Something I seem to notice as I get older is feeling much more tired.
I think many of us after a busy day at work (especially in the cold days of the winter here in our uninsulated houses) are ready to put on pyjamas as soon as we are home, or curl up early in bed with a good book or some interesting television.
I have never been a person who can “nap”, not even in cars, or on trains, or planes. I think it would be quite impressive if I could announce that I was polyphasic (or maybe it just sounds like a mysterious illness….). Polyphasic sleep refers to sleeping multiple times – usually more than two, in a day, which actually I cannot see I ever have any hope of achieving, especially whilst working basically 9-5, plus family and busy social life.
Of course, the Spanish have the practice of sleeping during two periods over 24 hours down to a fine art (this is known as biphasic sleep), whereas many of us Brits just plod along with monophasic sleep, one period of sleep (if we are lucky at my age!) in 24 hours.
Polyphasic sleep is a relatively new term as it was apparently first used in the early 20th century by a psychologist J. S. Szymanski. Polyphasic sleep is common for many animals and is believed to be the ancestral sleep state for mammals, although monkeys are monophasic (a perfect word for them!).
There are people that experiment with alternative sleeping schedules to achieve more time awake each day. However, many researchers warn that such forms of sleep deprivation are not healthy. There are claims that many eminent people in history were polyphasic such as Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon, Benjamin Franklin and even Bruce Lee. Apparently, Leonardo de Vinci had a 10-minute nap every 2 hours! A famous historian Ekirch declared that before the Industrial Revolution, interrupted sleep was usual in Western civilization. He studied ancient, medieval, and modern world documentation to evidence this. Ekirch argued that people slept in two distinct phases, with an intervening period of being awake of approximately one hour.
Ekirch believes that it is only due to the modern use of lighting that now most modern humans do not practice interrupted sleep. Now it is more usual in many countries a human cycle of wakefulness during the day and sleeping at night. But there is also in many countries the practice of light sleep in the early afternoon, that we know as the “siesta”.
Not only Mediterranean countries such as Spain but in many hot parts of the world, there is the historic practice of closing shops and businesses for some hours of the afternoon.
The word siesta is actually Spanish but has achieved worldwide use, originating from the Latin “Hora Sexto” meaning “the sixth hour”, or noon (six hours from dawn), so when a rest may commence. Although nowadays a siesta tends to take place later in Spain, usually from 2 pm.
The Spanish are gradually in some businesses losing their afternoon rest, but many prefer to keep it, as they believe that not only is it a good time to have a proper family meal and brief rest afterwards (often needed after a big meal) but also sleeping in the afternoon allows them to stay up later at night. (I have read that the Spanish are the country that has the least hours sleep per night in Europe and it would not surprise me at all). As many of us know, going out in Spain, many fiestas do not really start until midnight and staying out most of the night is not uncommon!
Of course, when it is hot in the Summer months, it makes sense to rest in the afternoon, stay out of the sun; what do they say… “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun”, but of course, there is not so much need for this in the winter.
I believe it is a question of routine. Those people that I know who have adopted this Spanish routine of a siesta or nap in the afternoon are very loathe to miss it once they have fallen into a routine, and I am sure it really comes down to what we are all accustomed to.
So are you a siesta or polyphasic sleeper…? Don’t forget with the beginning of a New Year, it is never too late to adapt to a new practice and start with some siestas…
Amanda