I've had sleep issues for some 10 years now. It used to stress me out, but a couple of years ago, I learned that people used to do biphasic sleep. Now, I focus on getting eight hours sleep in a day, not all at once. Very common for me to wake after three to four hours... be up for two to three hours... and then go back to sleep for another three to four hours. Works fine for me.
Oddly, a coach phoned me the other day. She said "Don't think 'depressed', think 'deep rest.' Slightly off-tangent, I know... I am embracing this new knowledge. Going to bed at 10h30 and hoping for 8h sleep has been a near impossibility for me, certainly after my 30s.
I sometimes go to bed at 7pm, wake up at midnight and stay up until 4am, then sleep until 7am. The hours I’m awake between midnight and 4am are some of the most creative, peaceful and productive hours of my day.
I go down bout 9 or 10 wake around 2 or 3 down by 4 or 5 back up by 6 or 7. Then it's to work and home by noon for a nice 1or 2 hour nap. I love my naps. It helps me to not fall asleep just going job to job or in middle of sentence of a conversation. I. Always slept like that except naps. The nap was a game changer.
Oh, my! I'm biphasic! I had no idea. I'm a retired man with occasional mild depression and what I thought was a strange pattern of sleep. I get up very early and eat, read and maybe check out a video. Then I go back to sleep. Wow! Maybe I'm actually more normal than I thought.
I am a retired and I have always been a night owl. My night pattern goes something like this: After dinner, usually around 8 pm, I go into what I call my “slump”. I usually retire to my study and start to read, but fall asleep in my easy chair. I generally wake up at midnight or so, and feel refreshed. This is when I actually get my reading done, or plan the next day scheduling, or work on other quiet tasks. I go back to sleep in my bed anywhere from 2 to 4 am. I love those quiet hours when no one is calling, texting, watching tv, or talking. Such serenity! This video was so enlightening to me. Thank you.
Yes, I sometimes follow a similar pattern & use those very early am hours to address or fix something that's been nagging or worrying me. Once completed, I can go back to bed & sleep. I love the quiet & stillness during those hours, too :)
When I was very small ( 60‘s ) I remember going to bed around 7 pm in the winter and then my Grandmother used to wake me up at 11 pm. We had something to eat then and sit around talking. It was always by Candlelight, without turning on the light. We‘d go back to bed around 1-2 am
I remember my dad telling me about his boss who had probably issues with insomnia. The boss used to say: ‘The night has many beautiful hours. It is a pity to sleep through all of them’
I’ve done biphasic sleep for many years. It’s just become part of my normal daily routine. I go to bed at about 9-30pm and always wake up at 3am. I get up, let the cats in or out of the house, have a drink of water, do things around the house, watch TH-cam videos, etc. On hot summer nights, I might even water the garden. I go back to bed at about 4am, sleep for an hour or two and start my day at 6am. It has benefits. Recently, my night time activities interrupted someone trying to steal my lawnmower. 😂😂😂
OMG!!! And I always thought I was "off" somehow. Each evening about 8-9, I just get so sleepy. Then, around midnight I wake up ready to go. Then around 2-3 AM, I'm ready for bed again. Wow, thank you. You just earned my subscription.
It makes sense, if people went to bed early, like 8 pm, then 3 am is seven hours of sleep. Wake up and it's still dark, so you take a morning nap before starting the day. That has been my pattern for about a year now. Works.
Have been reading recently that 7-8 hours sleep is a must to protect yourself from dementia. At 75 I found it a worry as I can’t sleep through the night and had started getting up early and napping during the day. After watching this I’m just going to relax into a new routine.
Don't cook with non stick cookware, use aluminum nor pesticides & herbicides on produce . That will drastically reduce the chances of getting Alzheimer's or dementia
I have been a “night watch” pattern sleeper for 30 years. I am now 60. It used to bother me until I embraced it. I am a historian and was aware of monastic hours, I figured if you can’t beat them join them. My first sleep ends around 2:30-3 AM. It was years later I was teaching sleep in a psychology class when I ran up on the study you shared. So many people are freed from anxiety when they learn of biphasic sleep. Very interesting video.❤
Exactly! I just recently accepted it and roll with it. But always had the nagging feeling I was doing something unhealthy because I couldn't sleep straight through. I do feel relieved to know that I am, indeed, falling into a natural rhythm.
I almost cried when I watched this. I’ve been a “night owl” my whole life and have felt seriously hampered and discriminated by the world in which the early bird is seen as the ideal and night owl’s are treated as lazy. When I’ve tried to force myself into being an early bird I find I’m sleepy at 7pm but would wake up at 11pm-12am frustrated because I couldn’t go back to sleep. I would feel so anxious laying in bed trying to will myself back to sleep for hours. I’m much happier when I get up and do something until I get sleepy again but I feel guilty. But not anymore! Thank you so much for this important information! ❤
I can relate to this só much!My mother and sister is “early birds”🦉 My mom always made me feel that she thought I was just lazy for being a later sleeper in the morning and going to bed later.
I relate to everything you said. I'm now retired, but years of trying to conform to getting your "8 hours a night" to be alert and ready to work was a nightmare for me. I felt guilty about falling asleep around 8 p.m. then awake at 1 a.m. full of energy for a few hours, then back to sleep at 5 a.m. Not anymore! Time to listen to your own sleep rhythms and live a better, less conforming life. I'm glad I took the time to watch this video!
I feel that I have 40+ years of sleep deprivation to make up, because I did corporate hours as a night owl. After the stress and exhaustion of a bereavement last year, in the last month or so, I have been pretty sick. And so I allowed myself to sleep normally. I have naturally drifted into two sleeps. I have started noticing that my blood sugar goes down when I have two sleeps. I need to track this a little more, but I think that my health has actually improved, and my diabetes is better controlled now. I am also naturally more creative between midnight and 3am.
Lovely! As a child I was a “ terrible sleeper”. Biphasic sleep was natural once I reached middle school and had control over my sleeping habits. I read, sewed, did homework, exercised and went back to sleep. Then it ceased when I began working full time. I was “down-sized” from my job and I started the 2 sleep pattern again. Mostly meditating and exercising before going back to sleep. Next life phase I began teaching having to get up near the hours that I was going back to sleep previously. It was nightmarish - ha. After 24 years of that hell of exhaustion I retired and here I am 4:00am with you! I think I’ll go outside, check on the moon and go back to bed. What vindication!
It's been usual for me for 35 years. I thought there was something wrong with me. I function way better with double sleep. Problem is sometimes I don't get back to sleep the second time, then my day is ruined.
My wife and I are both in our early 70’s. Maybe 5 years ago we started waking up after about 4 hours of sleep, and then we have to read ourselves back to sleep after about an hour. Both of us have considered this to be problem and sometimes self medicate with melatonin and/or OTC sleep aids to force an uninterrupted 8-hour night sleep. After hearing your podcast perhaps we should just stop fighting this biphasic sleep pattern.
Well, I am in my fifties, no health issues, and I usually am forced to get up for a pee around 3am . I must admit it doesn’t then occur to me to do housework for a couple of hours. Interesting idea though.
About 25 years ago, I was a member of a group of mostly women historians. We were celebrating 225 anniversary of our villages founding. We were interpreting our histoy through clothing. We made all of our clothing: by hand, using period methods, correct reproduction of cloth Our programs were extremely popular; attracting repeat vistors and new recruits to our program. We were extremely busy and snd having the time of our lives. We also found that most of us were wak8ng up at 3am. One brilliant lady, got out of bed at 3am went down to her sewing room and started sewing. She got in a couple of hours before returning to bed. Waking up refreshed and teady to go for our 10 am caal for duty. She shared this, and we all started our 3am(ish) sewing sessions. It was a beautiful year, full of friendship, uncovering amazing stories and pride of our town and country. Thank you for this fabulous information. I hope some some medical people pick up on this, it will relieve some anxiety. Ellicott City, Maryland, USA
I am a biphasic sleeper. I wake up every night at 3 AM and spend a couple of hours reading, watching TH-cam, tidying a bit around the house and go to bed again around 5 AM for the second sleep. Actually, it is almost 5 AM with me now and will go for the second sleep soon 😊
I have engaged in biphasic sleep my entire life. I have written five novels, comprising approximately 500,000 words total. 95% of them have been written between the hours of midnight and 6:00 AM.
@@amberp5207 I can't speak for all writers, but writing "between sleeps" has several advantages. My brain is operating in a complete vacuum of outside input, so the storyline proceeds like a mental motion picture. Also, the only pending activity is second sleep, so there are no pending activities to engage the problem-solving portion of my brain. Writing style is very individual, so any advice you hear would probably no be applicable to you personally. So, I will simply offer my style as an example. I wrote a scene, probably about 3000 words about something I liked. Then I refined and expanded it, adding the action that preceded and followed it until I had a work of 87,000 words. That defined my writing technique: non-sequential story construction. Go for it. Write some words, find you style, and just let it flow.
I have found when I had a fireplace, the heat would reduce and the chill would wake me up, I would stoke the fire warm up and return to bed. This is a time to share stories and look into the night sky.
Biphasic - I'd never heard of that term. When I was starting to wake up at 3am in retirement - I just decided it was my body telling me something. I'd get up and walk around if I couldn't sleep or just stay in bed and plan the next project or think about how to plan my garden or solve a problem. That took away the anxiety over why I couldn't sleep as I told myself why worry when it works for me. I also discovered that on full moon days I wanted to go outside and walk in my garden - go figure. Glad I saw your post, it explains why just giving in to a new sleep pattern worked.
Without knowing until I came across this video, I am a biphasic sleeper. My pattern of waking in the wee hours and then getting drowsy again between 5 and 7am became more prevalent once I retired but then I no longer had a reason to resist this pattern besides feeling guilty that I sometimes stay in bed until 10 or 11am. Now that I know this is a thing, I'm not going to fight it. I put my 50+ years into the work force. I'm going to sleep when I want now. Biphasic sleep. Who knew? Thanks for filling us all in.
I think since I’ve retired, I too have become biphasic but sometimes I fight it. I’m will have to start getting up and enjoying it. It’s like having an extra day!
My husband wakes every night at 3 am he works on his latest project or watches a movie or whatever. He will be intrigued by this. I have struggled my 60 years against insomnia and now that I am retired and don't care what time it is I go to bed when I'm tired. This sheds a universe of light on a subject I was completely unaware of. Thank you sincerely 🎉🎉🎉🎉😊
I do 2 sleaps frequently. Go to bed at 9 ish, get up at 3 or 4 am do stuff in my shop or whatever. Then when I go back to bed I do some conscience deep breathing and begin dreaming. The second sleep is for dreaming and astral travel and out of body stuff. Sometimes refered as awake back to bed technique . I strongly recomend playing with it.
I have sort of a biphasic sleep pattern that started all the way back when I was at University. I'd eat dinner, lay down for a 2-3 hour nap. Then wake refreshed and study for several hours. Then get another 3-4 hours of sleep. This worked well and I found that I retained much of what I'd studied. To an extent, I still do this 50 years later.
Especially in the winter months, I often go to bed between seven and 730 and I wake about 2 o’clock and have a couple hours of productivity and then will lay down again for an hour or so before I start my day. It used to seem weird but now I have come to embrace it and actually enjoy the quiet hours. This is how my body clock works!
I had years of wakefulness in the night. It happened that I read an article on the BBC website about two-phase sleep being the norm before the industrial age and, just as you said, it helped me so much to overcome the anxiety I suffered about not sleeping right through. I developed an idea about 'befriending the night' and started to relish the quiet and freedom from pressure of those hours alone and awake. I'd light a candle by the bed and have a cup of tea with a piece of toast. When my life became significantly less stressful and I actually began to sleep right through I would often wake in the morning and feel I'd missed out on something special!
