Reclaiming the Watch

What Midnight Used to Mean

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, wide-eyed and alert, only to think: “Great, now I’ve got insomnia”? You’re not alone, and you might not be wrong, exactly, but you’re not broken either.

Here’s the twist: what if waking up in the middle of the night isn’t a problem… but a feature?

Back When Nighttime Had a Coffee Break

In the good old (okay, pretty grimy) days of the Middle Ages, In Fact all the way back through history, people didn’t sleep the way we do now. They didn’t expect a solid, uninterrupted 7–9 hours of blissful unconsciousness. Nope. They slept in two chunks, a pattern now called biphasic sleep.

People would tuck in not long after sunset, sleep for a few hours (this was called “first sleep”), wake up for an hour or two, and then drift back off for their “second sleep” until dawn. No melatonin gummies required.

That middle-of-the-night window wasn’t dreaded, it was used. People:

• Said their prayers (monks especially—Matins was basically divine midnight duty).
• Lit a candle and read (if they could read).
• Chatted with a partner or family.
• Checked on animals, babies, or suspicious noises outside.
• Yes, had sex (some 16th-century advice even claimed it was the best time for conception).

In short: it was a kind of quiet, contemplative “bonus hour.” You could call it medieval me-time.

Enter: the Lightbulb, Literally

As we moved into the 18th and 19th centuries. Along came the invention of street lamps, candles that people could afford to burn, and later, electric lighting. Suddenly, it was easier (and expected) to stay up late. Factories and offices ran on strict schedules. The biphasic rhythm was flattened into one long block of monophasic sleep and that became the new “norm.”

The trouble is… our bodies didn’t totally get the memo.

Are We Fighting Our Own Clocks?

Many people now  find themselves waking at 2 or 3 AM and spiraling into panic: “This is it. I’m doomed. I’ll never fall back to sleep again.” But what if this is just your inner medieval self trying to stretch their legs?

Studies around the way we sleep, the types of sleep patterns over history show that when people live in darkness for long stretches with no phones, no Netflix, no artificial lights, they naturally fall into a biphasic rhythm. Two sleeps, one wakeful period in the middle. Just like the past.

So maybe you don’t have insomnia after all. Maybe you’re just doing what people did for centuries before the industrial age, could it just be that your body craves those two sleep and that ‘watch’ period. Maybe you’re not failing at sleep and your body is trying to remember what it used to do for centuries.

Should We Bring It Back?

Would we sleep better if we leaned into a biphasic lifestyle? Maybe! It could mean:

• Accepting that waking up in the night is normal
• Ditching the panic spiral for a book, some quiet music, or journaling
• Being kinder to yourself and your body’s ancient rhythms 
• Listening to what your body is asking of you

Even just shifting your expectations could help. If you wake up at 2 AM, maybe it’s not insomnia. Maybe it’s a needed intermission.

A Quiet Return

Look, most of us can’t live like it’s 1450. We have alarms, schedules, most have school runs, Zoom meetings, work. There’s no turning back that clock completely, and it is okay. But, just maybe we can let go of the idea that waking up at 2 AM means that something is wrong.

Because for centuries, that was just life. Normal. Expected. That quiet little gap in the middle of the night was its own kind of time, slow, still, reflective. And maybe there’s something in us that still remembers and needs it.

So,  next time you wake up and look at the clock, don’t groan when you see it’s early in the morning. Instead breathe, and enjoy a moment of midnight peace. Read a little. Allow yourself to think, ponder, and just relax. Maybe sip some tea. Do something quiet.

You’re not broken.
You’re just medieval.

By Eska Kent