Grad student reveals benefits of sleeping like medieval person — and why her wild experiment works

A woman spent the summer sleeping like a medieval person — waking up after four hours of sleep to write poetry and letters — and says it made her more “alert.” Anna Fox, 26, a graduate student studying medieval literature from North Carolina, US, experimented with the historical sleeping pattern after becoming fascinated by the idea of “first sleep” and “second sleep.” Rather than sleeping for one continuous stretch, Anna began waking around four-and-a-half hours after falling asleep and staying awake for several hours before returning to bed. She admitted the experiment left her feeling more alert and she’d wake up with a “peaceful accomplishment.” She said, “For the first two weeks, I would go to bed early and then wake up at about 1:30 a.m.
Reported by 1 outlet — New York Post. See all sources ↓
A woman spent the summer sleeping like a medieval person — waking up after four hours of sleep to write poetry and letters — and says it made her more “alert.” Anna Fox, 26, a graduate student studying medieval literature from North Carolina, US, experimented with the historical sleeping pattern after becoming fascinated by the idea of “first sleep” and “second sleep.” Rather than sleeping for one continuous stretch, Anna began waking around four-and-a-half hours after falling asleep and staying awake for several hours before returning to bed. She admitted the experiment left her feeling more alert and she’d wake up with a “peaceful accomplishment.” She said, “For the first two weeks, I would go to bed early and then wake up at about 1:30 a.m. “One of the commenters told me to base it off whenever I actually went to sleep, so I would add four-and-a-half hours on to when I fell asleep. “If I went to bed at 9:30 p.m., I would set my alarm for 2 a.m.” Anna initially followed a strict routine, going to bed at around 9 p.m., waking in the early hours and then returning to sleep for four and a half hours until around 8 a.m.
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- A woman spent the summer sleeping like a medieval person — waking up after four hours of sleep to write poetry and letters — and says it made her more “alert.” Anna Fox, 26, a graduate student studying medieval literature from North Carolina, US, experimented with the historical sleeping pattern after becoming fascinated by the idea of “first sleep” and “second sleep.” Rather than sleeping for one continuous stretch, Anna began waking around four-and-a-half hours after falling asleep and staying awake for several hours before returning to bed. She admitted the experiment left her feeling more alert and she’d wake up with a “peaceful accomplishment.” She said, “For the first two weeks, I would go to bed early and then wake up at about 1:30 a.m.
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Grad student reveals benefits of sleeping like medieval person — and why her wild experiment works
Sources1TypeCoverageNew York Post