I Tried Sleeping Like a Victorian for a Week
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
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In this video, I take on a week-long experiment. Since I already wear historical fashion, I thought it'd be fun to try sleeping like a Victorian for a week. Victorians (and many other people throughout earlier history) slept in two parts - known as biphasic sleep. In fact, sleeping monophasically is actually a relatively new construct. The week had its ups and downs, and I document the realistic journey of what it was like.
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So what do you think, will you try Victorian sleep?! 🥰
People in the 1800s - what will the world look like in the year 2000? What amazing things will people have in the distant future?
... V. A girl from the 21st century is living like people in the 1800s. 😃
I think I used to do it years ago when I was a young mother and didn't realize it. There were times that I would wake up in the middle of the night and do house work because I wanted time to myself and then go back to bed when felt sleepy again. Now days, I still wake up around 2 or 3 in the morning, but I try to go straight back to sleep because I have to get up early in the morning. I think this style of sleeping might work if I can make sure I go to bed early enough. I would have to go to bed around 9pm to get enough sleep.
I used to do 5h + 1.5h nap for a summer a couple years back to get bachelor project done .. that kinda collapsed after two months but ..... this seems like something more up my alley (maybe let me do late-night things without it eating into the mornings?), hopefully I can do it without modifying the schedule too much
I think the natural complete sleep cycle for humans is about 3/3.5 hours on average. So doing two parts of the right amount of sleep does make sense.
I might try to go to sleep sober and see if I can manage something like this.
I was shocked they slept so little! I honestly feel like I need 10 hours of sleep at least but I do typically break it up into two parts, first starting late, a little after midnight to early morning when I wake up to eat and take out my dog and I sleep about an hour or two later after having a little smoke and I wake up around 11~ noon ish. On work days I'll often go to sleep later since I get off work late and on weekends I'll sleep in
My friend lived in a house that had no electricity. They used oil lanterns and candles a lot. One of the really cool things they taught me was how to amplify the light a candle gives off. They had mirrors that would reflect the light and used smooth jars of water to intensify it. You can get a great deal of light this way. You can all move the jar of water (Use a rounded circle-like jar) so that it narrows the light beam onto the thing you are working on. It's almost as bright as a flashlight and lets you sew without straining your eyes.
That makes so much sense! Thanks for sharing. This actually accidentally happened to me one night but I didn’t put two and two together 😂
There was a thing called a work lamp that had a candle and one or two glass globes filled with water in the same structure. Lacemakers used them,and Lucy Steele uses one in Sense and Sensibility.
That makes so much sense. I have this lantern that I found on the side of the road and it has these glass panels. That's what it was used for 😊
I actually thought that is what what happening on Day 1 when Vasi was filling the glass carafe with water!
My partner showed me this. When I was living in my tiny house I used battery powered lights all over and he showed me how to maginify them with water bottles but also placing them across from reflective surfaces spread the light around really well. This kind of hack works with amplifying sound as well by placing your device in a bowl. This helps concentrate the sound and amplify it. I do this all the time when listening to podcasts at home because of traffic noise.
I started sleeping like this about 5 years ago as a way of coping with PTSD. Getting up and moving around helps me shake off a nightmare and gives me time to calm down and relax before going back to sleep. I normally use this time to do some quick things that will make my next morning better. Things like: put a glass of water next to my desk, refill the electric kettle, start a load of laundry or the dishwasher, move dirty dishes to the kitchen and get them soaking in the sink, or take a relaxing shower.
I've kept it up after I stopped having regular nightmares. Right now I'm watching a bit of youtube while I nurse my baby. I'd imagine that Victorian mom's would also spend time nursing babies considering how many kids they had.
Makes sense from a PTSD stand point too. Especially back in the day and what they'd have to deal with. And the kids thing as well. Also makes sense for stoking a fire to keep the house warm. My husband has ptsd and if he's not on meds he wakes up in the middle of the night constantly. 😔
It would largely depend on their social class if Victorian moms nursed in the wee hours. More upper class Victorian moms did not always nurse their kids themselves. That's partly because Queen Victoria, herself, famously did not believe in maternal breastfeeding (actually she was quite vocally opposed to it). She used a wet nurse for all 9 of her children.
(However, I agree that it really is the perfect sleep schedule for nursing a newborn!)
@@SwiftFoxProductions Queen Vic had problems. She wasn't perfect.
Renee Brill That is what I need to start doing,getting up at night I am a wreck Thank you for sharing
@@SwiftFoxProductions what did they do with all the milk they made then? If they weren’t feeding?
Victorians: “wake up at dawn“
Me a northern Norwegian: “ah ok, wake up at 21st of January gotcha"
Lol, “what even is daylight?”
«Søv du under natteveng,
drøm om sol på blomstereng
no mens lyset kvile.»