Yes I saw that to and was amazed how many people commented on their 2sleeps and what they did in between their sleep One person even went for a jog Most did house hold chores I’m not so obsessed about my sleep now
Most nights i wake up at 1:30 or 2:00 am and just read or play a game in my phone, just for a bit, 30 minutes or an hour. It's my magical hour. After that i go back to sleep until 6. When i was young sometimes i'd find my father living his magical hour, too. We used to seat for a bit and eat bread with butter together.
So interesting! My children and I recently read about a general schedule for medieval monks, and we were fascinated by this waking up for prayer services in the middle of the night business. I never knew! I thoroughly enjoyed your discussion of the topic here. Thank you!
I have struggled with insomnia my whole life. A few years ago, I decided to go to sleep when I felt tired, not at any specific time. Now I fall asleep sometime after midnight, get about five hours, wake up for about two to three hours, and then go back to sleep until I have to get up for work. This usually averages to about seven or eight hours. Sometimes less, but getting some sleep is infinitely better than getting no sleep. I only heard about biphasic sleep a few months ago and was like, "Huh." because after years of struggling and being told to go to bed at the same time every night, etc. etc. (nonsense because if it was that easy no one would have insomnia) I realized that I had found my natural sleep pattern. Now I sleep better than I ever have. Forcing myself to lay in bed, wide awake, for a specific period of time every night like a 'normal' person was pure torture. It was comforting to learn that biphasic is also normal.
This is the first time in my life I’m hearing about biphasic sleep! As a sound engineer I’ve always had issues with my sleeping patterns. I thought I was plagued with a broken circadian rhythm because sometimes I’d be in bed by 11pm or 2am only to be awake at 3-4am. This video really was enlightening to me and I thank you for it!
I love the middle of the night. Sometimes, I'm too tired to read before bed, but I'll wake up at night and read for a while. Nightime is so peaceful and quiet and it's so much easier to read once Ive slept a little bit.
Yes! I have the same bed time reading habit. I too fall asleep before I can read more than one page at ‘first’ bed time. I then wake up between 2 and 3 am and read for 1-2 hours, then go back to sleep. It’s something that has always been frowned on by my doctors when I mention it, but I just love the quiet and calm at this time.
I love, love, love learning about how people went about their daily lives from hygiene, preserving foods, disciplining children to customs and beliefs. Thank you for sharing about how they slept in history. Loved it!!
Best sleep is the second phase. My normal interruption is a bathroom break or two. But my most intense and memorable dreams are during the second period. Had sleep issues after retiring and knew about the old way of sleeping. Bouts of insomnia- so I'd sleep whenever I could. Now my rhythm is healthy and get a teenager's dream of ten hours usually. No alarms, of course. I'm retired!
I have been practicing biphasic sleep since my teenage years. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned about the first and second sleep and was finally validated. I’ve been educating people on it ever since. As a teenager, I would sleep from maybe 11pm to 3, get up and shower, read, etc. then go back to sleep around 5-7 am. I didn’t get enough sleep though. As an adult, I fully embraced it and people thought I was so weird. I’d sleep from maybe 9 pm - 12 am (most times on the couch), wake up and do anything from laundry and dishes to reading and watching videos, then go back to sleep in my bed 2:30-3 or so until 7. Perfect. I have also gone through phases where I slept from 12-6, woke up and worked a little, read, ate breakfast, then slept again from 8-10. That worked well too when I could get away with it and was working from home.
Thank you for this post! I have been frustrated by my own "weird" sleep schedule. I typically wake around 3:am and stay awake for a few hours until I fall asleep again. Learning about this biphasic sleeping pattern gives me some peace about my personal sleep habits. I typically just open my phone and watch news or some other TH-cam channel of interest. But, the news feeds often get my blood up and lessen the likelihood of falling back into sleep. I also live with three other people so I am limited as to what I can do in the middle of the night. I remember mentioning it to my father who just passed away at 91, and he told me that I had a family "curse". He said that he does the same thing and that his father did as well. He recalls his father back in the 1940s getting up in the wee small hours and making a cup of tea and some toast and saying the Rosary before returning to bed. The information you shared is rather freeing to me. I will no longer fight the curse but rather try to embrace it and enjoy the quiet of the night.
I am a retired engineer. When I was working, I had to follow the single-phase sleep schedule and had difficulty with this at times. Now that I am retired and no longer need to wake up at any specific time, I have naturally shifted back to the bi-phase sleep schedule. It is easy for me to sleep at night, starting at 11:00pm to 12:00am, for a few hours then wake up and do things for 2-3 hours, only to go back to sleep another 2-4 hours again. After experiencing both methods, I feel more rested and recharged with the bi-phase sleep approach.
Hello Heather, this is my first visit to your channel and I'll be back! I am totally gobsmacked by this post. You're quite right that insomnia gets worse as you age and for women the menopause can trigger insomnia because we need oestrogen to sleep. I'm 75 and struggle with insomnia. I've tried all sorts of pills and potions to no avail. Having listened to what you say about the biphasic sleep pattern and also having read the fascinating comments below I realise the problem is that I've been fighting insomnia. So when I wake at 3.00 am tomorrow morning I'll relax, get up and do something interesting! Thank you so much!
I ran across this too in a book about how the industrial revolution changed home life in the countryside. They used to sometimes sit together, stoke up the fire, discuss anything that was on their minds, reassure eachother & go back to sleep. It left a lasting impression too for some reason.
Interesting. The ‘watch’ time is lovely and peaceful. I love to potter about, making soup, tidying up, listening to my books or music, guitar practice. I am now retired and living off grid so my biphasic sleep works well for me.
I've always said that it's not important how much you sleep and when, it's how rested you are. Lying in bed fretting about not sleeping is far worse than getting up and doing something. I learned this when my disability was starting. I would wake up in the small hours in pain. Getting up and moving around before settling snugly on the sofa to read was the best way to relax and get more rest. I find it interesting that as a society we're so wedded to the notion of strict routines that don't necessarily fit with our climate, work pattern and bodily requirements
@isatq2133 yes. However you'll also need to figure out whether your current sleeping position is contributing to your pain. If so, sometimes it's better to move before the pain gets worse or until you're forced into moving more quickly than you want to. It's a very individual thing so you need to work out what's important for you
I've struggled with sleep issues for years and it wasn't until I retired a few years ago that I allowed myself to follow my own biorhythms where sleep is concerned. Now I often sleep for two or three hours, am awake for two or three, then go back to sleep for another three or four. Alternately, I occasionally fall asleep about 8:30 and sleep until 6 and sort of reset myself. I have to admit that I have had to let go of all of those rules about sleep that have been drummed into me and that are really very artificial. I enjoy those quiet times in the middle of the night when the world is quiet and my mind is too. Those are some of my most productive and also most delightful times. I hope others will let their bodies dictate their sleep habits as much as possible and not get frustrated if they can't sleep according to the rules. ❤😊
I'm 66 and started sleeping in two phases when I was 30. I'd go to bed at 10pm, wake up at 2am, pee, and couldn't get back to sleep. I was living in a room above a garage, separate from the main house, and there was no plumbing so I would have to walk downstairs to the main house to use the bathroom and then back up to my room. At first it took me 30 minutes to get back to sleep, then an hour, then two hours, then three, then four. I would then sleep another three hours. I started using a "chamber pot" (glass jar) to pee in so I wouldn't have to go to the main building to pee, but it didn't help. The problem is that I was losing 4 hours of "production time" during the day. I had to change my schedule because I was sleeping until 9am or later. Before living there, I always woke up around 2am to pee but would go right back to sleep. Despite seeing many chiropractors, nutritionists, doctors, etc. over 3.5 decades, this pattern has continued to this day except now I'm only up for around three hours. I've pretty much resigned myself to the two phase sleep pattern and did hear about the bi-phase sleep pattern of yesteryear many years ago. It did help to know about it and I have watched a few youtube videos about it recently. This video has given the most detail, so thanks for making it!
There's another biphasic sleep pattern, not based on the wakeful watch, but on the overwhelming heat of the afternoon when you can't stay awake. In the early 80s I worked with a colleague who had lived for years in Beirut. They started work at 5.30 - 6.00 and worked till 2pm. Had a substantial lunch and then went to bed for a long sleep, till the cool of the evening. Then you get up around 7.30 and shower, sit on the balcony facing your neighbours' balconies across a narrow street, and have a cocktail and a gossip. Dress up and out to dinner quite late and then back home to bed after midnight. It sounded to me like a charmed life. Some version of the early start while it's still cool and the long siesta is found (or was) in several hot climate cultures.
Yes, the siesta. That where the stereotype of the 'sleepin Mexican' comes from. The Latinos practice this kind of sleep pattern back home and struggle to adapt to the N Amer patterns when they immigrate.
While this does sound idyllic, I do wonder if being awake for a substantial amount of time after only half a night’s sleep would deplete your energy, as during the watch you’re only awake for a couple of hours and tend to focus on un-excitable tasks
@@kiera6326 There is that, but I suppose it didn't seem bad to me because when I was a hospital nurse we often went without breaks. Adrenaline can keep you going. 🙂
First time I have heard of two sleeps. I am retired and often wake up around 3:00 for a couple hours, have a cup of coffee, read, empty the dishwasher, do other chores. I do go to bed very early. Once the sun goes down, I get very tired and sometimes am in bed by 8:30! I am so glad I saw this video because it may explain a lot!!
I have slept like this since I was a child (63 now) and it was always 'just how it is'. I've never known anyone else who slept this way but for me it's just natural. I really love finding out that my 'oddball' wakefulness in the middle of the night is really just 'The Watch'. Thank you for this video!
This is so interesting; I've never heard of this! I'm 61 and haven't slept through the night in years. I tend to go to bed between 9 and 10, wake up around 2 or 3. I stay up for 30 mins to an hour; may read or play a game, or work on a project. I use to worry about it because of what the "experts" said. Finally decided worrying about made things worse and just accepted it. I'm so glad to learn about this and have already ordered the book you mentioned. Thank you!
I think that the majority of us would fall back into this pattern if we were not such clock watchers or didn't have jobs that are based on 8-12hr cycles. . I have slept in this fashion for years because my "job" is running our farm. So, the chickens need to be checked and fires need to be refreshed at night. I get up around midnight and take my medication, refill the fires with wood, read, pray and begin making bread. I then go back to bed around 2:30am and sleep until 5am at which point I begin the day and put the bread into the oven. In the dead heat of summer I often go out into the garden and water or weed late at night (to which the neighbors think I'm crazy) to stay cool.
The Watch: Girlfriend, we've recreated biphasic sleep. So, waking up for 2-3 productive hours in the middle of the night and then going back to sleep... would have been NORMAL in pre-industrial times before artificial light suppressed it. Wow, and all of those self-recriminations and maybe sleep aids later, here we are anyway. Well, just embrace it. What a huge revelation. Embrace the watch. Tick-tock. I wrote a chapter of my still in draft novel by getting up at 3:00 am and working until dawn, then going back to sleep until I had to wake for work. It was a very fruitful and creative time. And yet, afterwards, I could fall back into a perfect sleep and awake refreshed again. Now I fight it. This helps to reframe it. Thanks so much.
Have been getting up at 2am for two years now. Had to adapt sleep pattern due to husband’s sickness. If I don’t get this time in (watch and pray), I’m no good to him or anyone else for that matter! I so enjoy the quiet of these hours. Interesting video, thank you.
