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Announcer: This is a Getty
Podcast.

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[Rising, meditative music]

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Lilit Sadoyan: Hello, I’m
Lilit Sadoyan, the host of

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OMMM, Our Museum Mindfulness
Meditation podcast, Getty’s

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first video podcast.

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Welcome to this Deeper Dive,
where we explore the themes

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of our weekly episodes with
experts in everything from

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astrology to clouds on Mars.

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Roger Ekirch: To the extent that
we don’t possess sufficient

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sleep today, it’s largely
a matter of our own making.

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Sadoyan: This week, we did a
yogic sleep meditation inspired

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by an ornate 18th-century bed.

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I spoke with Virginia Tech
professor Roger Ekirch, a

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sleep historian, about sleep
habits 250 years ago and

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how they compare to today.

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Now let’s dive in.

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[on video call] Roger, thank you
so much for joining me today.

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The global sleep economy is
estimated to be close to a 600

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billion dollar industry, and
we have high-tech wearables

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to track our sleep, blue light
blocking glasses, sleep stories,

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meditation apps, and mattresses
that monitor our sleep.

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And yet, I know personally,
and statistically, that most

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people feel like they aren’t
getting enough sleep these days.

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So I’d love to hear from you.

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Were people just as
sleep-deprived in

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the 18th century?

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Ekirch: They were more
often sleep deprived

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in the 18th century.

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In fact not everyone may agree
with me, but never before

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in recorded human history
has the quality of sleep or

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the potential for quality
sleep been better than today.

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In the 18th century,

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people from all classes took
their sleep extraordinarily

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seriously, given the
threats to both sound and

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safe slumber that existed.

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This was the pre-analgesic,
pre-penicillin age.

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A cold was not merely
a source of discomfort,

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but, uh, it could manifest
into a much more serious

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illness such as pneumonia.

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If you had asthma, you had
to sit up in a chair while

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you slept through the night.

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There were bugs.

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The, unholy trinity of
lice, fleas, and bedbugs

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that disrupted rest.

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Rooms were not climate
controlled like today.

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Roofs that don’t leak, which
was a common problem, even in

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the most luxurious households.

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Storms, because there was
no insulation and because

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people feared that a roof
might be torn off kept

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individuals up all night.

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Not only were there practical
problems, there were any

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number of supernatural perils
in the 18th century that

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still were deeply feared.

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Not only the “Prince of
Darkness” himself, but demons,

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uh, witches, any number of
minions that the devil let

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loose, especially during
the dead of night, which

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was between 12 and and 3 am.

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Burglars...anyway, these
are problems that most

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of us, fortunately, do
not have to contend with.

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To the extent that we
don’t possess sufficient

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sleep today, it’s largely
a matter of our own making.

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Uh, to be sure, there are
large numbers of people who

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are obligated to work two jobs.

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But for most individuals
above the poverty line, the

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decision to stay up late is,
um, is really theirs to make.

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Sadoyan: It’s really fascinating
all the considerations...of

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things that affected one’s
sleep in the 18th century.

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Nowadays, we’re thinking
about, you know, is the

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room the right temperature?

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Is there, you know,
is it dark enough?

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Um, are you making sure
that you’re not bringing

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any work into your bed
so that you associate it

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exclusively with sleep?

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Make sure that you’re not
drinking alcohol or caffeine

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before going to bed, and
these are all things that, you

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know, have been suggested and
proven to be more conducive

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to better sleep at night.

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So what was—what was
sleep hygiene like

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in the 18th century?

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What were the conditions
that made sleep

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optimal in that period?

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Ekirch: [laughs] I can assure
you that people took their sleep

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extraordinarily seriously, and
they went to great lengths.

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Arguably most important
of all in preparing for

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sleep at night was prayer.

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There were special prayers,
indeed to be recited,

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oftentimes by families holding
their hands together, asking

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God for protection from all
the threats that existed.

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Most of all, of course, the
devil, who, as one person

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put it, never, never sleeps.

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Very important was to let
dogs loose, or in the case of

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one household, I read, geese.

