Why waking up in the night is natural

IF you go to bed, only to wake up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep, this may be some comfort to you.

For although this broken sleep pattern is now considered insomnia, up until the Victorian era it was entirely normal.

Dozing through the night is a modern invention, according to a sleep historian – and may not even be the natural way to rest.

According to Professor Roger Ekirch, of Virginia Polytechnic and State University, historically we would have a ‘first’ and ‘second’ sleep, waking in between.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Medicine yesterday, he said: ‘Most individuals awakened shortly past midnight to an hour or so of consciousness, in which they meditated, they conversed and made love – not necessarily in that order. A 16th century physician said making love was better after the first sleep, when people have more enjoyment and do it better.’

But the practice fell out of favour following the Industrial Revolution, when workers laboured for longer.

However, research suggests this may be a normal sleeping pattern when people are away from artificial lights and the blue light from electronic devices.

Professor Ekirch said: ‘Rather than the product of an implacable disorder, their sleep, viewed from the high ground of history, may just be natural.’