Philosophy
An interesting story on sleep the other day on NPR. We sleep differently now than we used to.
Yet, now, because our technology and economic structure demand that we be up late and up early, we no longer have this period for contemplation. If we do awaken during the night, we label it insomnia and take medication to end it or fill it with bad reruns, infomercials, or web surfing.
We know that lack of sleep not only leads to decreased efficiency, but also to ill-health and weight gain. But are we also intellectually less fulfilled as a result? The next time I find someone sleeping through one of my philosophy classes, I may not be so worried.
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Philosophy
Sleep and Philosophy
An interesting story on sleep the other day on NPR. We sleep differently now than we used to.
Psychiatrist Thomas Wehr has one consoling message for those who wake up at 2 a.m.: This is likely the way our ancestors slept.We still have the phrase "questions that come to you in the middle of the night" which refers to deep, philosophical issues. This makes sense if we are accustomed to a period of quiescent meditation in the middle of the night. There is a natural space to do our deep thinking undisturbed by the triviality and details of waking life.
"There are historical records of people sleeping in two bouts at night," Wehr explains. They called the first bout dead sleep, and the second bout was called morning sleep. The wakeful period in between was referred to as watch or watching...
He and his colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health recruited 15 young, healthy adult volunteers. They went about their normal business during the day, then reported to a sleep lab in the early evening.
"We had our subjects go into the dark at 6 p.m., lie down and rest," Wehr says. The lights didn't come back on until 8 the next morning; it was a simulated winter day.
The sleep study found that the long night led to two bouts of concentrated sleep ? with a wakeful period in the middle, lasting a few hours. The study was published in the American Journal of Physiology in 1993.
"You might think that lying awake for two hours would be a kind of torture," Wehr says. "But it wasn't at all." The people in the sleep study described it as a kind of quiescent, meditative state.
Researchers found similar results in a more recent study of adolescents. The longer night seems to give rise to a sort of "midnight comfort."
Yet, now, because our technology and economic structure demand that we be up late and up early, we no longer have this period for contemplation. If we do awaken during the night, we label it insomnia and take medication to end it or fill it with bad reruns, infomercials, or web surfing.
We know that lack of sleep not only leads to decreased efficiency, but also to ill-health and weight gain. But are we also intellectually less fulfilled as a result? The next time I find someone sleeping through one of my philosophy classes, I may not be so worried.
- Passing The Plate: Marriage Edition
My Fellow Comedists, It is time to once again pass the plate. Other religions ask you to donate money, but we Comedists tithe jokes. So dig deep and be generous. This weekend is my wedding anniversary, so what better time to ask for marriage and relationship...
- Take My Wife, Please
My Fellow Comedists, It's time to pass the plate again. In most religions they ask for money, but Comedists tithe jokes. In honor of Valentine's Day, let's do relationship jokes. So, dig deep and be generous. My offering is an old classic:...
- Why Do You Know That?
Here's a new something that is probably worth trying and if it goes well, maybe we'll make it an irregular. It's the converse of "any questions." The idea is to contribute those bits of knowledge that seem really cool even if they are not...
- Bernstein And Silence
Discussed one Berstein quotation earlier in the week, but this one really gets me."Stillness is our most intense mode of action. It is in our moments of deep quiet that is born every idea, emotion, and drive which we eventually honor with the name of...
- The Dreams Of Aristotle
Aristotle wrote two short pieces on dreams and their meaning: On Dreams and On Prophesying on Dreams. In the first he presents arguments for the origin of dreams and their relationship to other aspects of human existence. In the second he analyzes whether...