Some Repetitive Activity in Shifts and Sheets

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Notes

1 Sleep of this type is described as ‘paradoxical’ because, in this stage, the sleeper is harder to rouse than at other times and displays muscle atonia, while also exhibiting a pattern of brain activity indicative of a waking state (see Thorne 2010: 1150).

2 It is believed that prior to the Industrial Revolution, sleep was predominantly conducted in two separate, symmetrical segments, bridged by a short period of wakefulness. This contradicts the present- day assumption that sleep is ordinarily or preferably undertaken in a single extended period. For details of historical practices of segmented sleep, see Ekirch 2005. For scientific research into biphasic sleep, see Wehr 1992.