(«Når lyset kvile», Helge Stangnes)
Just a poem (and Boknakaran song) I was reminded of due to the specific date you said 😃
@@ragnkja actually kinda sad I've not been home for the day of the sun for years, it's so lovely, making little suns of paper, solboller etc.. 😭
I used to think that “to be up with the sun” was just a metaphor, but apparently they really do (or at least did) just that _habitually_ at lower latitudes.
@@LiljaHusmo
I suspect that day is one of the oldest holidays we have up here, although nowadays it’s mostly unofficial (except as a half-holiday in Vardø) due to the very local nature (and weather-dependent) of the precise date. It’s definitely still an important date in my village, no matter how little the southerners recognise it as important (since their closest equivalent is the solstice, which is the same everywhere and therefore easier to put into official calendars).
Sometimes, my husband and I find ourselves awake at about 3 AM. I usually get up before he does, no lights, and just feel like sitting in the dark. We’ll get ourselves hot tea and sit at the kitchen table, just talking about anything and everything.
Then, after about an hour, we go back to bed and sleep.
It’s really nice ♥️
You are blessed. ❤
What a tender and human moment to be able to share together ☺️
From a small inheritance, at age 50 I bought 5 acres of undeveloped woods and ran out of money for a house. To hold onto my property, I lived without electricity in a tent for almost 5 years, except for headlamps. The batteries ran out fast and it was too expensive to use them to stay up late. So, all my activities had to be planned around the sun. I got up as soon as there was light, and the day was pretty much a rush until I bathed in hand-drawn water from a pump and jumped into bed just as it was getting dark. Since the night was long, I naturally fell into a biphasic sleep pattern. Usually, I read by the headlamp or just listened to the night sounds, in the midst of the woods. The reason I am writing this is because I believe that following the sun and structuring my time in this way cured my lifelong depression. I managed to get the house, finally, but the depression has not returned.
It could also have been aided in part by less exposure to indoor air pollution. You’d be shocked by the amount in most people’s homes and how they affect health.
That is an amazing story….. cheers mate
Wow that's amazing 🎉🎉 congrats
My Grandparents had a dairy farm, so getting up at 3AM was necessary. This was in 1900- 1960. They didn't have electricity so the cows had to be hand milked and all the containers, stainers, milk cans etc had to be washed and ready to go for late afternoon milking. The had lanterns for light. They had to feed the cattle and take the family's milk to the house. The milk truck came once a day. Granny would cook breakfast, then it was time to go to the fields a do the farm work. Grandad would take a nap after dinner(lunch), then back to work.Supper (😮dinner) would be after milking. They'd talk, wash up, listen to the radio and in bed by6-7 Pm. I'm 71 yesterday. 1-24-54. I love your video. As a child I'd read or color in a coloring book till betime.
@@franceswitham8214happy birthday Frances ❤ thank you for your story!
My step-great-grandmother who I knew as "Oma" lived on a farm in rural Pennsylvania during the early 20th c. She ascribed to this "two-step" method of sleep all her life. Into her 80s, she would get up and bake fresh bread, sew, or paint (she became an accomplished oil painter in her golden years) before going back to bed again.
How cool! Thanks for sharing 😊
Was your oma dutch? I am dutch and that is what we call all grandmas :)
@@ElyzaTheOne Could be anywhere in Northern part of Europe down to Germany and even Austria where it connects to Italy actually.. all call their granny Oma
@@ElyzaTheOne could also be German
Some indonesia's region too call grandma and grandpa with "oma" and opa. And we call our mother's sister " tante"
As an introvert who is busy with a full time job & housework this sleeping schedule sounds more sustainable then just staying up to read or have relaxing time late at night.
Yes!! For people who love the solitude and quiet of the late night/early morning, and don’t really want it interacting with their day, this is an ideal schedule! ☺️
@Kurak3n it happens naturally if you're in a dark environment and if you go to sleep early, eventually your sleep splits into two parts.
@@karljiks That's true. I sleep very late, because I feel more awake at night.
@@karljiksyes... when I go to sleep earlier I wake up around 2am and have the energy to do things and will go back to sleep.
As I've gotten older (I'm 71), I've found that I'm often "sleeping Victorian." I go to bed around 10 or 10:30, get up to use the toilet between 1 and 2 a.m. and then can't fall back to sleep so I get up and do something for a couple of hours and then go back to bed and sleep. This has kind of become my new norm. But now instead of feeling bad about it I can just call it Sleeping Victorian!
This was my first thought, too. I'm 41, I guess it doesn't get better😂
My father adopted this sleeping pattern. He just fell into it without even knowing that it was a Victorian sleeping pattern. He says that it's great. I asked why he never did it before. He said that when he was younger, the responsibilities he had did not align with the sleeping pattern, and that going to bed after all was done for the day was the best method of enjoying a night's sleep, especially when taking work home with him. He's found he can have whatever sleeping pattern he wants now since he's retired and doesn't care about what the rest of the world is doing.
