Around the time of the industrial revolution something happened to our natural sleep patterns… We began forcing ourselves into unnatural behaviour. Both historical as well as clinical evidence tells us, we are designed to rise and fall with the sun, this much is evident, however it seems we are also meant to have a waking period for a couple hours after dark (when we would typically get that second wind), and also at least one napping period mid day. With the advent the 9-5 job/ school system, we lost our midday rest, and then with the emergence of electric lighting our natural circadian rhythm began to get very confused, keeping us up later at night.

I’ve put together this rough chart demonstrating an example of a more natural cycle. This is our baseline. Once we master our natural state, from here we can begin to optimize. Click here to optimize your sleep schedule, and here for improving sleep quality.