These days, I keep unusual waking and sleeping hours because of the weather. It’s summer here, and working early in the morning or late at night when it’s cooler makes sense. How about you? What hours do you keep?
Technology has created a world driven by the clock, not by the daylight hours. Many people maintain regular work hours, starting and finishing their work shifts at specific times. We shop according to a store’s business hours. We meet people at specific times. We live in a world ruled by the clock—every part of our day is scheduled, even when we take public transit.
This lifestyle is so different from the pre-industrial age.
Before the industrial age and the widespread use of electric lighting, people lived by a different schedule. They had biphasic sleep, a natural pattern in which people sleep in two distinct segments. The first sleep began shortly after sunset and lasted a few hours. Then they wake in the middle of the night. After an hour or two of childcare, religious practices, or community defense (such as from wild animals), people would return to bed for their “second sleep,” before waking with the sun.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live that way—letting light, dark, and temperature guide my schedule instead of alarms and work hours. What would you prefer if you had a choice? Living by a clock, or living by your natural sleep patterns?
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