During the past couple of years my sleep pattern shifted dramatically without any real explanation! I went from a solid 8 hour a night gal, to waking up between 2 & 3am - WIDE AWAKE. Then I do some "productive" things (quietly) and after a couple of hours fall back asleep for several more hours of time. I was stressing myself out thinking about possible health reasons for this, but there is no confirmed reason for this change! Thank you for exploring this!
Here in the US colonies I think this was quite common as well. A lot of heavy work like logging was done in the night. Cooler in the summer, frozen hard in winter for easy moving if heavy loads of stone and timber. The full moon gives plenty of light for a lot of this but often isn’t up until long after sunset. Here in New England the daylight is gone by 4:30 in early winter but it’s spectacular and clear at 10-11. So you could sleep early, wake up, eat and get back to it feeling refreshed. Also a chance to warm up any fires, check on animals, probably make more babies when the house was quieter. My own natural cycle has me feeling productive late into the evening with a clear mind, despite being raised by early birds; my own steam doesn’t really build up until the afternoon, and then I’m good for a full days work.
It's said that 3am is the witching hr. The time when the veil is thin and paranormal experiences are most likely to occur. Most ppl who wake at night tend to do so at around 3am.
Thank you so much for this validation. I’m watching this at about 3am. I get up, make coffee, feed my cat and check TH-cam. Thankfully your video showed up in my feed. I now know I’m not alone, and what I am experiencing is not a bad thing. I love being up when it’s quiet. I’m glad to hear I’m ‘normal’. 😊❤
I'm a relatively new Sped teacher and I have been experiencing wakefulness starting between 2 and 3 and lasting for a couple of hours. I found that I'm often meditating on students during this wakeful time and I often get accurate insights into their areas of need, especially if their IEP is being written. Sometimes I get up and write at that time. It's a very liminal space and I cherish the meditations, opportunities for prayer, and general ability to turn things over in my mind during these hours. I do know this: if and when I retire I will absolutely adopt the watch in habit and practice. This makes so much sense to me!
I remember first hearing about this phenomenon on public radio a good 30 years ago. Always a very interesting subject. There’s something special and sacred about those small hours in the middle of the night
Lying here at 03:00 listenning to your video before I fall back into my 2nd sleep. Done this for years. Wife says I have a whole other life in the middle of the night. Also catch 10-15 naps most afternoons and wake up feeling great after that.
Very interesting! Since I retired, I have found that a pattern like this is what my system does. I've always been a lot more nocturnal than most, but ... this is a new twist. Thank you for the information!
Since I retired I’ve found I’ve lost all my stress about sleep. If I couldn’t sleep when I was working I would get really stressed which would make it harder to sleep. Some days I would go to work having barely slept and dreading a day starting off tired and drained. Now I can sleep when I want.
I am so happy I came across this video. I regularly, though not always, wake up in the middle of the night. I purposely go to bed a bit later than I'd like to make sure I get the whole 8 hours. Sometimes when I wake up I turn and rage in my bed. It's hell quite frankly. So SCREW THAT I'm gonna start being chill with waking at night and using that time! Cheers! ✌️😅
In Mount Athos in North Greece, an Orthodox monastic republic, where there are about 2,000 monks, many of the monasteries there follow a biphasic sleep pattern. The monks go to bed just after dusk, then get up 4 or 5 hours later in the middle of the night for a cup of coffee, then their prayer rule, then to church for 3 to 4 hours, then sleep again for 3 hours, then up for breakfast and work.
Mediaeval western religious orders such as the Carthusians and Poor Clares continue to observe their institutionised practice of the broken night to this day. They rise for the service of Matins or Vigils around midnight and return to bed after two or three hours and sleep until daylight. It normalises insomnia and those unsuited to it struggle with the practice in their youth.
Same story here. I learned about biphasic sleep a few years ago and realized my sleep pattern is actually normal. By the way, brain wave patterns recorded during the watch portion of the night are similar to those who are under hypnosis or in the lightest level of sleep. Your brain is still in a deeply relaxed state during that time, even though you are awake.
Thank you so much for this video! I have had what I considered a circadian rhythm disorder for years. I am so grateful to learn about bi-phasic sleep, and the watch, etc. As I read others' comments here I found many others who felt the same way as I have -- guilt and shame at not being able to regulate to an 8 hr. (or so) continuous sleep. I'm touched at how many people are grateful and relieved to learn of two sleeps. I'm very grateful too, and I'm going to subscribe. It's 3 a.m. my time right now. Ha ha. P.S. I'm happy to share the planet with you, too!
I’ve never heard of this term and I’m 47. I’ve slept like this for years. At first, I thought it was bc I have 5 children & breastfed each one for 14 months on demand. That kept me up around the clock. Now, I get up, put laundry in the dryer, unload the dishwasher, pay my bills, do my nails, pray, fold clothes etc…these r some examples. I may even watch a movie and then go to bed and get up that morning and continue my day. My family & close friends know that I do this and I always felt like I was just weird or it was just a quirk I had. This video was so enlightening. Thank you so much!
I'm very definitely doing this. Every afternoon at 5pm I get sleepy and fall asleep in front of the computer drinking coffee. After a couple of hours, I begin to "wake up." Then I will be up until 2 or 3am. If I get to bed by 11pm, I will wake up at 2:30 or 3am. I'm often awake for 2 to 4 hours in the night. This is most inconvenient in modern times. I can't seem to get out of it. I've about decided to go with it but others living next to me mostly spoil my late sleep by making noise. I'm very glad to have stumbled onto your vlog. After reading the comments I don't feel like a weirdo anymore. Some of my friends developed this sleep pattern after getting old: wake up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep and can't get back to sleep. My brain works much better at night than earlier in the day.
I spent 47 years hiking & mountaineering in the UK ,sometimes for months at a time (a great experience 😀) & this is how i used to sleep ,particularly in Winter which i loved.
Love this, I’m watching at 2.15 am. I had a sleep at 8.30 pm . Lately there has been so much push on circadian rhythms and getting 8 hrs sleep especially 2 hrs before 12am! But I love being awake thru the night, peaceful and quiet. It’s my time with no interruptions❤😊 I do however not like shift work, I once was a nurse and hated night duty 😂 as I do not like sleeping through the day.
Addressing the existence of the bi-phasic sleep pattern has been very helpful for the patients of mine whom I am treating for insomnia, or for people who experience that period of wakefulness in the middle of the night that they aren't used to yet, and don't understand.
For the last 20 years i have "suffered" from insomnia with PTSD that only at least 12 oz of whiskey could fix...Prescription and O|C meds made me do violent waking nightmares when I tried them so I always went back to whiskey...I have gotten into the habit of "napping" in my truck between appointments for the REM sleep that I know my brain needs to stay healthy. This new info gives me hope to maybe try some new techniques... Thank you!
Last year I decided to try experimenting with biphasic sleep and I don’t think I’ll ever go back. On most nights I shower and am in bed by about 9pm. I awaken whenever and return to sleep whenever. I get up in the morning about 7:15 every morning. I used to have insomnia and daytime sleepiness. Now the insomnia is gone because I consider it normal to wake up and my daytime sleepiness has gone away because I go to bed early enough to get enough sleep even if I’m up late at night. The middle of the night is so peaceful. I love this new cycle. Because nobody ride around me fits this,I occasionally have to spend an evening the old way.
I did the 9-5 like everyone else. Then I retired, started my own business, and naturally fell into the sleep pattern you describe. The 'Watch' period is quiet and allows concentration and has a magical sort of easy motivation. Additionally, once I get sleepy 1.5 - 3 hours later, the second sleep is deep and delicious, I wake up refreshed and feeling good about getting something done early in the day.
I get two sleeps per night. I usually sleep for 4 to 5 hours, then am awake for at least 2 or 3 hours, then I get 3-4 hours after that. The first phase seems deep like sleep, the second phase is mainly dream sleep.
Gee. I thought I'd be the one person to comment who regularly experiences two sleeps... I guess retirement is a time machine back to the medieval. And yes! I've woken up from that second sleep with some great dreams. When I was crew on a sailboat, I had a lot of dreams that I remembered. We could always get 8 hours of sleep, just not at the usual times, and if I didn't have anything to do I'd often just take another nap, all of which I think was conducive to vivid dreams. Second sleeps are normal if you don't have electric lights and a morning schedule.
IM WATCHING THIS AT 5AM AND HAVE BEEN AWAKE SINCE 2AM. I enjoy the quiet. Sometimes I go back to sleep about 6AM and sleep a couple more hours, or I get up at 6, have some congee and start my day
As a retiree, my biphasic sleep patterns now focus on the daytime. I'm awake all night then go to sleep about dawn til around noon - then back to sleep by no later than 4pm. Awake again by 10pm and go back to sleep at dawn. I love the night when the rush of the world is silenced.
My theory is that the population density has become telepathically untenable and so it is easier to be awake when everyone is asleep on your half of the planet
I have just stumbled on your channel and watched this episode. Since retiring I have “suffered” with erratic sleep; waking at around 2am for a few hours then going back to bed. I have actually sought medical advice for this perceived problem. Thanks to your video I find that I am normal😂. I look forward to watching more of your videos. Many thanks.
Heard about this a number of years ago and found it interesting. It was associated with the farming life before modern lighting. Fascinating. I’m starting to wake at 3-3:30 myself now that I’m older, though I’ve always been a good sleeper. It’s a nice time to listen to the silence and look out at nature. Thanks… new subscriber.
First time on your channel. Nice video. I have been living in a national forest now for around 6 years. I have been wondering about this middle of the night wake up thing. It is now 4am and I am preparing for my 2nd sleep. Being retired it seems a natural thing to do living inside of a beatiful natural environment.
Just came across your site by accident. Brilliant !! I always thought there was something wrong with me when I had to sleep after eating and would get up at say 10:00pm and then go back to bed at 04:00 or so. Now I'm retired this is my pattern. Thank you so much for explaining this so intelligently and with a gorgeous accent !!
I do sleep biphasic. I have slept that way for many years steadily. I tend to fall asleep around midnight and then wake at 3:30 though sometimes as late as 4:30. I'm generally up for 2 hours; I am a musician so I tend to play my guitar or read, sometimes it's videos like this one. I originally felt a lot of stress about how much sleep I was getting but I've gotten used to this and now look at it as my time. My wife can sleep for 10 hours straight usually, though we are in our late 50's and she has wakefulness at times due to her changes. Thanks for the video; it reinforces my thought that we are natural beings and not stuck to a structure dictated by modern needs.
Great podcast. The practice of spending a couple of hours awake in the middle of the night has very obvious survival benefits. Predators and thieves are wont to strike in those hours and it’s a good time to observe nocturnal varmints prowling around your property. Those are also excellent hours for creative writing and painting etc. when interruptions are almost nonexistent. The significance of going to bed early, soon after sundown is most important. One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings is titled ‘Night Watch’.
As a 70 year old with lower back issues and past work experience of getting up at 4AM I often wake around 3AM-4AM. I will read or watch TH-cam for an hour or even several hours depending on how I feel. I do set an alarm as to not to "second" sleep too late in the morning. Sometimes I do oversleep and upset my rhythm. Our cat Mia will often wake me (not my wife) up around 4AM to play. Cats are active staring just before dawn and before dusk their typical hunting time. I think I learned about this sleep pattern from the book, A World Only Lit By Fire.
Heather, I love that you're talking about this!. It's a subject I dove into several years ago, during perimenopause. I sleep in two lots, and have most of my life. Around 230-330 I get up for a few hours. I snack, I read, I think about things. It's my time for introspection and odds and ends. I also have a Bengal cat who is on a similar sleep pattern and hates to be alone. She's my night companion. My mind feels different during this time, it makes different connections and leaps, has different focuses. I love this time, and I've never tried to eradicate it from my schedule. I hope more so called insomniacs,like me can learn to embrace our natural rhythms and not feel like we're wrong for not following the mold.
