Yoda Posted January 4, 2007 Per Scientific American Mind Magazine: Studies of chimps and human sleeping patterns plus historical accounts suggest that the "natural" sleep patterns for human beings is actually not of one period of 8+/- hours of sleep per night but rather of two sleep periods: first and second sleeps with a period of wakefulness between the two sleeps. In today's era with electrical lighting, we tend to stay up later and compress these two sleep periods together, but many people even now do wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for awhile. Researchers suggest that this isn't a problem at all, so just learn to enjoy it. Historians say that this period between the sleeps was used for various reasons in different cultures... chatting, hunting, sex, contemplation, etc. I guess the chimps don't contemplate, but they are active between the two sleeps as well. Just knowing this has encouraged me to use this time more productively. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lotusbud Posted January 4, 2007 There is a great show on this subject on CBC's Ideas: While You Were Out Part 1 http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/ideas_20061002_1059.mp3 Part 2 http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/ideas_20061009_1089.mp3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
