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Have you ever felt sleepy after dinner, wishing that you could go to bed immediately? Or have you then, woken up in the night and could not fall back to sleep?

Segmented sleep or interrupted sleep is where your night-time sleep is divided into two chunks with a period of wakefuless in between. This had been said to be the natural sleep pattern of human during the long wintry nights. Research had shown that sleeping in shifts is a common practice by our ancestors!

Before the invention of artifical lighting, segmented sleep is a normal sleep pattern for many of our ancestors. Roger Ekirch, a historian who spent 16 years researching on segmented sleep found evidence that our ancestors commonly had a sleep just after dusk, followed by a period of wakefulness that is spent in prayer or mediatation then back to bed for a second sleep that lasts till morning.

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)

While it may be common in the past, segmented sleep may not be practical for the mordern times. Most people today do not have the time to sleep twice in a day. Practicing segmented sleep may mean less sleep overall and this may lead to serious health complications.

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)

Sleep is essential to overal body health. Deep sleep repairs and renews your body while REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep recharges your brain. Sleep well and sleep tight!