Oh wow, I love your comment! Your way of sleeping sounds just like mine! I actually never looked at it this way. I was always worried about trying to get 8 hours at once but just couldn't ever do it. I just thought it was me and that I was strange!! ❤
Wow! I have slept this way for much of my adult life, and I have found it very productive - but whenever there have been other people in the house or a partner in my life, I have tried to do the eight-hour sleep. Biphasic feels natural. I never knew this was something others do. Thank you!
I ran across this idea about 20 yrs ago, in a huge book I read about insomnia, when I was struggling desperately with profound depression, and the primary insomnia that I've lived with since I was about 9 yrs old, and it really comforted me to know that I was not at all strange to sleep in 2 "shifts." I've always been a DRASTIC night owl, so had a few graveyard shift jobs, and never have really gone back to a "typical" diurnal rhythm. Obviously this was a problem when my son was young and I had to do the mom stuff to get him bathed, dressed, fed, and off to school. So, I'd have a "nap" from about 3am till 6am, when I'd get up and do the mom stuff. Once he left, I'd eat, play on the PC for a little while, and then about 9am, go back to bed, and then sleep till about 3pm, so I'd be up and alert when my son came home from school. After he graduated and went off to the Navy, for a while I was able to sleep from maybe 1am till maybe 10am, but in 2016, my mom died, and the grief made that old nemesis primary insomnia stage a comeback; then in 2022, whole-body eczema nearly stopped me from sleeping at all. But I finally got a prescription for gabapentin, which has been a godsend. I still usually go to bed between 3-5am, but I manage to sleep soundly till around noon, thx to the gabapentin. But I really appreciate this video; I answer questions about insomnia all the time, at Quora, and always point out this bi-phasic sleep as being completely normal, only recently hijacked by 8 hr shifts and alarm clocks. With this video, I finally have something I can point to, to let those worried about this issue get more info about it, rather than just "some woman online told me..." 😉 Thx!
Thank you for this informative video!I enjoy the medieval period and learning more about it. It also enables me to feel better about my husband who, starting about 5 years ago, began falling asleep after dinner regularly (8:30-ish) and will wake up from 3-3:30 and watch tv or do household tasks until about 5, then come to bed until 8:00 a.m.
When I was younger my neighbour used to babysit me after school everyday (she has a chronic illness since her early 20's which means she can't work full or part-time), several times growing up she used to tell me how her grandfather wouldn't often be up for like 2 or 3 hours most nights. As a child who was in the process of being diagnosed with high functioning autism (Aspergers syndrome) I couldn't wrap my head around someone choosing to be awake for several hours most nights of a week, I often suffered with trying to get my brain to wind down when my head hit the pillow at least several nights a week. My neighbour's grandfather was the most senior postmaster in Cornwall (and possibly some of southern Devon, I can't remember exactly) during the Second World War, as a child I assumed he may have picked up this habit of 'partitioned' sleep as a kind of stress induced insomnia thanks to the additional duties he had to do for the war effort*. *= Postmasters and other Post office employees had to read every letter going through the Post Office because of the risk of possible spy networks
Brilliant! And a relief. For years, I have woken up at 3AM and stayed awake to around 4:45AM. I thought there was something wrong with me and have remained worried and also a touch depressed as a result. But now this makes perfect sense and I am making full use of those hours for quiet reflection, music and doing some enjoyable chores. Many thanks for your video - it has made a real difference
After decades of heating with wood and raising three kids, getting a good night's sleep meant having a couple of four hours of uninterrupted slumber. The in-between time is usually a quiet time. Time to take care of your physical needs, rehydrate, check your surroundings and make sure the family is all comfortable. It gives you some time to be just alone or with your infant or your partner uninterrupted by normal daytime interactions. You can read, journal, pray or work on a quiet hobby. Whatever gives you peace, in this gentle awake time, to fully relax and settle in for the second sleep. I find he dreams are always more intense during the second sleep. Maybe because the body isn't as physically exhausted as when you fall in bed for the first sleep. I think it's a really healthy habit if you can find ten hours to dedicate each night to this routine.❤
Thanks for an interesting video. I think Samuel Pepy (1633-1703) in his famous diary refers to first and second sleep. I think he and family sometimes spent this pause between the two sleeps with friends. Sounds cozy!
Many years ago I heard 2am described as the “midnight of the soul”. I have never found the origin of the term (it has been used in a book title but I heard the phrase long before the book was published). I habitually wake at 3am and as a child who was scared of the dark it terrified me. I would lay awake straining for any sound, a car passing, a night bird calling or the distant sound of a train horn, all the while imagining shapeless things hiding in the dark. Now it is comforting, the dark envelopes me and the silence is welcoming, the morning is hours away and I can be alone with my books or just my thoughts.
It's said that 3am is the witching hr. The time when the veil is thin and paranormal experiences are most likely to occur. Most ppl who wake at night tend to do so at around 3am.
Loved the video. I have had sleep issues for many years and often worked so so tired at a day job. Prior to that I had shift work and just loved night and evening shifts. The switch to daytime was a disaster to me, as I could never get "good" rest unless I worked to exhaustion. A poor plan. I did that bc I had kids in school to manage. Now I'm retired and sleep biphasically. So so happy! 1st sleep is 4 or 5 in the am. Then up and about to do chores etc. 2nd sleep is a marvelous one at 3 or 4 pm. I am doing great with this schedule. If I am forced into a "regular" day, I really struggle w/pain and blood sugar issues, etc. I just follow my body now! Thank you!!! Here's to better days!!!
Loved this video. This topic is super interesting. Your delivery is great. I don't know if I'll watch another, but I subscribed to help. Thanks for not "asking". People hate that.
For some reason I woke up at 3am tonight and your video was just here. Big Brother? But when I was pregnant (have five daughters) I would get “pregnant insomnia”. Would wake up often around 3 in the morning and usually fall asleep about 5. I found that paying bills or a task in the middle of the night was too much, but focusing on resting and relaxing was best-so maybe read or watching TV was good for me. I was still super tired the next day though, and I was also last trimester pregnant with other little kids to care for in the daytime. Such an interesting perspective now on maybe why this occurred.
Enjoyed your presentation. I have been sleeping biphasic for a few years now. It seems to work for me. It was interesting to hear that it’s a pre medieval phenomena. Shall tune in again. A new sub 👍
Great video on an interesting subject. I heard about this topic about three years ago and it has helped me not worry so much about waking in the night. I just get up, go to the bathroom, and then putter around again instead of laying awake and watch my thoughts go round and round. One thing to mention though: your camera is focused on the background, not on your face. It's probably an easy fix.
This began for me in my early to mid teens. My childhood was awful, so staying up late helped me relax and take time for myself while the evil was fast asleep. Being awake unto myself gave me a sense of safety. I used the time listening to music or watching reruns of Dave Allen at Large, Soupy Sales, Monty Python, and shows which brought humor into my life. It was my escape.. my only one. It's been with me ever since, this business of needing time to myself. I'll sleep awhile, get up and do stuff, then sleep again. I'd no idea others were doing it too. I'd heard about it, but thought it was an ancient practice discarded and forgotten long ago.
Thank You! This information is perfectly timed. I’ve been a Night Owl my whole life. I get soo much done at night and enjoy the uninterrupted peace. I’ve also felt guilty about it and have tried to ‘fix’ this pattern with added stress and anxiety when I inevitably fail. I’ve been praying about this and asking for guidance and help. Your video is a help on both fronts. It is immeasurably helpful to let go of the stress and anxiety and I can also structure my evenings to better work with this natural rhythm. I also find it interesting that I long to live in the middle of nowhere with no artificial light sources. Alas, that isn’t currently possible so I am using special light fixtures and glasses to create natural lighting. Thank you again for this vital info. and an answer to prayers. 🌙🙏🏻🕯
I majored in Psychology in college and learned THEN, that about 2-3 hours in a sleep cycle nothing happens, and I began my own biphasic pattern and have been happy with it my whole life! Thank you for this insightful video, it helps to know that others do it to!
So interesting to hear this. I always loved feeling wide awake in the middle of the night as it was a chance to get so much done. I don't always have these wakeful periods, but it was never a concern to me, and could never understand why so many people complain when they cannot sleep.
I've had sleep issues for some 10 years now. It used to stress me out, but a couple of years ago, I learned that people used to do biphasic sleep. Now, I focus on getting eight hours sleep in a day, not all at once. Very common for me to wake after three to four hours... be up for two to three hours... and then go back to sleep for another three to four hours. Works fine for me.
That's how my mom has lived for 40 years, except she didn't start taking the 2nd 4 hours until she retired. Now she sleeps like 6-9 hours in 2 shifts.
Oddly, a coach phoned me the other day. She said "Don't think 'depressed', think 'deep rest.' Slightly off-tangent, I know... I am embracing this new knowledge. Going to bed at 10h30 and hoping for 8h sleep has been a near impossibility for me, certainly after my 30s.
I sometimes go to bed at 7pm, wake up at midnight and stay up until 4am, then sleep until 7am.
The hours I’m awake between midnight and 4am are some of the most creative, peaceful and productive hours of my day.
Yep, I do the same and love it.
9 to 5 or similar upsets your natural sleep rhythm, blame the Industrial Revolution.
Don't forget the siesta, which is still an integral part of many cultures.
one can be both!
I love the siesta lifestyle.
@@johnmendoza5907Catholic countries were big on it. It's prot work ethic that fucked everyone up
I go down bout 9 or 10 wake around 2 or 3 down by 4 or 5 back up by 6 or 7. Then it's to work and home by noon for a nice 1or 2 hour nap. I love my naps. It helps me to not fall asleep just going job to job or in middle of sentence of a conversation. I. Always slept like that except naps. The nap was a game changer.
Oh, my! I'm biphasic! I had no idea.
I'm a retired man with occasional mild depression and what I thought was a strange pattern of sleep. I get up very early and eat, read and maybe check out a video. Then I go back to sleep. Wow! Maybe I'm actually more normal than I thought.
I'm a new subscriber! Looks like you have good stuff! I like the Tudors. Who doesn't? But I LOVE the Plantagenets!! WOOHOO!!
You are! I’ve slept like this for about 10 years. I love it.
Me too
@@keithadams1538 You love the Plantagenets, too? Yes, there are folks like us everywhere! Jk 😉
Maybe Sleep Apnea?
I am a retired and I have always been a night owl. My night pattern goes something like this: After dinner, usually around 8 pm, I go into what I call my “slump”. I usually retire to my study and start to read, but fall asleep in my easy chair. I generally wake up at midnight or so, and feel refreshed. This is when I actually get my reading done, or plan the next day scheduling, or work on other quiet tasks. I go back to sleep in my bed anywhere from 2 to 4 am. I love those quiet hours when no one is calling, texting, watching tv, or talking. Such serenity! This video was so enlightening to me. Thank you.
I'm in the fifth over 55 Apartment in 5 years or lower and these people don't go to bed until 4:00 a.m. but I'm trying to keep a job
Yes, I sometimes follow a similar pattern & use those very early am hours to address or fix something that's been nagging or worrying me. Once completed, I can go back to bed & sleep. I love the quiet & stillness during those hours, too :)
Me too! I get hot around 1 or 2 am so I get up and mess around on the computer for a few hours then go back to bed until 6 or 7.
Fascinating! Especially as I get older.
@susan3037 - you have described my cycle to a T! I relish the quiet, I experience productive creativity & I take in the beautiful night sky ✨🌔
When I was very small ( 60‘s ) I remember going to bed around 7 pm in the winter and then my Grandmother used to wake me up at 11 pm. We had something to eat then and sit around talking. It was always by Candlelight, without turning on the light. We‘d go back to bed around 1-2 am
How lovely! May I ask what area?
