Taking thirty-minute naps or sleeping twice four hours would have a better impact on the quality of our sleep than sleeping all at once. Indeed, if nowadays the traditional night of 8 hours is recommended by a large majority of doctors, polyphasic (=segmented) sleep was widespread in the past and is increasingly recommended by certain specialists.
Before the advent of the industrial age and with it the generalization of continuous lighting, the idea that segmented sleep would better respect our biological clock was very popular. Couples were even advised to conceive, and in general to have sex, after the first sleep in order to take more pleasure. Commonly called “dorveille”, the technique of segmented sleep consists of going to bed early (before nightfall) to wake up after midnight for one or two hours and then go back to sleep until sunrise. Clearly, the idea was to split his night into two phases and stay awake during the beating period. A period of time necessary to ensure, it was said, a much better quality of sleep. Indeed, between the 16th and 19th centuries, many doctors claimed that polyphasic sleep imposed an ideal period of relaxation (so two hours after midnight) to regulate stress.
Shall we try?