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Geese make a tremendous
racket if someone enters

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a household at night.
[laughs]

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Individuals, in some cases, 
consumed alcohol—what was known 

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in Germany as a sleeping drink
just before they entered

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bed—even though we know that
while alcohol can induce sleep

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for perhaps a few hours, it’s
a source of restless sleep

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beyond that, to be sure.

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For the upper
classes...laudanum,

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a diluted mixture of
opium, was very popular.

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People went to great measures—if
they were fortunate enough to

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have a bed, which, by the way,
typically was the most valued

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article of furniture in any
household—went to great measures

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to make sure that their beds
were sufficiently warm by using

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pans of charcoal or hot bricks.

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They could never, never be
damp from washing, hence the

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saying, “Better dirt than
death.” To have a bedmate

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was a great source, not only of
warmth, but also of security.

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Even aristocrats—it was
the unusual household that

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wherein people did not have
bedmates or bedfellows to

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sleep with, oftentimes the same
individual over a period of

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years, whether we’re talking
about two sisters or, uh,

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on a more temporary scale
[laughs] , a traveling peddler

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who was in need of shelter.

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The important thing was that
you did not put him closest

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to the door in case he was a
member of a gang of robbers

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that he might then let in.

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Sadoyan: It sounds like people
of all classes are really going

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through such great lengths
to assure the quality and

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the safety of their sleep.

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So was there an ideal number
of hours that one could or

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should get in the 18th century?

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Now we aim for, you know,
seven to nine, right?

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What about in the 18th century?

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Ekirch: Precisely the same.

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In most medical journals and

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diaries, that was the
ambition, at least, the ideal.

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There’s a wonderful diary by
an 18th-century craftsman,

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Thomas Turner, who at the
beginning of every year, he

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takes an oath that he records
in writing that he will

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be in bed before 9 or 10.

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The next page, he

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berates himself for having
returned home from a vestry

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meeting at 2 am very drunk.

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In the 18th century, uh,
really throughout Western

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history, prior to the
Industrial Revolution in the

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19th century, the predominant
pattern of sleep was

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biphasic, also known as,
segmented sleep, whereby

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individuals, if they went
to bed as they were supposed

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to between 9 and 10 pm, they
would then sleep for three,

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three and a half hours, awaken
at some point not long after

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midnight, remain conscious
for up to an hour or more in

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which they did practically
anything and everything.

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And then they would take a
second sleep, uh, roughly

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of the same duration, three
to three and a half hours,

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and wake up around dawn.

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I have found references to
biphasic sleep, numerous

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references, the earliest
being in Homer’s Odyssey.

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Among other activities that
people resorted to, apart

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from their chamber pots, were
chores that required little

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light and were unskilled:

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preparing a meal for breakfast,

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reflecting upon dreams...and
it’s never during the day, were

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surroundings, needless to say,
so quiet in general and so dark.

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Perfect conditions for communing
with God, whether through

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dreams or prayers, uh, special
prayers to be said in the

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middle of the night, or, as
it was put, between sleeps.

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Waking up in the middle of the
night after one’s first sleep,

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remaining awake for up to an
hour or so, and then taking

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one’s second sleep, these were
not viewed as a sleep disorder.

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In fact, they were thought
utterly natural as they

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had been, arguably,

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since time immemorial until
the Industrial Revolution and

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the prevalence of artificial
lighting and the birth

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of values that emphasized
efficiency, ambition, whereby

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sleep increasingly became
viewed as a necessary evil.

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It is not coincidental, in
my view and a number of sleep

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scientists have echoed this
observation, that middle of

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the night insomnia today, from
which so many people suffer—it’s

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the most common sleep disorder
in the industrialized world,

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to be sure, for many it
is a disorder—but for many

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individuals, it’s an echo,
it’s a remnant, of this

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older pattern of sleep.

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Sadoyan: Roger, this
was all so fascinating.

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I learned so much about sleep
in the early modern period.

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I know our listeners did, too.

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So I just wanted to
say thank you again for

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joining our podcast.

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Ekirch: Thank you.

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I’m very flattered to
have been invited, Lilit.

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Sweet dreams.

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Sadoyan: [laughs] You as well.

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Thank you.

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[Light music plays]

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To find the related
meditation and see images,

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transcripts, and additional
resources, visit our website

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at getty dot edu slash ommm.

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That’s O-M-M-M.