Sounds wonderful!
That’s so sweet!
What a lovely memory for you!
@@lulumoon6942 yes me to I would like to know where, but this sounds like heaven !
I remember my dad telling me about his boss who had probably issues with insomnia. The boss used to say: ‘The night has many beautiful hours. It is a pity to sleep through all of them’
There is something about being awake when everyone else is asleep….
Physicist Julian Schwinger worked at night. He said the peer pressure to participate with others during the day -- classes, meals -- was intense.
Accepting insomnia is sometimes a way to reduce the frustration it can cause
A good philosophy
@@Basa-xe4xc Especially if you have ADHD. I've done a lot of my best art when I can't see the angle of the sun change.
I’ve done biphasic sleep for many years. It’s just become part of my normal daily routine. I go to bed at about 9-30pm and always wake up at 3am. I get up, let the cats in or out of the house, have a drink of water, do things around the house, watch TH-cam videos, etc. On hot summer nights, I might even water the garden. I go back to bed at about 4am, sleep for an hour or two and start my day at 6am. It has benefits. Recently, my night time activities interrupted someone trying to steal my lawnmower. 😂😂😂
Lawnmower thing is the modern version of being awake for the most dangerous time for predators.
The best time of the day for watering the garden.
I wish you had caught the guy who stole our mail box lock at 4 am
I do the same thing. I have always felt guilty for it. I now feel that I have the okay 😊
👍🏻
OMG!!! And I always thought I was "off" somehow. Each evening about 8-9, I just get so sleepy. Then, around midnight I wake up ready to go. Then around 2-3 AM, I'm ready for bed again. Wow, thank you. You just earned my subscription.
It makes sense, if people went to bed early, like 8 pm, then 3 am is seven hours of sleep. Wake up and it's still dark, so you take a morning nap before starting the day. That has been my pattern for about a year now. Works.
I am 72 and after I retired I have evolved into sleeping like this.
You get sleepy at 8pm from the heavier carb content in the food you consumed in the evening.
Have been reading recently that 7-8 hours sleep is a must to protect yourself from dementia. At 75 I found it a worry as I can’t sleep through the night and had started getting up early and napping during the day. After watching this I’m just going to relax into a new routine.
Don't cook with non stick cookware, use aluminum nor pesticides & herbicides on produce . That will drastically reduce the chances of getting Alzheimer's or dementia
People believe all sorts of nonsense about dementia for some reason
Amein
I have been a “night watch” pattern sleeper for 30 years. I am now 60. It used to bother me until I embraced it. I am a historian and was aware of monastic hours, I figured if you can’t beat them join them. My first sleep ends around 2:30-3 AM. It was years later I was teaching sleep in a psychology class when I ran up on the study you shared. So many people are freed from anxiety when they learn of biphasic sleep. Very interesting video.❤
Exactly! I just recently accepted it and roll with it. But always had the nagging feeling I was doing something unhealthy because I couldn't sleep straight through. I do feel relieved to know that I am, indeed, falling into a natural rhythm.
I almost cried when I watched this. I’ve been a “night owl” my whole life and have felt seriously hampered and discriminated by the world in which the early bird is seen as the ideal and night owl’s are treated as lazy. When I’ve tried to force myself into being an early bird I find I’m sleepy at 7pm but would wake up at 11pm-12am frustrated because I couldn’t go back to sleep. I would feel so anxious laying in bed trying to will myself back to sleep for hours. I’m much happier when I get up and do something until I get sleepy again but I feel guilty. But not anymore! Thank you so much for this important information! ❤
I can relate to this só much!My mother and sister is “early birds”🦉 My mom always made me feel that she thought I was just lazy for being a later sleeper in the morning and going to bed later.
Nocturnal 🙃😉☺️
I relate to everything you said. I'm now retired, but years of trying to conform to getting your "8 hours a night" to be alert and ready to work was a nightmare for me. I felt guilty about falling asleep around 8 p.m. then awake at 1 a.m. full of energy for a few hours, then back to sleep at 5 a.m. Not anymore! Time to listen to your own sleep rhythms and live a better, less conforming life. I'm glad I took the time to watch this video!
Exactly the same for me!
I feel that I have 40+ years of sleep deprivation to make up, because I did corporate hours as a night owl. After the stress and exhaustion of a bereavement last year, in the last month or so, I have been pretty sick. And so I allowed myself to sleep normally. I have naturally drifted into two sleeps. I have started noticing that my blood sugar goes down when I have two sleeps. I need to track this a little more, but I think that my health has actually improved, and my diabetes is better controlled now. I am also naturally more creative between midnight and 3am.
Lovely! As a child I was a “ terrible sleeper”. Biphasic sleep was natural once I reached middle school and had control over my sleeping habits. I read, sewed, did homework, exercised and went back to sleep. Then it ceased when I began working full time. I was “down-sized” from my job and I started the 2 sleep pattern again. Mostly meditating and exercising before going back to sleep. Next life phase I began teaching having to get up near the hours that I was going back to sleep previously. It was nightmarish - ha. After 24 years of that hell of exhaustion I retired and here I am 4:00am with you! I think I’ll go outside, check on the moon and go back to bed.
What vindication!
It's been usual for me for 35 years. I thought there was something wrong with me. I function way better with double sleep. Problem is sometimes I don't get back to sleep the second time, then my day is ruined.
My wife and I are both in our early 70’s. Maybe 5 years ago we started waking up after about 4 hours of sleep, and then we have to read ourselves back to sleep after about an hour. Both of us have considered this to be problem and sometimes self medicate with melatonin and/or OTC sleep aids to force an uninterrupted 8-hour night sleep. After hearing your podcast perhaps we should just stop fighting this biphasic sleep pattern.
As long as you're getting good sleep for the hours you're getting in go with it
That's the time to wake up and make love with each other, too.
I’d just go with the flow but work part time so I can’t fully embrace this sleep pattern.
Well, I am in my fifties, no health issues, and I usually am forced to get up for a pee around 3am . I must admit it doesn’t then occur to me to do housework for a couple of hours. Interesting idea though.
I normally sleep in 3 phases. 3 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour. All over about 10 hours. Not a fan.
About 25 years ago, I was a member of a group of mostly women historians. We were celebrating 225 anniversary of our villages founding. We were interpreting our histoy through clothing. We made all of our clothing: by hand, using period methods, correct reproduction of cloth
Our programs were extremely popular; attracting repeat vistors and new recruits to our program. We were extremely busy and snd having the time of our lives.
We also found that most of us were wak8ng up at 3am. One brilliant lady, got out of bed at 3am went down to her sewing room and started sewing. She got in a couple of hours before returning to bed. Waking up refreshed and teady to go for our 10 am caal for duty.
She shared this, and we all started our 3am(ish) sewing sessions. It was a beautiful year, full of friendship, uncovering amazing stories and pride of our town and country.
Thank you for this fabulous information. I hope some some medical people pick up on this, it will relieve some anxiety.
Ellicott City, Maryland, USA
Beautiful recollection, & can see the utility of it!
I am a biphasic sleeper. I wake up every night at 3 AM and spend a couple of hours reading, watching TH-cam, tidying a bit around the house and go to bed again around 5 AM for the second sleep. Actually, it is almost 5 AM with me now and will go for the second sleep soon 😊
I have engaged in biphasic sleep my entire life. I have written five novels, comprising approximately 500,000 words total. 95% of them have been written between the hours of midnight and 6:00 AM.
McCormack's Odyssey?
@@RaggedRomeo And McCormack's Compromise, McCormack's Challenge, McCormack's Dilemma, and (just released) McCormack's Quandary. Thanks for asking.
I think so much clearer at night. I’ve never written a book before, but I always would say that I could write a book at night bc I’m so clearheaded.
@@amberp5207 I can't speak for all writers, but writing "between sleeps" has several advantages. My brain is operating in a complete vacuum of outside input, so the storyline proceeds like a mental motion picture. Also, the only pending activity is second sleep, so there are no pending activities to engage the problem-solving portion of my brain.
Writing style is very individual, so any advice you hear would probably no be applicable to you personally. So, I will simply offer my style as an example. I wrote a scene, probably about 3000 words about something I liked. Then I refined and expanded it, adding the action that preceded and followed it until I had a work of 87,000 words. That defined my writing technique: non-sequential story construction.
Go for it. Write some words, find you style, and just let it flow.
That's Awesome !
I have found when I had a fireplace, the heat would reduce and the chill would wake me up, I would stoke the fire warm up and return to bed. This is a time to share stories and look into the night sky.
That makes sense, back in the past people had to get up to add wood to the fireplace.
I get up to add wood to our wood stove . Love "naps " don't know if it is first or second sleep ..but I'll take em !
We heat with woodburners and yes, I get up to check and stoke the fire. Usually, around 2:30-3am
I've always been a night owl and would lay in bed for 2 + hours trying to go back to sleep. Glad I know I can use this time productively.
This explains so much about my ‘weird’ sleep patterns, now that I’ve retired! Thanks so much for that.👍
Biphasic - I'd never heard of that term. When I was starting to wake up at 3am in retirement - I just decided it was my body telling me something. I'd get up and walk around if I couldn't sleep or just stay in bed and plan the next project or think about how to plan my garden or solve a problem. That took away the anxiety over why I couldn't sleep as I told myself why worry when it works for me. I also discovered that on full moon days I wanted to go outside and walk in my garden - go figure. Glad I saw your post, it explains why just giving in to a new sleep pattern worked.
Without knowing until I came across this video, I am a biphasic sleeper. My pattern of waking in the wee hours and then getting drowsy again between 5 and 7am became more prevalent once I retired but then I no longer had a reason to resist this pattern besides feeling guilty that I sometimes stay in bed until 10 or 11am. Now that I know this is a thing, I'm not going to fight it. I put my 50+ years into the work force. I'm going to sleep when I want now. Biphasic sleep. Who knew? Thanks for filling us all in.
@@jsschncYes, I’ve been sleeping like this for about 10 years and love it. It becomes my quiet time.
Garden walks are the best on moonlight nights!
I love the terms first sleep, the watch, and second sleep. I have had biphasic sleep since I retired. Very informative and enjoyable video!
I think since I’ve retired, I too have become biphasic but sometimes I fight it. I’m will have to start getting up and enjoying it. It’s like having an extra day!
My husband wakes every night at 3 am he works on his latest project or watches a movie or whatever. He will be intrigued by this. I have struggled my 60 years against insomnia and now that I am retired and don't care what time it is I go to bed when I'm tired. This sheds a universe of light on a subject I was completely unaware of.
Thank you sincerely 🎉🎉🎉🎉😊
I do 2 sleaps frequently. Go to bed at 9 ish, get up at 3 or 4 am do stuff in my shop or whatever. Then when I go back to bed I do some conscience deep breathing and begin dreaming. The second sleep is for dreaming and astral travel and out of body stuff. Sometimes refered as awake back to bed technique . I strongly recomend playing with it.
@danielfriesen372 fascinating subject thank you kindly
I have sort of a biphasic sleep pattern that started all the way back when I was at University. I'd eat dinner, lay down for a 2-3 hour nap. Then wake refreshed and study for several hours. Then get another 3-4 hours of sleep. This worked well and I found that I retained much of what I'd studied. To an extent, I still do this 50 years later.
Especially in the winter months, I often go to bed between seven and 730 and I wake about 2 o’clock and have a couple hours of productivity and then will lay down again for an hour or so before I start my day. It used to seem weird but now I have come to embrace it and actually enjoy the quiet hours. This is how my body clock works!
