Prayer in the Middle of the Night--a physiological explanation
  • amindthatsuits
    Posts: 860
    I had thought that our concept of the cycle of prayers was affected by the clock--a 13th Century invention.I had not heard of the historical research mentioned here, but it sounds as if the physiological research backs it up.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783
    Thanked by 1YellowRoseofTexas
  • YellowRoseofTexasYellowRoseofTexas
    Posts: 91
    I nearly always wake up at around 3:30-4 and have trouble sleeping after that. Maybe I'll say my prayers and then go back to sleep. Thanks for the article!
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,086
    Yes, great sleep (often 3 sleep cycles, with deeper sleep) and little sleep (often 2 sleep cycles, not necessarily as deep) is the biological norm in realms without clocks and artificial light. Well known to folks who study the pre-industrial world.
  • amindthatsuits
    Posts: 860
    I wonder what my reputation would have been in a monastery. "Oh, you have to wake him up when everyone else just pops right up for Night Prayer. What a slacker."
    Most of my life, I have simply gone to sleep straight, but have trouble staying past 7 hours. During one sleep experiment in college, the investigators found I didn't hit REM sleep until several hours, and then REM'd for two hours straight. It kind of screwed them up, because they really count on nodding off themselves once they have gotten you through one full sleep cycle.

    I myself had hit on saying the Rosary when I couldn't get back to sleep, and then I read Joseph Ratzinger's offering the same advice in God and The World. Last time I remember trying it,a few days ago, I kept garbling the very first Our Father and then woke up six hours later.

    I majored in Classics and did graduate work in Reformation history, and no one much talked about it, I have to admit. Table manners and popular festivals were all the rage in social history. Few know any history these days. I have certainly never seen an explanation of sleep patterns in discussions of the Liturgy. Heavens, a recent doctoral dissertation, cited on Chant Cafe, did a lot to improve the discussion of pre-V2 and post V-2 Masses in this forum a few months ago. People forget.

    Kenneth
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 783
    haha, yeah! I saw this article on facebook, and thought, "hmm...praying during the middle of the night? imagine that!"
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