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.
It’s called a nap.
Yes I've heard of this sleeping method before but in the context of medieval peasants.
I've slept this way for years. I'm asleep 9-9:30 pm up around 12. Then I sleep from around 1:30- 5:30 am. I actually feel great doing this. On the rare occasions I sleep 6+ hours straight I feel horrible. I didn't even know this was a popular way to sleep. It's just naturally how I've slept for 15 years.
@kickazz9473 Same! I just woke up from a nap and going back to sleep soon haha I also sleep after the lunch as well, but that's likely because I have a chronic fatigue syndrome, I'm always exhausted 🙈
In Norway, and in many other countries as well, it’s traditionally normal to sleep for a couple of hours after dinner (which, as the name “middag” implies, used to be eaten at or shortly after midday). In southern Europe they call this afternoon sleeping period “siesta”, and in their case it’s partly to avoid the hottest part of the day. After all, as Rudyard Kipling said:
“Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.”
Ahhh how interesting! In Icelandic it is miðdagur!😊
You can see through that how people sleep heavily depends on the climate. So in really warm spaces you take a break during the hottest parts of the day, since it's simply too hot to work, while the closer to the equater the longer the days are, so you aren't missing out any of the light. In contrast in colder climates the midday rests tend to be shorter, since it's the warmes during midday and they have less light. So you'd eat right before the sun sets during wintertimes (around 3pm) and then sleep for a bit, which is something most cultures have in common (sleeping after eating a big meal).
@@TemariNaraannaschatz
It’s actually that the day is longer the closer you are to the pole that’s currently in the summer half of the year. If I worried about sleeping away the daylight in the summer I’d be sleep-deprived for almost three months (barely six weeks if you only count when the sun is actually above the horizon, but still).
@@ragnkja The equator has only an 8 minutes difference all year around with usually 12 hours of daylight and therefore is quiet consistent with the heat.
Whereas the poles have huge summer/winter differences, because it's either only daytime or only nighttime, of course scaling down on how far you are away from it.
My comment was specifically talking about winter time in the northern hemisphere for middag, as it said in my comment.
I'm more familiar with that sleep being after lunch rather than dinner (Mittagsschlaf)? But that might be tapping into a different 5h night + 1.5h day sleep schedule, rather than two night phases ... and it's not as established as siesta, so idk if many get to do it much anymore though
It works really nicely with a lunch food coma though 😄
the idea of having those couple hours in the early morning when the rest of the world is still asleep honestly sounds amazing... i'm so tempted by this. my only concern would be getting back to sleep after waking up, especially during summertime when the daylight creeps in much earlier. but i'm definitely considering trying this out! great video as usual :)
Thanks so much Jae! Let me know how it goes if you do end up trying it out 😊
Did you ever try this out?
@@NZKiwi87no response as they are still trying to catch up on all the lost sleep .
@@unnamedchannel1237 The rest of the world is too woke these days.
@@NZKiwi87 unfortunately i haven’t tried it yet! it’s not really a viable option for me at the moment as i’ve been experiencing more sleep-related issues than usual lately, so i need to get all the sleep i can get! haha.
I started a new job that has me working the graveyard shift and one of the most cathartic moments are when I walk back home, its still dark but little by little every street corner i turn, the sky grows lighter, yet the world is still quiet, no rush of traffic, no big crowds, just me and the birds
I used to get up an hour before dawn on the days when I didn't need to go in to work, just so I could enjoy the same thing on a walk out of town and up into the hills. Most days all I'd see and hear was birds, rabbits, hares and foxes for a couple of hours, before the first dog-walker or jogger came along the track or the lane and spoiled it.
I like that
I work 3rds too. I agree. You always get the best part of the day. Sunrise!
Yes. It’s a beautiful experience
I lived in rural Ireland as a child during the 1950’s. We had no electricity until I was about 7-8 years old. I remember the long dark nights and the lamps my parents used to light the house. It felt like the 1850’s rather than the 1950’s
One thing to consider with biphasic sleep, is that in times before central heating and such it gave one the chance to check and tend the fire during the night; thus ensuring that it continued to burn through the night. This means that one wouldn't wake to a cold house the next morning, and would also have coals to cook breakfast on.
Used to live off the grid on wood heat, 3am was typically when my husband would wake to stock the woodstove. I used to sleep through the night but since having a baby I'm now a biphasic sleeper too and I don't wake up really groggy anymore.