I had years of wakefulness in the night. It happened that I read an article on the BBC website about two-phase sleep being the norm before the industrial age and, just as you said, it helped me so much to overcome the anxiety I suffered about not sleeping right through. I developed an idea about 'befriending the night' and started to relish the quiet and freedom from pressure of those hours alone and awake. I'd light a candle by the bed and have a cup of tea with a piece of toast. When my life became significantly less stressful and I actually began to sleep right through I would often wake in the morning and feel I'd missed out on something special!
Night quiet,night meals and being quiet is magical.im 60.
Tea, toast, and quiet time in the night sounds so peaceful.
Yes I saw that to and was amazed how many people commented on their 2sleeps and what they did in between their sleep
One person even went for a jog
Most did house hold chores
I’m not so obsessed about my sleep now
Most nights i wake up at 1:30 or 2:00 am and just read or play a game in my phone, just for a bit, 30 minutes or an hour. It's my magical hour. After that i go back to sleep until 6. When i was young sometimes i'd find my father living his magical hour, too. We used to seat for a bit and eat bread with butter together.
@@barrocaspaula Exactly I woke up and now I'm watching this video and then I'll go back to sleep.
So interesting! My children and I recently read about a general schedule for medieval monks, and we were fascinated by this waking up for prayer services in the middle of the night business. I never knew! I thoroughly enjoyed your discussion of the topic here. Thank you!
I have struggled with insomnia my whole life. A few years ago, I decided to go to sleep when I felt tired, not at any specific time. Now I fall asleep sometime after midnight, get about five hours, wake up for about two to three hours, and then go back to sleep until I have to get up for work. This usually averages to about seven or eight hours. Sometimes less, but getting some sleep is infinitely better than getting no sleep. I only heard about biphasic sleep a few months ago and was like, "Huh." because after years of struggling and being told to go to bed at the same time every night, etc. etc. (nonsense because if it was that easy no one would have insomnia) I realized that I had found my natural sleep pattern. Now I sleep better than I ever have. Forcing myself to lay in bed, wide awake, for a specific period of time every night like a 'normal' person was pure torture. It was comforting to learn that biphasic is also normal.
I'm exactly the same.
This is the first time in my life I’m hearing about biphasic sleep! As a sound engineer I’ve always had issues with my sleeping patterns. I thought I was plagued with a broken circadian rhythm because sometimes I’d be in bed by 11pm or 2am only to be awake at 3-4am. This video really was enlightening to me and I thank you for it!
Me too. I have felt that I had a broken circadian rhythm until now. I appreciate your comment.
I love the middle of the night. Sometimes, I'm too tired to read before bed, but I'll wake up at night and read for a while. Nightime is so peaceful and quiet and it's so much easier to read once Ive slept a little bit.
It's OK if you have a room to yourself. If not you are in difficulties.
Yes! I have the same bed time reading habit. I too fall asleep before I can read more than one page at ‘first’ bed time. I then wake up between 2 and 3 am and read for 1-2 hours, then go back to sleep. It’s something that has always been frowned on by my doctors when I mention it, but I just love the quiet and calm at this time.
I do that too Bridget.
I love, love, love learning about how people went about their daily lives from hygiene, preserving foods, disciplining children to customs and beliefs. Thank you for sharing about how they slept in history. Loved it!!
Best sleep is the second phase. My normal interruption is a bathroom break or two. But my most intense and memorable dreams are during the second period. Had sleep issues after retiring and knew about the old way of sleeping. Bouts of insomnia- so I'd sleep whenever I could. Now my rhythm is healthy and get a teenager's dream of ten hours usually. No alarms, of course. I'm retired!
I have been practicing biphasic sleep since my teenage years. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned about the first and second sleep and was finally validated. I’ve been educating people on it ever since.
As a teenager, I would sleep from maybe 11pm to 3, get up and shower, read, etc. then go back to sleep around 5-7 am. I didn’t get enough sleep though. As an adult, I fully embraced it and people thought I was so weird. I’d sleep from maybe 9 pm - 12 am (most times on the couch), wake up and do anything from laundry and dishes to reading and watching videos, then go back to sleep in my bed 2:30-3 or so until 7. Perfect. I have also gone through phases where I slept from 12-6, woke up and worked a little, read, ate breakfast, then slept again from 8-10. That worked well too when I could get away with it and was working from home.
Thank you for this post! I have been frustrated by my own "weird" sleep schedule. I typically wake around 3:am and stay awake for a few hours until I fall asleep again. Learning about this biphasic sleeping pattern gives me some peace about my personal sleep habits. I typically just open my phone and watch news or some other TH-cam channel of interest. But, the news feeds often get my blood up and lessen the likelihood of falling back into sleep. I also live with three other people so I am limited as to what I can do in the middle of the night. I remember mentioning it to my father who just passed away at 91, and he told me that I had a family "curse". He said that he does the same thing and that his father did as well. He recalls his father back in the 1940s getting up in the wee small hours and making a cup of tea and some toast and saying the Rosary before returning to bed. The information you shared is rather freeing to me. I will no longer fight the curse but rather try to embrace it and enjoy the quiet of the night.
I am a retired engineer. When I was working, I had to follow the single-phase sleep schedule and had difficulty with this at times. Now that I am retired and no longer need to wake up at any specific time, I have naturally shifted back to the bi-phase sleep schedule. It is easy for me to sleep at night, starting at 11:00pm to 12:00am, for a few hours then wake up and do things for 2-3 hours, only to go back to sleep another 2-4 hours again. After experiencing both methods, I feel more rested and recharged with the bi-phase sleep approach.
Hello Heather, this is my first visit to your channel and I'll be back! I am totally gobsmacked by this post. You're quite right that insomnia gets worse as you age and for women the menopause can trigger insomnia because we need oestrogen to sleep. I'm 75 and struggle with insomnia. I've tried all sorts of pills and potions to no avail. Having listened to what you say about the biphasic sleep pattern and also having read the fascinating comments below I realise the problem is that I've been fighting insomnia. So when I wake at 3.00 am tomorrow morning I'll relax, get up and do something interesting! Thank you so much!
I ran across this too in a book about how the industrial revolution changed home life in the countryside. They used to sometimes sit together, stoke up the fire, discuss anything that was on their minds, reassure eachother & go back to sleep. It left a lasting impression too for some reason.
Interesting. The ‘watch’ time is lovely and peaceful. I love to potter about, making soup, tidying up, listening to my books or music, guitar practice. I am now retired and living off grid so my biphasic sleep works well for me.
I've always said that it's not important how much you sleep and when, it's how rested you are.
Lying in bed fretting about not sleeping is far worse than getting up and doing something. I learned this when my disability was starting. I would wake up in the small hours in pain. Getting up and moving around before settling snugly on the sofa to read was the best way to relax and get more rest.
I find it interesting that as a society we're so wedded to the notion of strict routines that don't necessarily fit with our climate, work pattern and bodily requirements
Absolutely agree.
How would you suggest someone else with a pain disability start? Should i figure out what time i wake up naturally?
@isatq2133 yes. However you'll also need to figure out whether your current sleeping position is contributing to your pain. If so, sometimes it's better to move before the pain gets worse or until you're forced into moving more quickly than you want to. It's a very individual thing so you need to work out what's important for you
I've struggled with sleep issues for years and it wasn't until I retired a few years ago that I allowed myself to follow my own biorhythms where sleep is concerned. Now I often sleep for two or three hours, am awake for two or three, then go back to sleep for another three or four. Alternately, I occasionally fall asleep about 8:30 and sleep until 6 and sort of reset myself. I have to admit that I have had to let go of all of those rules about sleep that have been drummed into me and that are really very artificial. I enjoy those quiet times in the middle of the night when the world is quiet and my mind is too. Those are some of my most productive and also most delightful times. I hope others will let their bodies dictate their sleep habits as much as possible and not get frustrated if they can't sleep according to the rules. ❤😊
Same here.
This is one thing I’m looking forward to when I retire in a few months.
@@rodneybarnes4509 Me too!
I'm 66 and started sleeping in two phases when I was 30. I'd go to bed at 10pm, wake up at 2am, pee, and couldn't get back to sleep. I was living in a room above a garage, separate from the main house, and there was no plumbing so I would have to walk downstairs to the main house to use the bathroom and then back up to my room. At first it took me 30 minutes to get back to sleep, then an hour, then two hours, then three, then four. I would then sleep another three hours. I started using a "chamber pot" (glass jar) to pee in so I wouldn't have to go to the main building to pee, but it didn't help. The problem is that I was losing 4 hours of "production time" during the day. I had to change my schedule because I was sleeping until 9am or later. Before living there, I always woke up around 2am to pee but would go right back to sleep. Despite seeing many chiropractors, nutritionists, doctors, etc. over 3.5 decades, this pattern has continued to this day except now I'm only up for around three hours. I've pretty much resigned myself to the two phase sleep pattern and did hear about the bi-phase sleep pattern of yesteryear many years ago. It did help to know about it and I have watched a few youtube videos about it recently. This video has given the most detail, so thanks for making it!
There's another biphasic sleep pattern, not based on the wakeful watch, but on the overwhelming heat of the afternoon when you can't stay awake. In the early 80s I worked with a colleague who had lived for years in Beirut. They started work at 5.30 - 6.00 and worked till 2pm. Had a substantial lunch and then went to bed for a long sleep, till the cool of the evening. Then you get up around 7.30 and shower, sit on the balcony facing your neighbours' balconies across a narrow street, and have a cocktail and a gossip. Dress up and out to dinner quite late and then back home to bed after midnight. It sounded to me like a charmed life. Some version of the early start while it's still cool and the long siesta is found (or was) in several hot climate cultures.
Yes, the siesta. That where the stereotype of the 'sleepin Mexican' comes from. The Latinos practice this kind of sleep pattern back home and struggle to adapt to the N Amer patterns when they immigrate.
While this does sound idyllic, I do wonder if being awake for a substantial amount of time after only half a night’s sleep would deplete your energy, as during the watch you’re only awake for a couple of hours and tend to focus on un-excitable tasks
I mostly follow a 3 sleep pattern, having a short (1.5-2hrs) siesta even in winter :)
@@kiera6326 There is that, but I suppose it didn't seem bad to me because when I was a hospital nurse we often went without breaks. Adrenaline can keep you going. 🙂
Sounds like what I do. I wish I could do the afternoon sleep but I definitely have a low energy point at 2pm when I am pretty useless.
First time I have heard of two sleeps. I am retired and often wake up around 3:00 for a couple hours, have a cup of coffee, read, empty the dishwasher, do other chores. I do go to bed very early. Once the sun goes down, I get very tired and sometimes am in bed by 8:30! I am so glad I saw this video because it may explain a lot!!
I have slept like this since I was a child (63 now) and it was always 'just how it is'. I've never known anyone else who slept this way but for me it's just natural. I really love finding out that my 'oddball' wakefulness in the middle of the night is really just 'The Watch'. Thank you for this video!
Yes! You know I would get up as a child and have my own time. I looked back and thought it was weird. I guess it's not
This is so interesting; I've never heard of this! I'm 61 and haven't slept through the night in years. I tend to go to bed between 9 and 10, wake up around 2 or 3. I stay up for 30 mins to an hour; may read or play a game, or work on a project. I use to worry about it because of what the "experts" said. Finally decided worrying about made things worse and just accepted it. I'm so glad to learn about this and have already ordered the book you mentioned. Thank you!
I think that the majority of us would fall back into this pattern if we were not such clock watchers or didn't have jobs that are based on 8-12hr cycles. . I have slept in this fashion for years because my "job" is running our farm. So, the chickens need to be checked and fires need to be refreshed at night. I get up around midnight and take my medication, refill the fires with wood, read, pray and begin making bread. I then go back to bed around 2:30am and sleep until 5am at which point I begin the day and put the bread into the oven. In the dead heat of summer I often go out into the garden and water or weed late at night (to which the neighbors think I'm crazy) to stay cool.
