't as big a hassle as (e.g.) jet lag in decades past. As often as not I simply shift to the alternative schedule with no noticeable side effects.

Now that I'm in my mid-60's the biphasic routine works well, it feels 'natural', and I'm habituated to it. Owing to other aging effects, I don't believe I can reliably self-evaluate, much less claim, whether it's 'better' or 'worse' than following the conventional all-in-one daily sleep pattern.
 
Very interesting to read of your experience with it. Does unnatural electric light or devices interfere with your sleep at all?
 
The way we sleep is unnatural, if you compare it with other large mammals.
Animals will have bursts of activity and then have several periods of sleep throughout the whole day. Many animals also sleep after eating a meal. Many animals also hibernate.
I must say, for a couple of hours after eating lunch, I feel tired enough to take 40 winks. The only problem with that is that I'm at work, on someone else's 'dollar' and there is nowhere for me to lie down and snooze.
Spanish-speaking countries have got the right idea with their 'siesta' time.
 
Very interesting to read of your experience with it. Does unnatural electric light or devices interfere with your sleep at all?

No - at least not in my home environment. I have blackout curtains installed in my bedroom, so light isn't an issue. I have my home phone configured so that all I have to do is close the bedroom door to prevent being wakened by a phone call. The wireless handset next to my bed has its ringer totally disabled, and the main unit's ringer volume is dialed down to where it's too faint to wake me if the door is closed.

If a caller leaves a voice message, however, the bedroom handset's speaker will present the message (i.e., that function's not disabled like the ringer). I like this, because it means the only time I can be awakened is when a call is probably important enough to warrant being awakened.

The only problem is external noise. I live in a relatively quiet place, facing away from the street. The main sound problems I have come from the weekly visits by the groundskeeping / mowing crew.
 
I think I have become biphasic over the past 2 months of not working at all. Pretty much the same cycles as EG above. Now I'm starting back working at semi-regular but much shorter hours, I still need to somehow switch back to some extent. I've found that a night or two of horrible sleep (like last night's - about 2 hrs at depth and several dream-punctuated sweaty dozes) brings on the longer nightly deep cycles according to need, meaning my mono-phasic cycle will probably re-establish pretty much immediately.

Towards the end of my last work year, I had established an early night routine and was getting great sleep nightly and waking refreshed. This was forced, but I'm glad I got to experience success. I'd always felt I am most alive between 8-12pm, but it eventually left me a deadhead on the 9-5 regime. I hope I never have to work that unnatural block of exhaustion again.

Some employers are slowly evolving to understand how to ensure best productivity from employees without needing to juice us like the proverbial lemon. Too bad my previous employer couldn't get it through their thick, greedy, economically rationalist heads. Pretty dense for a university that likes to imagine it is on then cutting edge of research and best practice. Load o'shite. They're old school top down management thu n thru. Glad to see the last of them.
 
Biphasic sleep has worked really well for me.

I had years of never being refreshed by sleep no matter how much I got, even 12 hours would not be enough, and would be utterly miserable and exhausted all day. To the point I would have anxiety attacks as my body tried to keep itself awake during the day. Took multiple sleep studies, doctors did blood work, etc to find a cause, but they all came back normal. No apnea, nothing. I was diagnosed with depression.

During a period of unemployment I decided I would just let my body sleep whenever it wanted and not set any alarms. It wound up in biphasic, sleeping from midnight-1am or so until 7-8am, then awake for a couple of hours, then sleep until noon. Most importantly after doing that for a while my energy came back and the anxiety attacks disappeared. I still felt weird as I was unaware biphasic sleep was a thing. I eventually discovered Roger Ekirch's work and that biphasic sleep was a real thing and not just something only I did, and finally felt like a normal human being.

I took a job that was going to be second shift (2pm-11pm) after some months of training on first shift (8am-5pm). While in training I was in monophasic sleep again, and my anxiety/unable to sleep enough/exhausted all day came back. When I finished the training and was moved to second shift I went back to the biphasic sleep schedule I had when unemployed, and the anxiety/sleep/exhaustion went away again.

