The normal thing, nowadays, is to sleep once a day –preferably at night–, not counting the siesta snooze. However, this has not always been the case, since long ago, in the Middle Ages, when artificial light did not yet exist, it was common to sleep in two batches each day separated by a few hours, which is known as segmented sleep or biphasic sleep. This custom seems to have returned, as there are many people who claim to separate their rest into two phases since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived due to the flexibility of schedules, but is there any benefit to fragmenting night sleep with a period of wakefulness between tights?
The first thing to know is that the first manifestation of this way of sleeping was found in the Greek epic The Odyssey, from the 8th century BC, according to Roger Ekirch, a historian and author of At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, known for his studies on sleep patterns–, and that the last signs date back to the beginning of the 20th century, when it was no longer widely practiced.
As Nuria Roure, a psychologist with a doctorate in sleep medicine, explains, “before the existence of artificial light, rest and wakefulness were basically directed by sunlight. At certain times of the year they had up to 16 hours of darkness. They began their sleep about two hours after sunrise and had two twin dreams of about four hours between which they could have up to seven hours of wakefulness between them.
Segmented sleep has two periods of sleep separated by waking hours in which you usually read, meditate, pray or have sex
This type of dream in two phases could have made sense in the past because “it seems that this vigil in the middle of the two dreams was a time destined to vigilance and protection of the community, to fan the fire in the middle of the night and to make barrels of beer, as historian Roger Ekirch explains. Likewise, many people did not get out of their beds and took advantage of that time to read, pray, meditate, write or have sex”, Nuria Roure tells us.
This practice has its reason, and it is that this time in which one stayed awake at night was considered the best time to take potions and medicines, since it facilitated digestion, or even as a perfect time for conception, since it was more rested. However, everything changed after the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of artificial light, which changed sleeping habits to those we know today.
Nighttime sleep is divided into five phases, ranging from light sleep to REM or rapid eye movement sleep. Instead of recurring in short bursts throughout a night, those who practice segmented sleep will find a great rest in their first three hours of sleep, as this stage has been associated with deeper, more restful sleep, hence many Consider that sleeping like this makes you feel more rested.
Benefits of segmented sleep: is it good to sleep in cycles?
Some experts argue that this type of sleep in two batches is beneficial to health. Among its advantages is the availability of a nightly relaxation time, in which to enjoy tranquility without work or family demands and without social distractions, as well as a period in which to meditate, reflect or write; in fact, they say that is when the muse of inspiration visits the most.
As explained by Dr. Celia García Malo, sleep specialist neurologist at the Sleep Institute, “some theories have mentioned the preventive effect of this sleep pattern on insomnia, however, as seen in the specialized sleep consultation, in In our patients, this type of sleep pattern most often appears as a consequence of insomnia. These are generally patients who wake up in the middle of the night, unable to go back to sleep, who become active and get up, and even begin to work at dawn or do housework, and who later go back to bed, returning sleep for a few hours.”
This type of sleep is also interfered with by hormones, specifically prolactin, which is known to cause female mammals to generate breast milk, and which also plays an important role in sleep, although little research has been done on it. Apparently biologists have found that people who sleep in two batches better regulate the production of prolactin, since higher concentrations of the hormone have been observed in them in the first hours of the day.
Nuria Roure points out that “surely for our ancestors, who lived in a world in which they had a lot of physical wear, without artificial light, with long periods of darkness, with dangers lurking at night, and also slept in a community, this type of sleep could bring them great benefits. But at present this pattern would surely cause us many inconveniences”.
Contraindications of segmented sleep
Among these drawbacks, the expert sleep psychologist points out that if we followed segmented sleep we should go to bed around eight in the afternoon, when we still have many behaviors and activities to do, and stay awake for about four hours in the middle of the night while the rest of the family sleeps.
“In people to whom this happens, rather than providing benefits, it generates a lot of anxiety. Perhaps because our society is prepared to make the most of waking hours thanks to artificial light, and allocates night hours only to sleep, excluding people who must work at night. Studies show that these people who are awake at night have a higher risk of suffering from certain pathologies than those who sleep continuously at night”, explains Dr. Roure.
“People who are awake at night have a higher risk of suffering from certain pathologies than those who sleep continuously at night”
In addition, many people may also find it difficult to fall back asleep after those waking hours. That is why it is important not to perform very intense tasks or tasks that activate the brain a lot, as this will achieve a better second night’s rest.
Dr. Celia García, for her part, argues that the main drawback, in addition to the difficulty in reconciling these schedules with work, academic or social life, is that the human being’s sleep consists of several cycles that are repeated throughout of sleep, and to achieve a good rest it is essential that this sleep structure is adequate. If sleep occurs in a segmented manner, its architecture is altered in any case.
Can the nap be considered fragmented sleep?
The typical Spanish siesta, that sleep of between 15 minutes and two hours that occurs after eating, is a ritual for many people, who claim that they need it to be able to perform for the rest of the day. Dr. Celia García tells us that in this case “we cannot say that it is segmented sleep. Sleeping at night and a nap during the day can be considered physiological, for example, among the smallest, being normal in babies and up to a certain age. In the same way, in elderly people, night sleep hours are shorter and they often have short naps throughout the day.
However, Nuria Roure explains that more than segmented sleep, siesta is a biphasic sleep –two separate dreams during the day–, for which there is anthropological, biological and genetic evidence. It has been shown that there is a decrease in wakefulness in our body after eating, which encourages the body to have a short period of sleep after two hours at noon.
How to improve night rest altered by the pandemic
There are many people who have experienced changes in their rest due to the situation generated by COVID-19, alterations that sometimes drag from home confinement. And it is that the pandemic has promoted the flexibility of schedules and cases of insomnia, which has led many people to divide their sleep into two parts without wanting to do so.
“This is a very interesting reflection. The flexibility of schedules can have advantages, better conciliation, time management, etc. However, regarding sleep, it can be related to a higher risk of sleep disorders. Some people “get carried away” and drag their schedules falling into a phase delay (going to bed and getting up late), and in other cases segmented sleep may appear. This situation must be evaluated by a sleep specialist to detect what factors are precipitating the situation in order to try to resolve them”, tells us the sleep expert neurologist Celia García Malo.
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the flexibility of schedules and cases of insomnia, increasing involuntary segmented sleep
As for what we can do in these cases, the doctor tells us that a cognitive-behavioral treatment is often used for the affected patient, who is given guidelines to regulate schedules and life habits to restore normal sleep. For her part, Dr. Roure emphasizes that our body is set up to sleep at night and be awake during the day, so there is no biological rhythm that points to a human need to be awake for several hours at night. .
On a personal level, some habits can be established to improve rest and to better synchronize the internal biological clock, which would help establish adequate circadian rhythms to be able to sleep and rest better. Some of them are:
In the event that segmented dreams persist over time, and are posing a problem in proper rest or interfering with the performance of daily life, it is best to consult a doctor or a sleep specialist who can help us find a solution. adequate solution that restores restful sleep.
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