Sounds like a lovely, peaceful life.
Stay crazy
The Watch: Girlfriend, we've recreated biphasic sleep. So, waking up for 2-3 productive hours in the middle of the night and then going back to sleep... would have been NORMAL in pre-industrial times before artificial light suppressed it. Wow, and all of those self-recriminations and maybe sleep aids later, here we are anyway. Well, just embrace it. What a huge revelation. Embrace the watch. Tick-tock. I wrote a chapter of my still in draft novel by getting up at 3:00 am and working until dawn, then going back to sleep until I had to wake for work. It was a very fruitful and creative time. And yet, afterwards, I could fall back into a perfect sleep and awake refreshed again. Now I fight it. This helps to reframe it. Thanks so much.
Excellent comment. I can relate.
Yes, we are also biphasic sleepers and began to read about it a few years ago. Thanks for increasing everyone’s awareness with this informative video!
Have been getting up at 2am for two years now. Had to adapt sleep pattern due to husband’s sickness. If I don’t get this time in (watch and pray), I’m no good to him or anyone else for that matter! I so enjoy the quiet of these hours. Interesting video, thank you.
During the past couple of years my sleep pattern shifted dramatically without any real explanation! I went from a solid 8 hour a night gal, to waking up between 2 & 3am - WIDE AWAKE. Then I do some "productive" things (quietly) and after a couple of hours fall back asleep for several more hours of time. I was stressing myself out thinking about possible health reasons for this, but there is no confirmed reason for this change! Thank you for exploring this!
At the onset of menopauze I experienced this. Now at 72 this has become my life Pattern. It affords me many hours of reading or contemplatie.
Here in the US colonies I think this was quite common as well. A lot of heavy work like logging was done in the night. Cooler in the summer, frozen hard in winter for easy moving if heavy loads of stone and timber. The full moon gives plenty of light for a lot of this but often isn’t up until long after sunset. Here in New England the daylight is gone by 4:30 in early winter but it’s spectacular and clear at 10-11. So you could sleep early, wake up, eat and get back to it feeling refreshed. Also a chance to warm up any fires, check on animals, probably make more babies when the house was quieter.
My own natural cycle has me feeling productive late into the evening with a clear mind, despite being raised by early birds; my own steam doesn’t really build up until the afternoon, and then I’m good for a full days work.
I invariably wake at 0300hrs. I'll read for an hour then go back to sleep. The 'second sleep' is always the best.
@TheSonsofFalstaff yes. Pretty much the same for me as well
Me too. 0300. Just about every night. I read then fall back asleep.
I have incredible dreams sometimes visions during the 2nd sleep
It's said that 3am is the witching hr. The time when the veil is thin and paranormal experiences are most likely to occur. Most ppl who wake at night tend to do so at around 3am.
Yep@@Centannicocktails
Thank you so much for this validation. I’m watching this at about 3am. I get up, make coffee, feed my cat and check TH-cam. Thankfully your video showed up in my feed. I now know I’m not alone, and what I am experiencing is not a bad thing. I love being up when it’s quiet. I’m glad to hear I’m ‘normal’. 😊❤
This is such a fascinating post, I have been sleeping this way for years, the night time wakefulness is very precious. I thought I was just odd😊
I'm a relatively new Sped teacher and I have been experiencing wakefulness starting between 2 and 3 and lasting for a couple of hours. I found that I'm often meditating on students during this wakeful time and I often get accurate insights into their areas of need, especially if their IEP is being written. Sometimes I get up and write at that time. It's a very liminal space and I cherish the meditations, opportunities for prayer, and general ability to turn things over in my mind during these hours. I do know this: if and when I retire I will absolutely adopt the watch in habit and practice. This makes so much sense to me!
I remember first hearing about this phenomenon on public radio a good 30 years ago. Always a very interesting subject.
There’s something special and sacred about those small hours in the middle of the night
Lying here at 03:00 listenning to your video before I fall back into my 2nd sleep.
Done this for years. Wife says I have a whole other life in the middle of the night.
Also catch 10-15 naps most afternoons and wake up feeling great after that.
Very interesting! Since I retired, I have found that a pattern like this is what my system does. I've always been a lot more nocturnal than most, but ... this is a new twist.
Thank you for the information!
Since I retired I’ve found I’ve lost all my stress about sleep. If I couldn’t sleep when I was working I would get really stressed which would make it harder to sleep. Some days I would go to work having barely slept and dreading a day starting off tired and drained. Now I can sleep when I want.
@@overworlderMe too. I am not retired yet. But I am self employed, and plan my workshops and meetings for the afternoon whenever possible.
I am so happy I came across this video.
I regularly, though not always, wake up in the middle of the night. I purposely go to bed a bit later than I'd like to make sure I get the whole 8 hours. Sometimes when I wake up I turn and rage in my bed. It's hell quite frankly.
So SCREW THAT I'm gonna start being chill with waking at night and using that time! Cheers!
✌️😅
In Mount Athos in North Greece, an Orthodox monastic republic, where there are about 2,000 monks, many of the monasteries there follow a biphasic sleep pattern. The monks go to bed just after dusk, then get up 4 or 5 hours later in the middle of the night for a cup of coffee, then their prayer rule, then to church for 3 to 4 hours, then sleep again for 3 hours, then up for breakfast and work.
I’ve heard about drinking coffee in the middle of the night (or early morning). I’ll bet there’s so some sleep benefit to doing it.
Kyrie eleison
Not so sure. Maybe to prevent keeling over in church falling asleep! @@ritasjourney
My italian friends would give their kids milky coffee just before bedtime. Those kids slept like logs.@@ritasjourney
Mediaeval western religious orders such as the Carthusians and Poor Clares continue to observe their institutionised practice of the broken night to this day. They rise for the service of Matins or Vigils around midnight and return to bed after two or three hours and sleep until daylight. It normalises insomnia and those unsuited to it struggle with the practice in their youth.
Same story here. I learned about biphasic sleep a few years ago and realized my sleep pattern is actually normal. By the way, brain wave patterns recorded during the watch portion of the night are similar to those who are under hypnosis or in the lightest level of sleep. Your brain is still in a deeply relaxed state during that time, even though you are awake.
Thank you so much for this video! I have had what I considered a circadian rhythm disorder for years. I am so grateful to learn about bi-phasic sleep, and the watch, etc. As I read others' comments here I found many others who felt the same way as I have -- guilt and shame at not being able to regulate to an 8 hr. (or so) continuous sleep. I'm touched at how many people are grateful and relieved to learn of two sleeps. I'm very grateful too, and I'm going to subscribe. It's 3 a.m. my time right now. Ha ha. P.S. I'm happy to share the planet with you, too!
I’ve never heard of this term and I’m 47. I’ve slept like this for years. At first, I thought it was bc I have 5 children & breastfed each one for 14 months on demand. That kept me up around the clock. Now, I get up, put laundry in the dryer, unload the dishwasher, pay my bills, do my nails, pray, fold clothes etc…these r some examples. I may even watch a movie and then go to bed and get up that morning and continue my day. My family & close friends know that I do this and I always felt like I was just weird or it was just a quirk I had. This video was so enlightening. Thank you so much!
I used to stress out about insomnia until learned about this. thx for sharing more info about this ! You have a new subscriber .
I'm very definitely doing this. Every afternoon at 5pm I get sleepy and fall asleep in front of the computer drinking coffee. After a couple of hours, I begin to "wake up." Then I will be up until 2 or 3am. If I get to bed by 11pm, I will wake up at 2:30 or 3am. I'm often awake for 2 to 4 hours in the night. This is most inconvenient in modern times. I can't seem to get out of it. I've about decided to go with it but others living next to me mostly spoil my late sleep by making noise. I'm very glad to have stumbled onto your vlog. After reading the comments I don't feel like a weirdo anymore. Some of my friends developed this sleep pattern after getting old: wake up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep and can't get back to sleep. My brain works much better at night than earlier in the day.
I spent 47 years hiking & mountaineering in the UK ,sometimes for months at a time (a great experience 😀) & this is how i used to sleep ,particularly in Winter which i loved.
Excuse me........47 years of hiking?? 🤔
@@King_Alfred_849 Yes. Started when i was 10.
That's amazing! How did you afford the time & finances to do that, if you don't mind me asking?
Love this, I’m watching at 2.15 am. I had a sleep at 8.30 pm . Lately there has been so much push on circadian rhythms and getting 8 hrs sleep especially 2 hrs before 12am! But I love being awake thru the night, peaceful and quiet. It’s my time with no interruptions❤😊
I do however not like shift work, I once was a nurse and hated night duty 😂 as I do not like sleeping through the day.
Addressing the existence of the bi-phasic sleep pattern has been very helpful for the patients of mine whom I am treating for insomnia, or for people who experience that period of wakefulness in the middle of the night that they aren't used to yet, and don't understand.
For the last 20 years i have "suffered" from insomnia with PTSD that only at least 12 oz of whiskey could fix...Prescription and O|C meds made me do violent waking nightmares when I tried them so I always went back to whiskey...I have gotten into the habit of "napping" in my truck between appointments for the REM sleep that I know my brain needs to stay healthy. This new info gives me hope to maybe try some new techniques... Thank you!
Last year I decided to try experimenting with biphasic sleep and I don’t think I’ll ever go back. On most nights I shower and am in bed by about 9pm. I awaken whenever and return to sleep whenever. I get up in the morning about 7:15 every morning.
I used to have insomnia and daytime sleepiness. Now the insomnia is gone because I consider it normal to wake up and my daytime sleepiness has gone away because I go to bed early enough to get enough sleep even if I’m up late at night.
The middle of the night is so peaceful. I love this new cycle.
Because nobody ride around me fits this,I occasionally have to spend an evening the old way.
I did the 9-5 like everyone else. Then I retired, started my own business, and naturally fell into the sleep pattern you describe. The 'Watch' period is quiet and allows concentration and has a magical sort of easy motivation. Additionally, once I get sleepy 1.5 - 3 hours later, the second sleep is deep and delicious, I wake up refreshed and feeling good about getting something done early in the day.
I get two sleeps per night. I usually sleep for 4 to 5 hours, then am awake for at least 2 or 3 hours, then I get 3-4 hours after that. The first phase seems deep like sleep, the second phase is mainly dream sleep.
Gee. I thought I'd be the one person to comment who regularly experiences two sleeps... I guess retirement is a time machine back to the medieval. And yes! I've woken up from that second sleep with some great dreams. When I was crew on a sailboat, I had a lot of dreams that I remembered. We could always get 8 hours of sleep, just not at the usual times, and if I didn't have anything to do I'd often just take another nap, all of which I think was conducive to vivid dreams. Second sleeps are normal if you don't have electric lights and a morning schedule.
IM WATCHING THIS AT 5AM AND HAVE BEEN AWAKE SINCE 2AM. I enjoy the quiet. Sometimes I go back to sleep about 6AM and sleep a couple more hours, or I get up at 6, have some congee and start my day
Congee?
As a retiree, my biphasic sleep patterns now focus on the daytime. I'm awake all night then go to sleep about dawn til around noon - then back to sleep by no later than 4pm. Awake again by 10pm and go back to sleep at dawn. I love the night when the rush of the world is silenced.
Where I am I can see the beautiful stars.
My pattern has evolved similarly.
