The myth of the eight-hour sleep (BBC) {very intriguing article!}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Stephanie Hegarty
BBC World Service

We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural.

In the early 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of people were plunged into darkness for 14 hours every day for a month.

It took some time for their sleep to regulate but by the fourth week the subjects had settled into a very distinct sleeping pattern. They slept first for four hours, then woke for one or two hours before falling into a second four-hour sleep.

Though sleep scientists were impressed by the study, among the general public the idea that we must sleep for eight consecutive hours persists.

In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783




A few years ago, I heard a discussion of this topic on NPR (All Things Considered?) but couldn't ever locate a reference to it, or the book discussed on that program, afterwards. I had thought the title of the book was "The Watching Hour", but apparently not.

[hlthe2b]

1. I've been doing that in recent years...

It was devastating when I was going to bed late, because when I woke up, all I could think is how little sleep time I had left that I was wasting.

I finally had to adjust my bed times to allow for it. Never knew that it was "normal"....

[RKP5637]

2. I tend to sleep this way, have for years. n/t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. A lot of people need more than eight hours of sleep a night to function.

I have always thought that the rigid "eight hours a night" propaganda was stupid.
I don't do well on eight hours. I need ten and sometimes twelve hours a night.

I am a very deep sleeper as well.

[airplaneman]

6. Im with you on needing 8 - 10 hours of sleep.

I dont feel well on less than 8. If left to my own doing I will sleep 10 every night.
In my 20's I could skip a nights sleep. Today without sleep all night I am calling in sick for work because I almost cant fucntion otherwiese.
-Airplane

[Populist_Prole]

7. Add another: me

I'm more of a night-owl ( due to my schedule ) and I consider 8 hours the absolute minimum but really need more like 10. I'll even try to calculate in my head the time between lights-out and when I wake, and subtract those times I noticed waking up in the middle of the night and looking at the clock. If it's less than 8+ hours, I'm rolling over and getting more sleep. It was even more so when I worked 3rd shift.

Sure there were times that I got much much less sleep than I needed due to isolated reasons, but I felt lousy all day. It's a bit easier rising with less than my normal amount on my days off, but I honestly can't, for the life of me...it truly boggles my mind, see how anybody can live on 4-5 hours a night consistently, as if it's normal. I'd feel so bad I think I'd actually have to get better in order to die.

[wundermaus]

4. Jessa Gamble: Our natural sleep cycle

[David__77]

5. I've always done this, when I can manage to...

For a long time, I would sleep a few hours after work, and a few hours before work, usually adding up to about 6.5 hours total.

[Muskypundit]

8. I dont get through days well without ten hours of rest.

Unfortunately, I am in the army.

[TrogL]

9. Anything longer than four hours sleep and I'm hopeless the next day