I Slept Like a Victorian for a Week

I would imagine that the Victorians and other generations that slept in this manner did a lot more physical labor during the day and into the evening that would likely have made it much easier for them to fall asleep by 10 p.m. In fact, perhaps that's how the schedule arose to begin with. Maybe people needed a rest after the incredible amount of labor they did during the day, so everyone goes to bed shortly after supper, has a rest, gets up for awhile, and then can enjoy their "free time" before having another rest to prepare for the next day.

Also, someone probably needed to keep the fires going anyway.

This has become my way of sleeping during lent. In 2019, I decided to give up electronics (no electric light, no screens except what was essential for work) for lent, and so I ended up doing everything by daylight or candlelight and my body naturally ended up in this biphasic sleep pattern. It was the most energetic and well rested I have ever been in my adult life!

Personally, I think it's important to let it happen naturally, rather than trying to force it by setting alarms, and the best thing you can do is just decide not to have any electric light (including screens) after sunset, because it means that your body is responding to the cues of the natural light cycle, and you will get sleepy earlier and find it easier to go to bed - it also means that you have to finish doing everything you need to do before the sun does down!

As someone with a baby who often wakes up around midnight, this is such a cool idea to try to get some usage out of the nighttime feeding times

This reminds me a lot of my nights with my infant 5 years ago. I fell asleep much earlier than I did before, and do now, and she would wake me up for her middle of the night feeding. I would nurse bab and read with my dim bedside lamp, change her diaper, before heading back to sleep. I was only awake for about an hour each night, but that time alone reading and cuddling baby was very peaceful.

I cannot imagine the poorer classes doing this, especially those who had to sleep in a doss house every night

How did people in that time period wake during the night? Did they sleep through if they needed it? I’ve heard of candles with nails stuck in them being used as an alarm was this what they did?

I lived completely off grid for 8 months March - November many decades ago when I was a young woman. In Vermont that means needing to feed the woodstove during the night in the Spring and Fall months.
I basically went to bed as the sun went down and woke up after four hours. I was up for about a half an hour to feed the fire and do other necessary things. I had to stay up long enough to make sure the fire was going well and ready to bank and then back into bed. Maybe read a little or journal. Then up early with the sun is easy.
A trick I learned that my grandmother taught me when i was a child. (She was born in 1899 in an Amish/Mennonite home, so no electricity or central heat) Have the next day's clothes near the bed and pull them under the covers with you for just a few minutes before you get up. It's Good to put on warmed clothes in a cold room!
One small thing about your experiment here. While I love the aesthetic of the multiple candles, I don't think most Victorians would have used more than one at a time when they had to be up during the night. They were quite a prescious item they likely wouldn't want to waste.

I loved my linen sheets, though they shed a lot, until the third using. I put my heel through the bottom sheet. Sigh. I have one of their cotton sets now.

Cool! Enjoy your video and may I say you look so lovely in your Victorian sleepwear very interesting to follow along and stares at my love of Victoriana again which I am very happy about

Cool 😃

Ok, that sent me into a researching spree, thanx

I haven’t heard of this. The hours of the 1st sleep are interesting because it’s between 10pm-2am that our bodies produce more melatonin & human growth hormone to repair collagen, tissues, bones , restoring/regenerating our bodies & burning fat while we’re sleeping. If we’re awake during that time, the benefits are lost & turn into a 2nd wind with energy to stay up later.

I hard about this type of sleep schedule being very common in the olden days where electricity was not very common in households. To save money on candles and/or oil for lamps, people would often go to bed shortly after sundown, and that would make them naturally wake up in the middle of the night, do a quiet activity for a couple hours, and go back to bed to wake up at dawn. I've experienced this kind of sleep schedule during a few weekends (in LARP for example), and it does feel very good!

could you please do an apartment tour?! :)

It's a myth that working or reading in dim lighting is harmful for the eyes, by the way. There's some strain on them, but it's not really different from any other exercise, eyes tire like any other body part when used. You also get more used to it. Where I live it's dark half of the year, too, and pre-electricity, if our forebears didn't damage their eyes in dim light, neither will any of us. Just rest your eyes after working in the dark by either having a nap, or looking at the 'horizon' - helps relax the muscles responsible for your sight adjustment.

I had a similar sleeping schedule for about a year when I lived on a sail boat. in the evenings I ended up not using any light at all, and it is just what happens when the sun goes down and there is nothing to do at 7pm in the dark... I did use light when I woke up about midnight. I also end up with this schedule again if I am doing hard work in the garden all day, when the sun goes down, it is sleeping time, but sure can not sleep all night through like the chickens can.

Only thing I didn't like was the hoop skirt I like a bustle Wich is more practical

I imagine this would make caring for a newborn easier as well. You would already be used to getting up once in the middle of the night. And if you were exhausted and had already been up a couple times with them by midnight there would be a whole household also awake to help care for them and let you rest.

I used to sleep from say 10 till 7 but I now sleep from approximately 10 till about 2.30 read and fall back sleep about 4.30/5 have done this since I quit smoking 15 years ago.
I used to worry about it but now I just except its whats happening and thankfully I'm not tired or sad.

Where's the nightcap?😊

probably once or twice a week, I sleep like this. It's a hangover from chronic insomnia many years ago. Once I got my sleep pattern back in order, I found that waking in the night and lying tossing and turning was a recipe for disaster. Instead I started doing stuff, especially writing, and when I got tired again, I'd go back to bed till daylight. When my daughter was young, I'd often go to sleep same time as her, and then wake in the middle of the night to tidy and do the dishes and go back to bed to wake with her.

