StillnessSleep history fact

Many people in pre-industrial Europe slept in two stretches, a 'first sleep' and a 'second sleep', with an hour or more awake in between. Historian A. Roger Ekirch found more than 500 references to the pattern, though how widespread it was is still debated.

At Day's Close, 2005

The story behind the card

Ekirch found the references in diaries, court records, medical books and literature: people woke after a first sleep to pray, talk, work or simply rest, then went back to bed. He argues that artificial lighting and changing daily routines pushed the pattern out. In 1992 the psychiatrist Thomas Wehr kept volunteers in 14 hours of darkness each night for a month; they settled into two blocks of about four hours' sleep with a wakeful gap between. But a 2015 study of three societies without electricity, in Tanzania, Namibia and Bolivia, found that people there slept in one stretch, a finding Ekirch disputes.

Türkçe oku

Sanayi öncesi Avrupa'da pek çok insan geceyi iki parça hâlinde uyurdu: “ilk uyku” ile “ikinci uyku” arasında bir saat, bazen daha uzun süre uyanık kalırdı. Tarihçi A. Roger Ekirch bu düzene dair 500'den fazla kayıt buldu; ne kadar yaygın olduğu ise hâlâ tartışılıyor.

At Day's Close, 2005

Ekirch bu kayıtları günlüklerde, mahkeme tutanaklarında, tıp kitaplarında ve edebiyatta buldu: insanlar ilk uykudan sonra kalkıp dua ediyor, sohbet ediyor, iş görüyor ya da sadece dinleniyor, sonra yeniden yatıyordu. Ekirch'e göre bu düzeni yapay aydınlatma ve değişen gündelik alışkanlıklar ortadan kaldırdı. 1992'de psikiyatr Thomas Wehr gönüllüleri bir ay boyunca her gece 14 saat karanlıkta tuttu; katılımcıların uykusu kısa sürede dörder saatlik iki parçaya bölündü, arada uyanık kaldıkları bir süre oluştu. Öte yandan elektriğin olmadığı üç toplumu, Tanzanya, Namibya ve Bolivya'daki toplulukları inceleyen 2015 tarihli bir araştırma, buradaki insanların geceyi tek parça uyuduğunu buldu. Ekirch bu sonuca itiraz ediyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Segmented sleep

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Many people in pre-industrial Europe slept in two stretches, a 'first sleep' and a 'second sleep', with an hour or more awake in between. Historian A. Roger Ekirch found more than 500 references to the pattern, though how widespread it was is still debated.

The story behind the card

Sources and further reading

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