🏆
As someone who wakes up between 3 and 4 a.m. automatically I'm always amazed by people who can sleep till 7! Hadn't heard of this sleep pattern. I experimented at one time with not using artificial light beginning before sunset and ending after the sun was well up and bright. Even covered my windows to keep out the neighbors intrusive paranoia lights! Only used candles and oil lamps. Best sleep I ever had!! Only draw back was my job which required me to clock in at 6 a.m.. Oh well, the bills must be paid. Whenever I finally retire I fully intend to go back to that routine. Restful sleep and a more peaceful feel to my life. A lot of folks could benefit from a change of pace like that. Everyone take care.
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!
What an interesting experiment. I am so used to electricity (except for a few weeks in Ethiopia when there were frequent blackouts for hours.) I remember going to bed early when i had nothing to do.
Im 22 and don’t have anymore close friends that I get to see regularly because I’ve grown out of old ‘habits’ (drinking and drugs lol) but you’re the type of friend I’m looking for now in my life and it’s so encouraging to see that people like you exist
I was going to say "you'll find new friends in time" but realised this video is 8 months old, so you've probably found them! I hope you have and you're happy
As a mom, I'm so proud of you🫂💗✨️
Wow! That's encouraging to hear. I'm 53 and just recently grew out of those same habits. Find people who are active and who love nature. You'll love it
I've always found the notion of biphasic sleep interesting.I think there may have been a few times in my life doing this to some level unintentionally.
I have a mood disorder and very bad insomnia nowadays so doing something like this and not trying to force a 'normal' sleep routine is helpful sometimes.
If sleeping for a few hours in the early afternoon (called a “siesta” in southern Europe and a “middagshvil” in Norway) is what works for you, this is another traditional form of biphasic sleep.
@@ragnkja cool to know,thank you 🙂
@@ragnkja We have Name for that in German too "Mittagsschläfchen". Though it is mostly a thing that small children or elderly people do. Everyone else only does it on sunday afternoons.
I could never do it (except if I was ill) because I suffer from insomnia and even falling asleep in thr evening is really hard for me. But my father and my sister are the exact opposit they start sleeping 5 minutes after lying down on the couch.
@@misss7777
I can’t fall asleep during the day either, at least if I’m not ill.
I too suffer from certain disorders and don't have a "normal" sleep cycle. My youngest daughter, who is 20, also suffers anxiety and other disorders. So we're usually up until 3.30am-5am then sleep till about 10 or 11am, I'll do this for 6 out of the 7 days and then for one day have nearly a full sleep day getting up at about 2-3pm instead. I run a sanctuary so it's good getting chores done really early morning because the animals are more peaceful and we all seem to have adopted this sleep pattern. I'm in rural South Australia so we really don't have to worry about city schedules 😊 xx
I have not heard of biphasic sleep before, how interesting. I will now no longer feel desperate to get back to sleep if I wake at 3am, but will try reading, or maybe even get up and get a snack! Love the cozy feel of this video Vasi. Happy belated birthday and may you have the sweet dreams.
A hot drink is perfect for me. If I eat I'll be up but a nice herbal tea or decaf is perfect
Thank you so much Bella ❤️ I think celebrating that waking time, as you mention, is definitely a wonderful way to approach it 🥰
I can’t imagine that people historically used an alarm to get up in the middle of the night. I had heard of double sleep before but assumed people went to bed much earlier (particularly in winter) so by 9 pm at the latest, and naturally woke up in the middle of the night (perhaps because of a banked fire burning out and being colder and needing tending?)
Wow, this is fascinating ! I've actually done it a few times by accident when I was really tired and really enjoyed being awake AND not overtired in the middle of the night. I had no idea that's how people slept before but that makes sense. We are often led to believe that our schedule, especially when it comes to eating or sleeping is somewhat normal and universal. But after years of being told as a child that my habbit of not eating in the morning was bad for your health and weird, and finally learning that it is not, I'm not that suprised it's the same for sleeping habbits 😊
So very true! It makes me think of how “normality” is just a social construct anyways, and not to mention highly subjective 😊
Literally how I have operated for YEARS and never knew it was a thing. It’s always been natural for me to wake up for an hour or two and then go to bed again….Does this mean I lived as a Victorian in a past life? Whatever you were randomly recommended to me and I dig it. Looking forward to exploring more of your content.
I find the biphasic sleep pattern interesting. I do it sometimes, and have found it helps. I suspect that were we to exclude our modern lighting, that it would be much easier to follow the pattern. I know that when I'm camping, it is very easy to match the pattern. I hope you had a lovely birthday!
Thank you for the birthday wishes! I definitely think it was far easier during the experiment to fall asleep because of no artificial light.