This is basically how my whole family "sleeps." But the quality of sleep is bad and we all have insomnia.

I notice Roger Ekirch makes a lot of claims about "heaps of textual evidence" for biphasic sleep, but then doesn't actually cite any of it. He also hasn't actually published any peer reviewed papers on this claim. The few peer reviewed journals he has links to are still just letters to the editor or other non-reviewed pieces. So I find his claims pretty suspect.

Given the expense of lighting and heating after dark, I would find it pretty extraordinary if most people regularly got up for an hour or more in the middle of the night to do chores or other tasks. It's possible that some people did it, but I would need to see some actual evidence before I'm prepared believe it was ever a widespread practice.

Happy birthday! I am quite curious to see how you Irish working class outfit comes together!

I'd love to try this. I do however have this problem where if I wake up in the middle of the night I can't fall back asleep.

Happy birthday!
About a year ago I decided to try a biphasic sleep schedule. The first night just beat the tar out of me and I gave up pretty fast. Maybe I should give it another go?

One thing in your favour is Women are ( I almost said more comfortable in bed 😂😂) more comfortable with the idea of staying in bed and letting the World go by and it's more acceptable in Society for a Woman whereas a Man would be tarred as Lazy and made to feel guilty for letting his fellow countrymen graft/toil in fields or ovens or mill while he lay in bed. More than likely his workmates would march round to his house and break the door down and drag him off to work. Even as late as the 1970's the house was thought of as Women's Domain and it was frowned upon for Males to hang around their during working hours and they would be examined and chased away.
Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway might interest you.Happy Birthday!

Aww! Happy Birthday! You should've had a Victorian Party with music and food and drink of that era.
This video reminds me of wrapping Christmas Presents in the night while children sleep. But your mornings are like my Winter ones, stick a toe out,Brrr, back in until the Sun comes out and warms the day.

Oooh, did Victorian Ladies ask an acquaintance to Knock them Up? What did you use as an Alarm Clock?

Last night I slept like a log...woke up with my head in the fireplace! 😂😂

omg...i have been doing this for years...
not because i want too,but its something my body does...
in the time iam awake,i eat,or fold laundry,go on line,smoke a sigaret,and after a few hours i will fall asleep again...

This is my natural pattern

Currently doing this without knowing why. I seem to be more alert & productive (small plant based snack & 2hrs of quiet projects). 8pm-1am then 3-6am.

Wait. You lived in Iceland? Yeah, it´s daaaaaaark in the winter here... especially in Akureyri where I live ;P

Never heard about this before. It seems pretty strange to me. How did the Victorian’s wake up in the middle of the night?

When I am fortunate enough to be able to follow my own schedule I am awake for 20 hours and sleep 10 .

Did the Victorians etc. set alarms or wake intentionally, or was or just natural/ingrained?

I’ve been sleeping like this for a couple years now…not sure how it started, but on the rare nights where I do sleep through the entire night, & wake up when my alarm goes off for work, I feel a little ripped off. I enjoy my hour or two of “extra free time” when everyone else is sleeping, & it’s quiet, dark, & cozy. I work a weird schedule of daytime & overnights, so this is probably how this “weird” schedule started. I love it, though!

I have to say it was really reassuring to see you struggle, both to adjust and to get in/out of bed on time. I’ve been trying to adjust my sleep schedule to no avail for years (much to my mother’s chagrin and my own frustration) and my partner can adjust theirs as necessary with seemingly little effort, so it was nice to see that it isn’t just me. I think a schedule like this would really suit me, so maybe I’ll have another shot. Thank you for the demonstration!

So I don't have insomnia, I'm just a biphasic sleeper??

Honestly, getting up in the middle of the night for an hour or two has always been my natural pattern. I just used to think there was something wrong with me. When I read an article about how this used to be the normal thing to do I just stopped freaking out about it and I feel so much better ever since. My times are a bit different. My first sleep is actually the shorter one and I get about three hours before I wake up and the second one is about four to five hours depending on how long I can sleep. It actually has gotten to a point where I notice that I was stressed out the day before or put too much of a strain on my body because I sleep through the whole night.

Wow, this video made me super relaxed! Can't explain it, just very peaceful.

I actually used to do this a few years back, so that I could get through my homework - it offered me the benefits of my parents being asleep by then and me not just working through the night.
Maybe I should try it again!

I just read all about biphasic sleeping because I'm more productive at night so I end up staying up late but have to get up early to take my son to school. Then I come home and eat and do a few things around the house and then got back to sleep for a little bit. It's always felt fine to me. I work on-call so I'm pretty used to weird sleep all around anyway.

Me, awake at 3am watching this video after having slept a few hours: “ohhh so I’m just ✨Victorian✨…” glad my body’s sleep habits were normal somewhere 😅 back to sleep I go now 💤

I have heard of this a while back in some mediaeval records. It is truly fascinating.

Question though, I know you used an alarm on your phone to wake up. What did the people of olde do to wake up for the first sleep? (the spelling of “olde” was intentional haha).

I think it's so interesting that there's a historical precedent for sleeping like this because most of my life I slept like this, 4hr asleep, awake for maybe 10-30mins, then asleep for 4hr more. Surprisingly I feel more rested than when I tried to sleep a continuous 8hr.