

Turn your lights off at dusk to enjoy the deep, mystical sleep of our ancestors - igonvalue
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/05/19/want-to-experience-the-deep-mystical-sleep-of-our-ancestors-turn-your-lights-off-at-dusk/

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rootbear
I've heard about this before, that prior to ubiquitous artificial lighting,
people slept in two blocks of time. What fascinates me is that we seem to have
collectively forgotten about it. Only now are researchers going back, as the
article says, to old journals and stories, which often mention "second sleep".
As someone who has trouble sleeping enough, I'm tempted to try this out some
day.

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digi_owl
I suspect that a lot of the stuff we take as "natural" these days where
actually artificially introduced during the industrial revolution to help the
factory owners get as much bang as possible out of the workforce.

For example there was the enclosure movement in England that possibly lead
many a former farmer to move to the city to get a job. This because they no
longer had access to enough common grazing land and such.

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ricardobeat
> in about three week’s time, beginning around six hours after sunset each
> evening

At the height of summer the night doesn't even last five hours (northern
europe), how would you cope with that?

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vorotato
The article implies that this is some sort of replacement for meditation, yet
meditation predates one cycle sleep.

Anecdotally I've found that different people need different amounts of sleep,
but many people benefit sleeping sooner rather than later. Most people will
strongly defend their late sleeping, that they've "tried early sleeping" and
it's just not for them. Usually they haven't committed long enough for their
body to get used to it.

Personally I would rather wake early than stay up late to work on something.
At least you're approaching the problem with a clear mind and well rested.
Many hours are wasted in the night where people aren't thinking clearly,
spinning their wheels on problems which could be solved with a different
approach. This only gets worse with age.

I'm sure I'll hear accounts of people who are "not morning people". A little
exercise in the morning will wake you right up.

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ende
I would think that there are several evolutionary advantages for a species
with non-homogenous sleeping patterns. Someone has to be mentally alert
through the night.