As a mom of a 1 yr old, I have to wonder how much of this 2 sleeps thing had to do with how many babies/small children people tended to have in their homes. A middle of the night wake up is pretty common through toddler years
And to put more fuel on the home's fire.
it’s so interesting that i’m playing a decades challenge in the sims and my sims have sort of naturally gotten into this routine. they go to bed and sleep for a few hours and then get up and tend to the plants/children/cross stitch, get something to eat. and then they go back to bed until it’s time to get up for the day
I've been biphasic sleeping naturally for over a year. I really like it. Thanks for teaching me the term for the thing I do 😅
Me too, and I love doing annoying paperworks in the nights. I am very focused and productive at this time, when there is a minimum of surrounding influences. Everything is in a calm mood, only my brain is working on its peak.
Do you wake naturally after your "first sleep," or do you need an alarm? I deal with serious sleep disturbance issues and have been reading a lot about biphasic sleep. I just don't know how natural the sleep rhythm would be if I needed an alarm between the different sleep times. And BTW, thank you so much for the work you do promoting historicism. Your enthusiasm is infectious!
@@jamesdalton3082 i wake up without an alarm...and around 5 am i get so tired i just fall asleep without trying...at around 7 am iam awake again...(but fall asleep at around 10 for an hour or so)...never use my alarm.
the ruffles on the edge of your nightgown and the candlelight all look so pretty together
awww thank you so much 🥰
I've been doing this naturally for several years now. like maybe ten or so. I used to have terrible insomnia and then falling asleep in daytime after 3 or 4 days of no sleep, but gradually this has become sleeping from about 5pm until about 7/7;30 ish, when I get up and do evening chores and catch up with projects etc. Then I go to bed and do internet or read, until about 2;30 AM. I then fall asleep until about 9 AM, and then get up properly. I realise this isn't exactly like you did, but it does work quite well for me to get a normal amount of sleep, and now only have occasional nights of insomnia. It seems very much like medieval sleeping habits; I watched a bbc program a few years ago. I think it was History of the Bedchamber, where they talked about medieval sleeping habits, and how they went to bed at dusk, slept 3 or 4 hours, then woke up for a few hours before returning to sleep until daybreak. In the middle of the night they did chores, read, played board games, etc. For outdoor work and pursuits, it seems they were much governed by dawn and dusk. This seems much the same thing, and I do think it indicates what humans natural sleeping rhythms are.
Your voice is so soothing that I’d fall asleep to you reading ghost stories. I actually do listen to “scary stories” to fall asleep too for years. And with your voice… you would be my go to
Y'know what? @xlnunlex is totally right on about that. I would love to listen to you read scary stories as I fall asleep... If you ever run out of content ideas on this Victorian theme, I beg you to please consider reading scary bedtime ASMR stories??❤
Your phlegmatic and kindly calm reaction to things not going as planned really inspires me. I find it hard to be ok with the stillness that my chronic illness insists upon, your video has been a good reminder that I’m not alone and it IS possible to be kind to myself in those times. Thank you 🙏
🖖🏻💙🕊️
Thank you so much for sharing your studies on this. Right away in the first five minutes. I had to pause the video and go look up data on this pattern. This is my natural sleep pattern and has been for the last 20 years, try as I might to break out of it. It is such a blessing to me now to realize that I just may naturally be this way. I find it further amusing, because in the last 10 years I have gotten into living history and reenacting, and my favorite era to reenact is of course the Victorian era. I cannot thank you enough for sharing this information! Bless you lady!
Learning about biphasic sleeping finally answered my lifelong question about how the parents in those large, poor families wwhere everyone shared a room - or even a bed - went about the task of... y'know. Making more family members.
I used to do this every night as a teenager and my parents used to say it was bad for me, but i always felt so well rested all the time. I would get home from school, fall asleep about 4.30-5.30 sleep until 7.30-8.30 and wake up for a bit to eat dinner, get ready for school the next day, catch up with my family and then fall back asleep until about 7am. I didn’t realise there was a name for this.
I sleep on this schedule and love it. I read about it in “At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past”, by Ekirch, as it so happens. Tonight I went to sleep around 9, woke at midnight, will be back asleep by 4, after chatting with my husband when he comes to bed, up between 7 and 8. My husband is very nocturnal so there’s a built-in hangout time, but also more sleep time for me, who needs it more. Other times I’ll just read a bit. I really like the routine.
same here...my daughter and grandteenagers know about my sleeping patern,so when they like to talk to me they call me in that time slot when they feel like it...
Happy Birthday!
In tracking my sleep through fit bit I have found that I am often awake for an hour and a half in the middle of the night. I am now giving thought to possibly making proper use of that time instead of stressing myself about trying to go back to sleep. Thank you for doing this experiment.
Glad you enjoyed the experiment! 😊 definitely sounds like this would be an excellent set up to make use of that time for you! Thanks for the birthday wishes
Well thank god someone did this! I remember reading about it for the first time and being so interested in doing myself. I couldn't for a few reasons. So it's great having an example to look to. And a belated happy birthday btw!
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for the birthday wishes!
You are so naturally beautiful! I really enjoyed your demeanor and the way you live your life. It was comforting to watch. Thank you for sharing your experience with us!
