First Sleep and Second Sleep: How People Slept Before Electric Light

If you wake up in the middle of the night, you may feel that something is wrong with your sleep. History suggests a gentler way to look at it.

What historians found

Historian A. Roger Ekirch spent years reading old diaries, letters, court records and books. He found many references, especially in Europe, to a "first sleep" and a "second sleep." People went to bed soon after dark, slept for a few hours, woke for a while, and then went back to sleep until morning.

During the quiet time between, people prayed, thought, talked quietly, tended the fire or simply lay resting.

What changed

Ekirch suggests that artificial light, later bedtimes and busy modern schedules gradually pushed this pattern out of everyday life. Today many of us expect one long, unbroken block of sleep.

What this does and doesn't mean

Researchers still discuss how common this pattern was and how it relates to modern sleep. It does not mean that every night waking is healthy or that poor sleep should be ignored.

But it does offer comfort. Waking briefly in the night is not new or strange. Often the problem is not the waking itself, but the worry about it.

Using the idea tonight

If you wake, try treating it as a quiet pause rather than an emergency. Stay in the dark, keep the clock hidden, breathe slowly and let your mind rest. Many people find that sleep returns more easily when they stop fighting the wake-up.

If you wake for long periods every night or feel exhausted in the day, talk to your doctor.