How are we supposed to sleep?
We often hear about polyphasic sleep versus monophasic sleep. Polyphasic sleep is where sleep is split into 2 or more blocks of sleep, interrupted by getting up and doing things, it can occur during the night or throughout the day. Monophasic sleep is where you sleep in one block of time without getting up to perform other activities.
Proponents of polyphasic sleep say that you can sleep less and still feel rested. The idea is that if you break up your sleep into blocks of a few hours this leads to you feeling more focused and better able to concentrate. This type of sleep pattern does not work for most people. When people suffer from interrupted bouts of insomnia we want to help them get back into a monophasic sleep pattern, 7-8 hours in one session.
Where do we get our sleep habits? We haven’t always slept in this monophasic pattern.
“Don Quixote followed nature, and being satisfied with his first sleep, did not solicit more. As for Sancho, he never wanted a second, for the first lasted him from night to morning.” Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote (1615)
“He knew this, even in the horror with which he started from his first sleep, and threw up the window to dispel it by the presence of some object, beyond the room, which had not been, as it were, the witness of his dream.” Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1840)
People would often break their sleep into two sleep sessions. They would wake during the twilight hours and would get up to read and socialize. There is also the concept of the siesta where people would sleep in the afternoon and wake in the evening. Two sleeps did not continue into the 20th century and this coincides with the invention of modern lighting. With modern lighting the amount of time people could dedicate to rest dwindled, as did sleeping in two sleep sessions.
The polyphasic two sleep pattern of the past is not like the polyphasic sleep patterns people are trying 
today. The idea of splitting one’s sleep in order to get more alert awake time is attractive. Most would like to have more time to do things while not suffering from sleep deprivation. This splitting up into sleep sessions is not for everyone. Getting your body used to this may lead to feeling sleep deprived and can negatively effect your concentration and memory.
You may find that we need a lot of sleep, but we need less sleep then our primate ancestors. Homo erectus didn’t sleep in trees, they slept on the ground and this gifted us higher primates with better quality sleep. Humans spend about 25% of their sleep in REM. REM sleep is where we dream, and consolidate memory into long-term storage. Sleeping in a single block of time enables your body to have more REM sleep. Each stage of REM that occurs is longer than the previous one. It can range from 10 minutes for the first stage of REM to one hour for that last stage of REM.
However which way you sleep, if you think you may have a sleep disorder, or are experiencing any difficulty with getting to sleep, staying asleep, staying awake during the day, or have any other sleep related questions, feel free to contact Clinique Somnomed by clicking the link below.
We provide quick and convenient sleep testing in your home, in and around the greater Montreal area. We test patients every year for sleep disorders both common and rare.
At Day's Close: Night in Times Past Paperback – October 17, 2006 by A. Roger Ekirch
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