Thank you so much!
A recommendation... if you want to continue to sew at night using non-electric sources. Find a kerosene or parafin lamp, sometimes referred to as hurricane lamps, because of the glass shade and the light source, the light provided is a bit brighter, sometimes equivalent to that of a 40 watt lightbulb. I've done this multiple times due to long power outages to to severe weather damaging the power lines in my area. Last time I moved, my lamps got broken. I so badly need to replace them.
Any light source with a sufficiently low colour temperature is good for this purpose.
Thank you! Kerosene lamps kind of scare me for some reason, so I’ve avoided them for a long time because of it 😅
@V. Birchwood - Historical Fashion if they are knocked over they are more likely to cause a fire. A candle is more likely to catch at nearby fabric and start a fire more slowly. Oil lamps have the advantage of giving out more heat on subzero nights.
I'm always interested in how this kind of experiment goes. I can't get out of bed during the night, unless the dogs insist on a bathroom run. Sleeping for an hour or two in the early evening and going to bed properly in the early hours suits me better. I've often wondered if morning larks and night owls are nature's way of keeping watch over a group at all hours.
@@VBirchwood You can buy kerosene lanterns made of metal, instead of the lamps made of glass, if you are worried about the glass breaking and causing a fire.
Kerosene and liquid paraffin lamps (as well as paraffin candles) give off harmful fumes when burned. Healthier to burn traditional beeswax candles and use reflection and amplification from glass & water, etc.
And perhaps use that dim light for working, rather than cousin intense activities like hand sewing, and save those for daylight hours?
Just thinking out loud.
Thank you so much for sharing your passion and talent ❤️
This is how my father used to sleep. I think the habit came from him growing up off the grid with his great-grandparents. Strangely it's how I've started sleeping now that I'm older. I was frustrated at first, my nights become so much longer this way, but now I'm getting used to it.
When I moved to a much more northern state a few years ago, I was in a temporary situation where I didn't have internet. I didn't have a TV. No smart phone. And no artificial lighting in the living room. (It was one of those 'I move first and then you come along after your finish up this job' sort of deals.) It was autumn. I was only vaguely aware of biphasic sleep and didn't quite grasp that my 'weird sleep schedule' that popped up during this was the phenomenon I had only read about.
I start work usually around 5am, so hearing you talk of the struggles of getting out of bed in winter, I found very relatable. 😂😂
Thank you for sharing your experiment and your birthday with us🙂🌻💗
On the rare times I cannot sleep in the middle of the night, I let myself wake up and have some short/small productive, or "down" time. So, knowing this was a way of life for many people makes sense to me.
That’s so cool! I’m glad you enjoyed the video 🥰
Thank you for this lovely experiment. It was the first time i heard that Victorians would have two separate times to sleep. This kind of reminds me how, in Italy mainly, it's not uncommon to wake up in the morning, and take a nap after noon for 2-3 hours. I also wish you a late happy birthday and i wish you all the best.
Thank you so much! It really is like a reverse siesta in many ways! 😄 that’s part of what I love about biphasic and polyphasic sleep specifically. There are so many different arrangements and ways that it can be done.
I'm still sleeping like this 😭 Asleep by 11, up at 2, listen to UA-cam for an hour or 2, back to sleep till 7 or 8.
Me too lol
The reason why i am here right now😂
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.
I love the simple but amazing effect created by the candle lighting at the 8:00 area. The contrast of shadows is so stark and gorgeous
Thank you! It was a really fun video to light. My ISO reached its maximum a lot of the time too lol. Well maximum before it just got way too grainy and noisy.
My parents house is heated by wood fire stove, if they don’t want to have to relight the fire each morning (or wake up to a cold house) they have to get up in the middle of the night to put more wood on. She doesn’t mention that at least in the beginning as a reason but I expect that would be something else to keep up with when you’re up in the middle of the night to
One of my great-aunts told me that in the first years of her marriage she would always wake up to stoke and re-feed the fire in the middle of the night, at least in winter, just as her mother had done. It was also the ideal time to prepare a pan of rolled oats and milk, to leave by the fire, so that when they got up it only took five minutes to heat it up to boiling point and then it would be their breakfast porridge. She got out of the habit just before her first child was born, when they moved to a flat with oil-fired heating and an electric stove. I guess that would have been in the early 1920s.
I do wake up for an hour during the night. Usually I take time take care of myself but sometimes I just rage for no reason that I don't have the long night of sleep I used to have. You make me think I should'nt and I can be grateful for it.
I guess you are quite young and it's harder for you too feel comfortable with this schedule. No need to rush it even if it was great seeing your experiment.
