Reading Between the Lines

“Only a fool would think that cutting off two inches on one end of a blanket and 

sewing it onto the other end would make it longer…” 
– Indigenous Proverb

 

The Spring time change throws a wrench into my well-thought-out and carefully kept schedule every time it rolls around. When you have four kids, a schedule is a must. Especially a sleep schedule.

 

I consider sleeping past seven in the morning as a nice sleep-in. Imagine my horror when I woke up last Sunday at 8:30 in the morning. The house smelled like coffee thanks to my husband. I could already hear the giggles and movements of the older kids downstairs. Instead of enjoying the moment, I shot out of bed like I was late for something. 

 

I wasn’t late for anything at all, but I was undoubtedly missing… something. I felt like that the rest of the week while my body and mind conceded with more sunlight in trade for more chaos. The chaos I feel, and maybe that you feel, during this time probably has much to do with our sleep patterns being disrupted. 

 

Our sleep is a simple thing to throw off. Not only is it harder to get to sleep on time and harder to wake up… it’s harder to stay asleep. I often wake up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back asleep once we spring forward. Of course, I fill these few hours writing or reading until I cannot keep my eyes open.

 

I then fall back asleep and awake the next day. Since I’m still expected to function, I often drink heaps of coffee to make up for this lack of sleep. As it turns out, sleep culture prior to the Industrial Revolution operated similarly. 

 

Roger Ekirch, while researching for his book involving the history of nighttime, came across the term “first sleep”. As a writer often gets distracted while researching one subject, Ekirch started combing public records for the term and then stumbled upon another term, "second sleep". 

 

The terms are used to explain a sleep cycle that begins with a light, short sleep followed by a wake and quiet activities and ends with a long, heavy sleep. We can assume that chores had to be kept up during the small wake window, like tending to small children, checking livestock, or perhaps stirring the fire. 

 

Researchers have found this sleep pattern, biphasic sleep, in England, Africa, the Middle East, and as early as the 8th century BC. In 2015, a sleep study of villagers in northeast Madagascar found that biphasic slumbering hasn’t disappeared completely. Researchers found that the villagers, who live without artificial light, wake every night at about midnight and engage in about an hour or two of activity before sleeping again until the sun rises. 

 

Why the change? As mentioned before, once the Industrial Revolution led the way for artificial light, people could stay up later. But even with the new indoor light, they still needed to be awake at the same time in the mornings. This led to a shift in sleeping patterns that is the widely accepted norm today, one long sleep during the night. 

 

As a parent, I know one long sleep during the night isn’t how we function right out of the womb. Maybe we’re supposed to operate under a first and second sleep and societal expectations make it hard to accomplish. Maybe the chaos we feel is just a biological drive. 

 

Perhaps my inability to sleep through the night during this time change is the universe telling me my inspiration doesn’t fall from the sky like iguanas in the cold…but is entrusted to me by the stars watching me type this column.

 

Amanda Rink is the Editor of The Wright County Monitor. When she isn’t caring for her family, writing for the newspaper, or avoiding laundry, she can be found hiding in the woods with a cup of coffee and a romance novel.

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