Humans Used to Sleep Twice Every Night
Continuous sleep is a modern habit, not an evolutionary constant, which helps explain why many of us still wake at 3 am and wonder if something's wrong.
For most of human history, a continuous eight-hour snooze was not the norm. Instead, people commonly slept in two shifts each night, often called a "first sleep" and "second sleep."
- Each of these sleeps lasted several hours
- Separated by a gap of wakefulness for an hour or more in the middle of the night
Historical records from Europe, Africa, Asia, and beyond describe how, after nightfall, families would go to bed early, then wake around midnight for a while before returning to sleep until dawn.
Breaking the night into two parts probably changed how time felt. The quiet interval gave nights a clear middle, which can make long winter evenings feel less continuous and easier to manage.
Author's summary: Humans historically slept twice per night.
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