Thanks you.
i'm definitely going to watch the whole thing, but i'm laughing to myself because I already naturally wake up at those hours. almost like clockwork at 2:30-3 and I fall back asleep around 5. Maybe it's in my blood lmao (it's anxiety)
Thanks for conducting this experiment. I am always a fan of conducting mini-experiments like this: low risk with potential rewards and memories created regardless of the outcome. I think one's sleep pattern may be a product of the environment one is in. I now get amazing sleep and it is straight through the night. But historically, I am sleeping in a much safer environment than my ancestors. As someone else previously mentioned, very few of us have to worry about fire, murder, or assault while we sleep in today's world. I do know that I tend to adopt a multiphasic sleep pattern when I am out in the wild sleeping. Perhaps my body knows it is not safe to let my guard down for too many hours at a stretch.
And happy birthday!
This has been happening to me for the last few days. I think of this video whenever I allow myself to get up & read, or have a tiny meal, in the "middle" of my sleep cycle.
I was actually going to search for this video, but, UA-cam provided it below another creator's sleep-related post. 🙂
This is the content I come to UA-cam for Well done 👏 the effort doesn’t go unnoticed
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.
@rachelamdecker09 Yes, I did that with all five of mine, many years ago. Thank you for reminding me! I'll try to call back those peaceful memories when I'm awake, now, instead of fretting. Thank you, thank you. 🙏🏻
Hi, I hope you are well, I found your medieval food for a week, by accident, loved it, I've watched several of your videos now, amazing content
The thumbnail is the perfect vibe for this video.
watching this at 2am is so ironic because i can't sleep lol but honestly, kudos to you for trying this out!!!!! i never knew they did this! Surprisingly very similar to what I've been doing while school has been out for a few weeks recently, though I don't do the sleeping early thing as much haha ^^; also wow, i love how ambient the video is! Dunno if you always do this since this is my first video of yours but I enjoyed seeing you trying to recreate similar conditions! Also, considering how much you had to do back then, i can see why the victorians did this! Even cooking must've been so much more of a hassle :0 but yeah!
This video was just so peaceful for me. Loved it!
There would definitely be an acclamation period on changing sleep patterns..
Love your videos....
Amazing hair 🥳😳🥳
Happy belated Birthday! The information you presented and your experiment were very interesting. This biphasic sleep schedule may be a good answer for my Mother. I've enjoyed your vlogs for at least a year and apologize to you because it wasn't until today that I realized I had not subscribed previously. I look forward to another year of learning from you.
Thank you so much!
I sleep very light, and though I usually get to bed around 10pm I’ll not fall fully asleep till 12 or 1am. The struggle to get up at a socially acceptable 7 or 8am is real!
I’ve always wanted to try a biphasic sleep schedule to see if it would “fix” my circadian clock to be more socially normal (because I work on a farm in the summer and need to be working by 8), maybe now that the light is returning to my little Canadian tiny house I will try this experiment as well ^-^
@cloudgremlin - did you ever try it? How did you go about it? How did you feel?
This is a weird coincidence. I see this was filmed 2 years ago. I'm watching this in Winter and the UK is getting hit by a major windstorm. I just saw the news and you're getting 100 mph winds! Also, you're filmeing by candlelight is really pretty.
I'm sure others have mentioned it but shes incredibly beautiful, which of course got my attention, but the delivery, aesthetic and full presentation of her experiments and videos are incredibly well done. have to subscribe now i guess lmao
What an experiment V! I'm almost sure I would not adapt. 😄I usually go to bed late and when I go i only want to get up in the morning. It was really fun to watch it happening though! And Happy (very belated) Birthday to you! 🎂🎈🎈🎈
This was wonderful. I’d been intrigued about the concept before, and seeing this was fantastic. And it was SO BEAUTIFULLY FILMED ❤
I know I’m several years late, but I love the candle lit content. It’s just such a cozy and warm feeling. I’m sewing leather belt while you sew your skirt 🫶🏻☺️
I clicked on this because I naturally have divided sleep. It's 4:30 am and I just finished prepping stuff for tomorrow night's dinner and now I'm watching youtubes for a bit before I go back to sleep. If you live a life where you can get away with it, it's really nice.
Idk why but your face never looked tired in the making of this video lmao, I look like crap when I wake up lol
Happy birthday! I did not know of this sleep practice was a Victorian thing. I have been doing that naturally recently. Getting to bed around 10pm and getting up around 12am then going back to sleep after reading or meditating or writing in my journal and drinking some cold water. Thank you for sharing your videos, have a great n I got! Much love and peace! Ruth
I have terrible insomnia and go completely off schedule sometimes. Every once in awhile I find myself falling into a biphasic sleeping pattern and it feels very natural
This is something I do as a mom as well. I eventually fell out of it when my son stopped waking for milk and slept through the night regularly. I’m now doing it again with my baby daughter. I’m considering keeping it going even after she starts sleeping through the night. I really enjoy getting a few things done early in the morning before everyone is awake, but still need a bit more sleep so I’m not too tired during the day.
