The 8-Hour Sleep Cycle - A Myth? 😴

500 years ago, human sleep was divided into two natural phases - First Sleep and Second Sleep. People would sleep soon after sunset, wake up around 1 to 2 AM, spend a couple of hours reading, praying, or bonding, and then go back to sleep till dawn. This middle-of-the-night waking period, known historically as "The Watch," was seen as a calm and mindful time. There were over 500 historical references collected by historian Roger Ekirch that prove this was once the human norm - not insomnia. But the invention of artificial light and the rise of industrial work culture disrupted this natural rhythm. We started sleeping in one long block, forcing our bodies to adapt to an unnatural routine. In fact, even Dr. Thomas Wehr’s sleep experiment confirmed that when people are left in total darkness for weeks, their sleep naturally splits into two phases. Maybe your 2 AM awakening is not a disorder - maybe it’s a memory. One that your body never forgot.