Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Home and Religion
How More Religion Could Help Us Sleep Better

How More Religion Could Help Us Sleep Better

Last updated on: March 20, 2025 at 11:21 am by David Swartz

0 Comments

How More Religion Could Help Us Sleep Better 2025-03-20T11:21:44-04:00 David Swartz

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Americans don’t sleep well. According to one poll, more than half of people between the ages of thirteen and sixty-four experience a sleep problem almost every night. There’s an entire industry—sleep studies, sleep coaching, sleep number mattresses, sleeping pills—built on resting better. The sleep economy in 2024 stood at $13.5 billion, and that number is only expected to rise again this year.

Poor sleeping isn’t just annoying. It’s dangerous. A recent study by the CDC suggests that nearly five percent of adults nodded off at the wheel at least once in the previous month. The U.S. Department of Transportation says that D.W.D.—driving while drowsy—causes 40,000 injuries and more than 1,500 deaths a year in the United States.

If sleep analytics can’t fix the problem, perhaps religion can. There’s an intriguing clue in Charles Wesley’s great hymn “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.”

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
into every troubled breast!
Let us all in thee inherit;
let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
end of faith, as its beginning,
set our hearts at liberty.

Here’s the key line: “Let us find that second rest.” Many church hymnals have edited that line to read “Let us find that promised rest.” However, according to historian Roger Ekirch, that revision obscures an important reality of premodern life.

Until a century and a half or so ago, our premodern forbears didn’t sleep in one long stretch. They slept in two segments, one beginning not long after the sun went down. Four or five hours later, they woke from their “first sleep.” They engaged in a variety of activities—rattling around the house, praying, meditating, visiting the toilet, reading, having sex, smoking. (Benjamin Franklin reportedly liked to spend this time reading naked in a chair.) Eventually, they lay back down in bed for their “second sleep.”

References to first and second sleeps started to disappear in the eighteenth century, first among the urban upper classes in northern Europe. | Jan Saenredam engraving (1595). Public domain.

After The First Sleep

Ekirch has unearthed more than 500 references to biphasic sleep. In terms of chronology, they range from Homer’s Odyssey to an anthropological account of modern tribes in Nigeria. He says that the practice continues in numerous contemporary pre-industrial, non-Western societies.

In terms of genre, Ekirch found references in diaries, court records, medical books, and literature. A character in the “Canterbury Tales,” for instance, decides to go back to bed after her “firste sleep.” A doctor in England wrote that the time between the “first sleep” and the “second sleep” was the best time for study and reflection. Countless prayer manuals from the late fifteenth century offered special prayers for the hours in between sleeps. A doctor’s manual from sixteenth-century France advised couples that the best time to conceive was not at the end of a long day’s labor but “after the first sleep,” when they “have more enjoyment” and “do it better.”

Here are more examples:

“He knew this, even in the horror with which he started from his first sleep, and threw up the window to dispel it by the presence of some object, beyond the room, which had not been, as it were, the witness of his dream.” —Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1840)
“Don Quixote followed nature, and being satisfied with his first sleep, did not solicit more. As for Sancho, he never wanted a second, for the first lasted him from night to morning.” —Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote (1615)
“And at the wakening of your first sleepe You shall have a hott drinke made, And at the wakening of your next sleepe Your sorrowes will have a slake.” —”Old Robin of Portingale,” an early English ballad
The Tiv tribe in Nigeria employs the terms “first sleep” and “second sleep” to refer to specific periods of the night.

Not all scholars are convinced. But Ekrich stands by his research. “It’s not just the number of references,” he explains. “It’s the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge.”

Profoundly Disrupted Sleeping Habits

We don’t we sleep this way anymore. References to first and second sleeps started to disappear in the eighteenth century, first among the urban upper classes in northern Europe. Over the course of the next 200 years, it filtered to the rest of Western society. By the 1920s it had receded from modern consciousness altogether.

Why? Scholars blame industrial capitalism. Factories regimented work into discrete periods and sleep consolidated into one long stretch that fit between those very long work periods. Lighting probably also was a factor. Street and house lamps meant that people could more easily work and enjoy leisure into the night. These developments profoundly disrupted sleeping habits.

We’ve paid the price, says Ekirch. Our bodies didn’t evolve to sleep in one long stretch between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Essentially, we’ve undone thousands of years of segmented sleeping in just a couple of centuries. No wonder we’re all so miserable.

His Song Shall Be With Me

Recent experiments seem to confirm this. Psychiatrist Thomas Wehr did an experiment in the 1990s in which his subjects lived in darkness fourteen hours a day for an entire month. By the end they had moved back to the old pattern: sleeping for four hours, then waking for one hour, then settling into a second four-hour stretch of sleep. This seems to suggest a continuing instinct for a “second sleep.”

So what does this have to do with religion? The Abrahamic traditions advise praying at night. Muhammad is said to have said, “The closest that a servant comes to his Lord is during the middle of the latter portion of the night. If you can be among those who remember Allah the Exalted One at that time, then do so.” The Psalmist declared, “Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life” (Psalm 42:8). Among Christian monastics the “middle of the night” prayer hour known as Vigil or Matins is typically celebrated between midnight and dawn.

So if you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t immediately get back to sleep, don’t panic. What you’re experiencing might be more “normal” than those who sleep straight through the night.

Don’t watch television or scroll on your phone. Do what the premoderns did. Embrace your partner. Read. And pray.

“O Lord our God, keep us in peace during this night and at all times. Keep our hearts and thoughts secure in holy reverence for you, so that we may be protected at all times from the snares of the enemy.”

General Christian

Home and Religion

David Swartz

Previous Post

March 18, 2025

Mothers of the (Nicene) Church: Helena Augusta

Next Post

March 20, 2025 Who Will Be The Next Pope?

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"The TV sitcom BEWITCHED was an old favorite of mine"

philipjenkins

How Scotland Gave Us Our Modern ..."

"From now on whenever I see a clipper ship, see a certain brand of Scottish ..."

Terry

How Scotland Gave Us Our Modern ..."

"There are no such things as witches. They were just unmarried or elderly women with ..."

Dot Newkirk

How Scotland Gave Us Our Modern ..."

"The book of THE KEEP is wonderful, but I was not such a fan of ..."

philipjenkins

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the name for a Christian adult education class, especially for converts?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Catechism Martyrdom Exegesis Ecumenism