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!
Very interesting video! I can't imagine how hard it was to get out of bed at 2:30 while it's so cold and windy! Happy birthday, hope it's a great year for you!
Thank you so much! It was definitely soooo hard some mornings!
Woah so cool, the professor you cited teaches at my university.. I had no idea he existed, now I’ll try to meet him!
I could never do this, but I truly enjoyed watching you go through this experiment! Amazing!
very interesting video! I work 2nd shift and now I kind of want to give this a try so all my daily free time isn't "before work" in the morning. And happy birthday by the way! I'm a new viewer and I really like your work!
Thanks so much!
I have four kids and after waking up in the middle of the night for many, many months to nurse them, it’s very hard for me to fathom why anyone would actually choose to wake up then! Maybe it’s different when you’re not waking up to a crying baby, but I was never able to adjust to having my sleep disrupted like that. It was always a struggle to get out of bed in the middle of the night, I always had trouble falling back asleep, and I was always exhausted the next morning. I was very, very happy once all my kids started sleeping through the night!
Now I have to wake up early in the morning (6 a.m.) to get my kids ready for school, and over time I’ve come to enjoy how quiet the house is early in the morning. I am very protective of my nighttime sleep though. I guess everyone is different!
Sleep deprivation is tough!
Though waking up naturally on your own schedule is probably much less disruptive than getting woken up by a baby
Wow, that's fascinating! I wonder what about this sleep schedule made in the default for most of human history, and how abiding by it might change our health/lifestyles in certain ways. It's definitely worth looking into.
I've been thinking about doing this for a while but didn't yet... I feel like it would probably be a good way for me to have an earlier bed time and wake up time, without giving up the late night hours that feel so important to me. So thank you for sharing this experiment with us!
Also eventually for sure I need to get those linen sheets :) I love this fabric, plus it's so durable!
And happy birthday ^^
I naturally fell into this sleep pattern once I started working from home and no longer had to wake up with an alarm. It's heaven to have those peaceful hours in the middle of the night with no interruptions and no guilty thoughts about how I "should" be doing something "productive."
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.
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.
I really want to try this. I have just given up something that was really weighing me down, and I think that I will now have more time to do my work in the day, and leave more room to get things done, and I'm really interested in this! It sounds really peaceful. Great video!
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.
This thumbnail looks like a cross between a Vermeer and a Rembrandt AKA one of the most beautiful thumbnails of all time
This was fascinating! Really cool to see someone actually try the two sleeps system, makes me want to have a go too!
Thank you! It’s definitely quite a unique experience and you might just find you really like it!😊
Oh my goodness at 11:30 I just realized you were playing Yezekiel Rhaz!! Idk if I spelled his name right BUT I LOVE HIS MUSIC SO MUCH!
Yehezkel Raz*! Me too! I was learning his song Ballerina (the one she used) on my piano not too long ago after randomly hearing it in an ad one day lol😂
@ lol!!
i really loved this video
A really interesting experiment. I might try it. Love the "period correct" lighter for the candles ;-)
Just came across this (I was chatting about this subject to a mate in the gym so clearly my phone was listening to me)
Very good, I must say a was blown away by the beauty of this presenter, stunning. Yes I’m old so don’t hate on me.
This was very interesting. I used to wake up at 2/3am quite naturally and never really understood but its apparently a more natural thing than I thought. Happy belated birthday!
As a narcoleptic also with sleep apnea, this methodology might work beautifully for someone like me with a broken, sleep deprived brain. Sleep hygiene and schedules are super important for people like me. Thanks for doing this. I’ll definitely consider it as a potential part of my sleep routine. ❤❤❤
I came back to watch this again for the comfort of it. I hope your birthday was wonderful!
Is it weird that I like to watch this video before bed ? Especially if I'm working on a sewing project late at night. Feels like we're working together ! Thank you Vasi 💜
Not weird at all, I think that’s very lovely! 😊 thank you for sharing 🥰
Perfectly normal , after a certain age we start waking up regularly around 3 am . It's the part of the 24h cycle in which we attain our lowest vitality , in hospitals that's when most life or death situations happen . It is also when the sun is the farthest away from your position .
According to some it was our normal wake up call to start another day , of course the conditions in which we lived was different so 6 hours sleep was enough . Now even after 9 hours of sleep some people still wake up tired .
Happy birthday. Thanks for sharing
Thanks so much!
I know you gotta do what you gotta do but the Brook Linen ad too me right out of it!!
happy birthday 🩷 love this video and appreciate you taking time to take care of yourself
Currently watching this at 2am because I naturally sleep this way! I use this time to use the bathroom, get some water and sometimes a snack, do a little reading, and maybe set out my clothes for the next day if I have somewhere to go.