Eight hours of continuous sleep is a modern and artificial rest pattern. Some people are fortunate to have adapted to it fairly well, but for many of us, our bodies remember a different time. Night used to be longer. Before electric light and Facebook, people went to bed earlier. There was no requirement that sleep be condensed into an efficient 8 hour bundle, and so, our ancestors enjoyed segmented sleep, or divided sleep. Historical records show that people typically slept for 4 hours (first sleep), then woke for 2 hours, and then slept again (second sleep). The night-time wakefulness period was an interesting time spent in prayer, conversation, contemplation and sex. 16th century doctor’s manuals advised that the best time to conceive was during the night-time wakefulness after ‘first sleep’. Modern studies of segmented sleep have detected unique hormonal events that occur during the night-time wakefulness period. For example, there is a surge in the pituitary hormone prolactin. Some sleep experts believe that this may have been beneficial for our physiology and ability to adapt to stress.

Don’t panic if you wake at night

In modern times, we have condensed the two sleep periods and eliminated the night-time meditative state. This is a more time-efficient rest. It leaves more hours to get things done, and according to medical research, it is probably good enough for our health. But 8 continuous hours is not always easy to do. Insomniacs can feel a lot of pressure and distress at the inability to rest in this condensed way. If you are one of us who cannot always sleep on command, then give yourself a break. It may simply means that you are failing to contort your physiology into a modern-day trick that is not for everyone. According to sleep psychologist Gregg Jacobs:

"Waking up during the night is part of normal human physiology.”

There are other ways to rest. If you cannot sleep 8 continuous hours, then spread it out. Consider a daytime siesta. Consider spending more hours in bed to allow for a little night-time wakefulness. Originally posted on Lara Briden's Healthy Hormone Blog