So that sleep style definitely works for me. In my morning awake period I take care of chores/shopping etc. I'm in my 40's. I don't use blackout curtains or anything, my neighborhood is quiet, I have no problem sleeping in the daylight hours. It's not great for socializing though, since I work second shift on Friday nights I am at work.
 
I've evolved (devolved? ... ) into a biphasic lifestyle over the last decade, with it becoming my standard in the last 3 - 4 years.

Some background:

In my younger days I was a very regular sleeper - 5 to 6 cycles of circa 1.5 hours each, all in one session. Once I got into my 50's I noticed this dropped to 4 to 5 cycles. At present I find it difficult to stay 'down' for more than 3 - 4 cycles at a stretch.

I've been privileged to work from home, on my own schedule, for some 17 years now. This has afforded me the luxury of going to bed whenever I want, whether for the daily 'major' sleep or a discretionary nap. In other words, the only 'clock' I usually have to attend to is my somatic state.

The 'major' sleep period nowadays typically runs for 3 or 4 cycles. The 'minor' daily nap typically runs for 1 or 2 cycles. I informally track my daily sleep, and I consistently get 4 - 6 cycles during any 24-hour period.

On those occasions when I'm really tired / exhausted (e.g., rare full-day waking exertions; on road trips adhering to others' timetables) my 'major' sleep period will naturally extend to 5 - 6 cycles as needed. Even in these situations where my sleep period 'chunking' varies, I maintain the overall daily average without willful management. Shifting from biphasic to temporarily all-in-one (uniphasic? ... ) isn't as big a hassle as (e.g.) jet lag in decades past. As often as not I simply shift to the alternative schedule with no noticeable side effects.

Now that I'm in my mid-60's the biphasic routine works well, it feels 'natural', and I'm habituated to it. Owing to other aging effects, I don't believe I can reliably self-evaluate, much less claim, whether it's 'better' or 'worse' than following the conventional all-in-one daily sleep pattern.


How are your bloods? Interrupted sleep can lead to higher Blood sugar levels. As when you are woken suddenly cortisol, adrenaline is pumped into the body? Also your leptids etc are effected and you ability to regulate the feelings of hunger.
 
How are your bloods? Interrupted sleep can lead to higher Blood sugar levels. As when you are woken suddenly cortisol, adrenaline is pumped into the body? Also your leptids etc are effected and you ability to regulate the feelings of hunger.
You asked Enola but personally my bloods chemistry is fine. I've had it tested during the wake phase and my results were not significantly different than during monophasic.

My blood pressure dropped by around 20/20 points when sleeping biphasic, from elevated to normal range. My doctor didn't know about my sleep schedule, and he was surprised to say the least that I was suddenly in a normal range. I don't attribute the blood pressure improvement to biphasic per se, but my body being more relaxed than under monophasic where my body was trying hard to stay awake. That's only a guess though.

My food schedule is wake from main sleep phase, eat something light, second sleep phase, eat lunch, eat dinner, something light before bed like some fruits, main sleep phase. My weight has stayed about the same.
 
How are your bloods? Interrupted sleep can lead to higher Blood sugar levels. As when you are woken suddenly cortisol, adrenaline is pumped into the body? Also your leptids etc are effected and you ability to regulate the feelings of hunger.

No change in blood work. My sleep isn't 'interrupted'; it's permitted to happen as the body requires.

I haven't been regularly / proactively awakened at a certain time (e.g., by an alarm) since I became a telecommuter over 17 years ago. If I need to be awake by a certain time, I can adjust my bedtime and reliably surface within a target range. Up until a few years ago (when my natural 'major' period shifted from 4 down to 3 cycles) I could so reliably assume I'd awake in 6 hours that I stopped even setting an alarm as a precaution.

