pillow talk
Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of being involved with me, especially in a work scenario, will know that I’m a creature of habit who likes his routines. It’s long been my mantra that to be productive, efficient and successful, you need a routine, especially a morning routine. Mind, those creative types have never fully signed-up to this and as Marcel Proust once commented “the one thing more difficult than following a regimen is not imposing it on others.” How very dare he.
An area that has been in the public consciousness for years and that continually strives for an established routine is that of a good night’s sleep. Apparently one in three of us suffers from insomnia and not getting enough of it is a big deal, a really big deal. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and poor mental health are all laid at the door of poor sleep patterns, and, at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious (my chosen Mastermind specialist subject) we’re obviously sleepwalking into a major health catastrophe.
An accusatory finger for all this wide-awake-ness has been pointed at the blue lights of our gadgets, booze, fags, a lack of exercise and, of course, the general sh*g & hassle of 21st century life. But what if insomnia has been high-up on the list of health concerns for hundreds of years and technology has always taken the rap? Back in 1890s the insomnia epidemic the Victorians experienced was blamed on the noise of the ever-expanding railways. Following this, it was the anticipated early onset of the dopamine rush of expected telegraphy that was in the dock. Go back to the 17th century and it was believed that the printed output of the Gutenberg press, that made clear no scholar could know everything about everything, was keeping the Huguenots awake at night!
So, if insomnia’s been around for ages and all the usual suspects are rolled out time and time again maybe it’s perhaps opportune to question the fixation of the universally prescribed eight hours? As it transpires, our dim and distant ancestors did not sleep in this prescribed manner and a relatively long stretch of unbroken sleep came about only during the industrial revolution. Prior to this people would nod-off at sunset, get-up around midnight (the middle of the night) for a chat, contemplate their dreams, perhaps indulge in a bit of rumpy-pumpy and grab a bite to eat, before going back to sleep and waking up at sunrise. Probably seven or eight hours in total, dependent upon the season, but far from unbroken.
Historian and work-practice author, Roger Ekirch, highlights that by the mid-19th century medical opinion now considered mid-night waking as something ‘wrong’ and it coincided with the structure of the day being initially organised into two ‘shifts’ of twelve hours, and latterly three of eight. Sleep patterns appear to being engineered into the rigid structure of the factory working day. Capitalism was asking “what’s the minimum sleep we need to allow for workers to fit into the most productive schedule”. The commodification of sleep was upon us.
More than a hundred and fifty years later we remain locked into the mind-set of needing eight hours of unbroken sleep to live healthy, fulfilled and successful lives. But, if you’ve picked this up at 2.37am, wide-awake and are convinced everyone else is soundly in the land of nod, don’t worry, we’re not. Don’t have nightmares over it, especially if you’re lucky enough to get to sleep that is! Night-night, sleep-tight.
