This article says that the ideal of an eight-consecutive-hour chunk of sleep is relatively new, and suggests that people naturally tend towards a pattern of "first sleep" and "second sleep" separated by an hour or two. Kind of like hobbits' first breakfast and second breakfast.
Interesting! I've been doing this occasionally by accident -- I'm exhausted around 8-8:30, after K goes to bed, and I end up falling asleep and waking a few hours later, being up for an hour or so, and then returning to bed.
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ReplyDeleteI do this too! If nothing else is happening on a weekend, I often wake up early, read or do crosswords or chat with S for an hour or so in bed, and then fall back asleep for a few more hours.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there really is a benefit to the hour or two between sleeps that we lose these days, as the author suggests.