Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => General Chat => Topic started by: admin on February 19, 2015
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Throughout most of human history, humans went to bed shortly after the sun went down and woke up in the morning as it rose. There were candles and later oil lamps, but the light was not very bright so people still went to bed early.
Then came Thomas Edison and the incandescent light bulb and everything changed, including our sleeping habits. So, if you have problems getting to sleep at night or are a miserable person to be around in the morning, blame him.
Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder found that if you live by the sun's schedule, you are more likely to go to bed at least an hour earlier, wake up an hour earlier, and be less groggy, because your internal clock and external reality are more in sync. The sun adjusts your clock to what may be its natural state, undoing the influence of light bulbs.
Read the rest here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trouble-sleeping-go-campi/
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I was reading a while ago that prior to the industrial revolution everybody took to segmented sleep. That is, going to bed at dusk, wake up around 1-2 o'clock for an hour or two to stoke the fire, study, pray, chat etc before heading back to bed until dawn. It seems that the poorest places in the world that don't have any lighting at night still do the same thing.
A pretty interesting topic.
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I've heard this too. Makes sense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep
I was reading a while ago that prior to the industrial revolution everybody took to segmented sleep. That is, going to bed at dusk, wake up around 1-2 o'clock for an hour or two to stoke the fire, study, pray, chat etc before heading back to bed until dawn. It seems that the poorest places in the world that don't have any lighting at night still do the same thing.
A pretty interesting topic.