My eating itinerary, like my sleep itinerary, has been free-floating for a couple of decades now. I actually eat less than I did when I was operating on a fixed schedule and doing the traditional 3 meals per day. My body is currently kept happy with one major and one minor meal per day.

It struck me that perhaps you meant to aim these questions at kamalktk, who I see has responded in the mean time ...
 
No change in blood work. My sleep isn't 'interrupted'; it's permitted to happen as the body requires.

I haven't been regularly / proactively awakened at a certain time (e.g., by an alarm) since I became a telecommuter over 17 years ago. If I need to be awake by a certain time, I can adjust my bedtime and reliably surface within a target range. Up until a few years ago (when my natural 'major' period shifted from 4 down to 3 cycles) I could so reliably assume I'd awake in 6 hours that I stopped even setting an alarm as a precaution.

My eating itinerary, like my sleep itinerary, has been free-floating for a couple of decades now. I actually eat less than I did when I was operating on a fixed schedule and doing the traditional 3 meals per day. My body is currently kept happy with one major and one minor meal per day.

It struck me that perhaps you meant to aim these questions at kamalktk, who I see has responded in the mean time ...

yep sorry guys. Good though Enola.
 
It's interesting as I've read nightshift people saying they can't sleep during the day because of construction, etc and people are telling them to "deal with it" because people have to work during the day.

Yeah well at 02:00am in the morning when your house is on fire or you're having a heart attack you expect services to turn up and know what they are doing. Not always easy if you are horribly sleep deprived.
 
It's interesting as I've read nightshift people saying they can't sleep during the day because of construction, etc and people are telling them to "deal with it" because people have to work during the day.

Yeah well at 02:00am in the morning when your house is on fire or you're having a heart attack you expect services to turn up and know what they are doing. Not always easy if you are horribly sleep deprived.
With evidence increasingly showing that abnormal sleep patterns as a result of shift work, have long term implications for mental and physical health, it's only a matter of time before health and safety rules start to cover it and define the permissible patterns and duration and so on. Equally, the pay rates for such work will have to compensate for the potential risks.
 
All really interesting stuff. Was it not the Victorians who were largely responsible for the modern working day? They've got a lot to answer for.

Having retired some years ago I find that late afternoon, no matter what I have been doing or whatever the weather or time of year, I need to sleep for 20 minutes. Its always 20 no more or no less and apparently research has shown it is good for long term health. I find that if I cant do this for whatever reason I have difficulty getting to sleep at night as well.
Sleep patterns seem to be much more important than we think. I recently caught part of a radio programme where sleep was being discussed and one theory was that during sleep certain chemicals were cleared from the brain. It had been found that in dementia sufferers there was a much higher formation of these chemicals in the brain. Didnt catch the rest but anyone got any more info on this?
 
Isn't afternoon naps common for retired people? Here we even refer to such naps as Grandpas.
 
Isn't afternoon naps common for retired people? Here we even refer to such naps as Grandpas.
Yeah, my Dad falls asleep several times throughout the day. Probably because he can't sleep properly at night.
 
My sleep patterns aren't great. But I find when I'm not working, I do tend to sleep for 20 - 30 minutes during the afternoon and it does do me the world of good.
 
All really interesting stuff. Was it not the Victorians who were largely responsible for the modern working day? They've got a lot to answer for.
It might be possible to find some material on the typical small-holders sleep patterns pre-the enclosure act and to see if sleep patterns then were biphasic and whether the change from this way of life (due to enclosure of common lands) to that of an employed farm-worker and thence to mill worker instigated such a change.
 
Yep, that's a good point. Did people get more sleep before industrialisation? There's probably no information about that.
 
Regimentation in daily worker schedules was one of the central requirements for exploiting the Industrial Revolution. I've seen occasional references to scheduling issues (e.g., everyone having to be at work at a certain time each morning) as causes for worker discontent and rebellion during the turbulent early days of the Industrial Revolution.