My theory is that the population density has become telepathically untenable and so it is easier to be awake when everyone is asleep on your half of the planet
I have just stumbled on your channel and watched this episode. Since retiring I have “suffered” with erratic sleep; waking at around 2am for a few hours then going back to bed. I have actually sought medical advice for this perceived problem.
Thanks to your video I find that I am normal😂.
I look forward to watching more of your videos. Many thanks.
Heard about this a number of years ago and found it interesting. It was associated with the farming life before modern lighting. Fascinating. I’m starting to wake at 3-3:30 myself now that I’m older, though I’ve always been a good sleeper. It’s a nice time to listen to the silence and look out at nature. Thanks… new subscriber.
First time on your channel. Nice video. I have been living in a national forest now for around 6 years. I have been wondering about this middle of the night wake up thing. It is now 4am and I am preparing for my 2nd sleep. Being retired it seems a natural thing to do living inside of a beatiful natural environment.
Just came across your site by accident. Brilliant !! I always thought there was something wrong with me when I had to sleep after eating and would get up at say 10:00pm and then go back to bed at 04:00 or so. Now I'm retired this is my pattern. Thank you so much for explaining this so intelligently and with a gorgeous accent !!
The algorithm brought me here and I'm glad it did. What a great video and I learnt something I never knew before. Fascinating!
I do sleep biphasic. I have slept that way for many years steadily. I tend to fall asleep around midnight and then wake at 3:30 though sometimes as late as 4:30. I'm generally up for 2 hours; I am a musician so I tend to play my guitar or read, sometimes it's videos like this one. I originally felt a lot of stress about how much sleep I was getting but I've gotten used to this and now look at it as my time. My wife can sleep for 10 hours straight usually, though we are in our late 50's and she has wakefulness at times due to her changes. Thanks for the video; it reinforces my thought that we are natural beings and not stuck to a structure dictated by modern needs.
Great podcast. The practice of spending a couple of hours awake in the middle of the night has very obvious survival benefits. Predators and thieves are wont to strike in those hours and it’s a good time to observe nocturnal varmints prowling around your property. Those are also excellent hours for creative writing and painting etc. when interruptions are almost nonexistent. The significance of going to bed early, soon after sundown is most important. One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings is titled ‘Night Watch’.
Creative writing and painting would be definitely difficult without some sort of candle or rush light.
As a 70 year old with lower back issues and past work experience of getting up at 4AM I often wake around 3AM-4AM. I will read or watch TH-cam for an hour or even several hours depending on how I feel. I do set an alarm as to not to "second" sleep too late in the morning. Sometimes I do oversleep and upset my rhythm.
Our cat Mia will often wake me (not my wife) up around 4AM to play. Cats are active staring just before dawn and before dusk their typical hunting time.
I think I learned about this sleep pattern from the book, A World Only Lit By Fire.
Such good info! So interesting....now that I'm in my 60's this is making so much sense for me. You know, the afternoon nap is indispensable too!
Heather, I love that you're talking about this!. It's a subject I dove into several years ago, during perimenopause. I sleep in two lots, and have most of my life. Around 230-330 I get up for a few hours. I snack, I read, I think about things. It's my time for introspection and odds and ends. I also have a Bengal cat who is on a similar sleep pattern and hates to be alone. She's my night companion. My mind feels different during this time, it makes different connections and leaps, has different focuses. I love this time, and I've never tried to eradicate it from my schedule. I hope more so called insomniacs,like me can learn to embrace our natural rhythms and not feel like we're wrong for not following the mold.
Oh wow, I love your comment! Your way of sleeping sounds just like mine! I actually never looked at it this way. I was always worried about trying to get 8 hours at once but just couldn't ever do it. I just thought it was me and that I was strange!! ❤
@@debbiejohnson7862 Me too!
Wow! I have slept this way for much of my adult life, and I have found it very productive - but whenever there have been other people in the house or a partner in my life, I have tried to do the eight-hour sleep. Biphasic feels natural. I never knew this was something others do. Thank you!
I ran across this idea about 20 yrs ago, in a huge book I read about insomnia, when I was struggling desperately with profound depression, and the primary insomnia that I've lived with since I was about 9 yrs old, and it really comforted me to know that I was not at all strange to sleep in 2 "shifts."
I've always been a DRASTIC night owl, so had a few graveyard shift jobs, and never have really gone back to a "typical" diurnal rhythm. Obviously this was a problem when my son was young and I had to do the mom stuff to get him bathed, dressed, fed, and off to school. So, I'd have a "nap" from about 3am till 6am, when I'd get up and do the mom stuff. Once he left, I'd eat, play on the PC for a little while, and then about 9am, go back to bed, and then sleep till about 3pm, so I'd be up and alert when my son came home from school.
After he graduated and went off to the Navy, for a while I was able to sleep from maybe 1am till maybe 10am, but in 2016, my mom died, and the grief made that old nemesis primary insomnia stage a comeback; then in 2022, whole-body eczema nearly stopped me from sleeping at all. But I finally got a prescription for gabapentin, which has been a godsend. I still usually go to bed between 3-5am, but I manage to sleep soundly till around noon, thx to the gabapentin.
But I really appreciate this video; I answer questions about insomnia all the time, at Quora, and always point out this bi-phasic sleep as being completely normal, only recently hijacked by 8 hr shifts and alarm clocks. With this video, I finally have something I can point to, to let those worried about this issue get more info about it, rather than just "some woman online told me..." 😉 Thx!
Thank you for this informative video!I enjoy the medieval period and learning more about it. It also enables me to feel better about my husband who, starting about 5 years ago, began falling asleep after dinner regularly (8:30-ish) and will wake up from 3-3:30 and watch tv or do household tasks until about 5, then come to bed until 8:00 a.m.
When I was younger my neighbour used to babysit me after school everyday (she has a chronic illness since her early 20's which means she can't work full or part-time), several times growing up she used to tell me how her grandfather wouldn't often be up for like 2 or 3 hours most nights. As a child who was in the process of being diagnosed with high functioning autism (Aspergers syndrome) I couldn't wrap my head around someone choosing to be awake for several hours most nights of a week, I often suffered with trying to get my brain to wind down when my head hit the pillow at least several nights a week. My neighbour's grandfather was the most senior postmaster in Cornwall (and possibly some of southern Devon, I can't remember exactly) during the Second World War, as a child I assumed he may have picked up this habit of 'partitioned' sleep as a kind of stress induced insomnia thanks to the additional duties he had to do for the war effort*.
*= Postmasters and other Post office employees had to read every letter going through the Post Office because of the risk of possible spy networks
Brilliant! And a relief. For years, I have woken up at 3AM and stayed awake to around 4:45AM. I thought there was something wrong with me and have remained worried and also a touch depressed as a result. But now this makes perfect sense and I am making full use of those hours for quiet reflection, music and doing some enjoyable chores. Many thanks for your video - it has made a real difference
After decades of heating with wood and raising three kids, getting a good night's sleep meant having a couple of four hours of uninterrupted slumber.
The in-between time is usually a quiet time. Time to take care of your physical needs, rehydrate, check your surroundings and make sure the family is all comfortable.
It gives you some time to be just alone or with your infant or your partner uninterrupted by normal daytime interactions. You can read, journal, pray or work on a quiet hobby. Whatever gives you peace, in this gentle awake time, to fully relax and settle in for the second sleep.
I find he dreams are always more intense during the second sleep. Maybe because the body isn't as physically exhausted as when you fall in bed for the first sleep. I think it's a really healthy habit if you can find ten hours to dedicate each night to this routine.❤
Thanks for an interesting video. I think Samuel Pepy (1633-1703) in his famous diary refers to first and second sleep. I think he and family sometimes spent this pause between the two sleeps with friends. Sounds cozy!
Many years ago I heard 2am described as the “midnight of the soul”. I have never found the origin of the term (it has been used in a book title but I heard the phrase long before the book was published).
I habitually wake at 3am and as a child who was scared of the dark it terrified me. I would lay awake straining for any sound, a car passing, a night bird calling or the distant sound of a train horn, all the while imagining shapeless things hiding in the dark. Now it is comforting, the dark envelopes me and the silence is welcoming, the morning is hours away and I can be alone with my books or just my thoughts.
It's said that 3am is the witching hr. The time when the veil is thin and paranormal experiences are most likely to occur. Most ppl who wake at night tend to do so at around 3am.
02:00.
"Witching Hour" here.
Nearly the same L
Regards England
Loved the video. I have had sleep issues for many years and often worked so so tired at a day job. Prior to that I had shift work and just loved night and evening shifts. The switch to daytime was a disaster to me, as I could never get "good" rest unless I worked to exhaustion. A poor plan. I did that bc I had kids in school to manage. Now I'm retired and sleep biphasically. So so happy! 1st sleep is 4 or 5 in the am. Then up and about to do chores etc. 2nd sleep is a marvelous one at 3 or 4 pm. I am doing great with this schedule. If I am forced into a "regular" day, I really struggle w/pain and blood sugar issues, etc. I just follow my body now! Thank you!!! Here's to better days!!!
Loved this video. This topic is super interesting. Your delivery is great. I don't know if I'll watch another, but I subscribed to help. Thanks for not "asking". People hate that.
For some reason I woke up at 3am tonight and your video was just here. Big Brother? But when I was pregnant (have five daughters) I would get “pregnant insomnia”. Would wake up often around 3 in the morning and usually fall asleep about 5. I found that paying bills or a task in the middle of the night was too much, but focusing on resting and relaxing was best-so maybe read or watching TV was good for me. I was still super tired the next day though, and I was also last trimester pregnant with other little kids to care for in the daytime. Such an interesting perspective now on maybe why this occurred.
Enjoyed your presentation.
I have been sleeping biphasic for a few years now. It seems to work for me. It was interesting to hear that it’s a pre medieval phenomena. Shall tune in again.
A new sub 👍
Thanks, and welcome!
Great video on an interesting subject. I heard about this topic about three years ago and it has helped me not worry so much about waking in the night. I just get up, go to the bathroom, and then putter around again instead of laying awake and watch my thoughts go round and round.
One thing to mention though: your camera is focused on the background, not on your face. It's probably an easy fix.
This began for me in my early to mid teens. My childhood was awful, so staying up late helped me relax and take time for myself while the evil was fast asleep. Being awake unto myself gave me a sense of safety. I used the time listening to music or watching reruns of Dave Allen at Large, Soupy Sales, Monty Python, and shows which brought humor into my life. It was my escape.. my only one. It's been with me ever since, this business of needing time to myself. I'll sleep awhile, get up and do stuff, then sleep again. I'd no idea others were doing it too. I'd heard about it, but thought it was an ancient practice discarded and forgotten long ago.
Soupy Sales! His show was funny!
Thank You!
This information is perfectly timed. I’ve been a Night Owl my whole life. I get soo much done at night and enjoy the uninterrupted peace. I’ve also felt guilty about it and have tried to ‘fix’ this pattern with added stress and anxiety when I inevitably fail. I’ve been praying about this and asking for guidance and help. Your video is a help on both fronts. It is immeasurably helpful to let go of the stress and anxiety and I can also structure my evenings to better work with this natural rhythm. I also find it interesting that I long to live in the middle of nowhere with no artificial light sources. Alas, that isn’t currently possible so I am using special light fixtures and glasses to create natural lighting. Thank you again for this vital info. and an answer to prayers. 🌙🙏🏻🕯
I majored in Psychology in college and learned THEN, that about 2-3 hours in a sleep cycle nothing happens, and I began my own biphasic pattern and have been happy with it my whole life! Thank you for this insightful video, it helps to know that others do it to!
So interesting to hear this. I always loved feeling wide awake in the middle of the night as it was a chance to get so much done. I don't always have these wakeful periods, but it was never a concern to me, and could never understand why so many people complain when they cannot sleep.