00:00What is biphasic sleep, and could it be the answer to insomnia?
00:04Biphasic sleep is a pattern of rest that divides sleep into two distinct periods every 24 hours
00:09instead of one, and some think it might be healthier for us, although scientists are divided.
00:13Having two sleeps used to be the norm, according to history professor Roger Eckert.
00:18During pre-industrial times, people often slept in two blocks, he said.
00:21It was the predominant pattern for sleep in the Western world until the mid-19th century.
00:25A typical family would go to bed around nine, wake naturally after midnight for an hour or so,
00:30for prayer, chores, conversation, then sink back into what they called their second sleep, Eckert told the BBC.
00:36This changed when artificial light transformed the economics of the night in the early 1800s,
00:41and gas lamps began lighting city streets.
00:43As a result, people stayed up later, and the gap between two sleeps narrowed and eventually closed.
00:48At the same time, the Industrial Revolution was having similar impact on sleep patterns,
00:52as workers changed to new work schedules dictated by mechanized time, said Mediafeed.
00:57Now, centuries later, the concept of biphasic sleep has recaptured the interest of many.
01:01Some people who have been experimenting with segmented sleep patterns say it can lead to
01:05improved restfulness and better management of insomnia.
01:08And researchers are wondering if the biphasic approach could be the most effective sleep
01:12pattern for night shift workers, said the BBC.
01:14But experts are split. There was a promising study in 1992 in which participants limited to just
01:1910 hours of light per day seem to shift naturally into a biphasic sleep pattern.
01:23But in 2023, scientists writing in the journal Medical History said it was dubious to claim
01:28the conditions in the study replicated pre-industrial sleeping conditions,
01:31and questioned if segmented sleep was ever as widespread in those times as Eckert suggests.
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