Insofar as this transition's primary workforce innovation was to engage lesser-skilled workers no doubt drawn primarily from agrarian backgrounds, I suspect sleep habits were one of the requisite adaptations causing stress.
 
Regimentation in daily worker schedules was one of the central requirements for exploiting the Industrial Revolution. I've seen occasional references to scheduling issues (e.g., everyone having to be at work at a certain time each morning) as causes for worker discontent and rebellion during the turbulent early days of the Industrial Revolution.

Insofar as this transition's primary workforce innovation was to engage lesser-skilled workers no doubt drawn primarily from agrarian backgrounds, I suspect sleep habits were one of the requisite adaptations causing stress.
It must be remembered though that many (we're talking 'in the UK') who became factory workers were glad of a regular wage and employment.

After enclosures, landowners employed as and when they saw fit - for many freeholders who made their own existence in part from working on farms and in part by their own labour, the situation worsened in this period. Previously there could take the highest paying or best employer for seasonal work and make their own living otherwise. Once the free-holding side went, these folk were at the mercy of the farm owner. For many, factories were an improvement on this situation.
 
This Science Alert article (reprinted from The Conversation) provides a historical review and some of the arguments concerning the need to allow for biphasic sleep habits.
Humans Used to Sleep in Two Shifts, And Maybe We Should Start It Again

... While nighttime awakenings are distressing for most sufferers, there is some evidence from our recent past that suggests this period of wakefulness occurring between two separate sleep periods was the norm.

Throughout history, there have been numerous accounts of segmented sleep, from medical texts, to court records and diaries, and even in African and South American tribes, with a common reference to "first" and "second" sleep. ...

Anthropologists have found evidence that during preindustrial Europe, bi-modal sleeping was considered the norm. Sleep onset was determined not by a set bedtime, but by whether there were things to do.

Historian A. Roger Ekirch's book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past describes how households at this time retired a couple of hours after dusk, woke a few hours later for one to two hours, and then had a second sleep until dawn.

During this waking period, people would relax, ponder their dreams, or have sex. Some would engage in activities like sewing, chopping wood, or reading, relying on the light of the moon or oil lamps.

Ekirch found references to the first and second sleep started to disappear during the late 17th century. This is thought to have started in the upper classes in Northern Europe and filtered down to the rest of Western society over the next 200 years.

Interestingly, the appearance of sleep maintenance insomnia in the literature in the late 19th century coincides with the period where accounts of split sleep start to disappear. Thus, modern society may place unnecessary pressure on individuals that they must obtain a night of continuous consolidated sleep every night, adding to the anxiety about sleep and perpetuating the problem. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-used-to-sleep-in-two-shifts-and-maybe-we-should-start-it-again
 
Working 12 hour shifts offshore I've got used to going to bed at 2000, reading until I fell asleep and getting up at 0530.
On retiring I found it hard to change this pattern and it evolved into >
Bed at 2000 and read until I fall asleep.
Wake at 0300/0400 walk the dogs.
Back to bed an hour later with a mug of tea and read until I fall asleep - usually an half an hour.
Wake again around 0730 then up for shower etc. and breakfast.
I've found the second half of my sleep period the most dream filled and very refreshing/relaxing.
Not having an alarm clock helps immensely.
Another hangover from offshore is a 15 minute nap after lunch.
 
I have suffered from insomnia to varying degrees for years and have tried many different approaches to the problem including splitting my sleep periods into two 4 hour blocks with a couple of hours in between.......it didn’t really work for me though......in retrospect I was on a hiding to nothing as the rest of the household (including 2 young kids) weren’t working to the same schedule! The noisy little buggers! What did work (but only as a short term fix) was Zopiclone (other sleeping tablets are available!) but it did have a slight side effect during the day where I felt as though I was floating/gliding along the workspace rather than walking......not an unpleasant experience by any means but I knew that it wasn’t quite right either!
 
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