Ever feel guilty for not being a morning person? Or maybe you’re the one who wakes up at sunrise, wondering how anyone can function after midnight. The truth is, not all of us are wired to sleep the same way — and we were never meant to be. Your Sleep Pattern Is Normal — Even If It’s Not ‘Normal’
Some people naturally thrive in the early hours of the day. Others come alive at night. And then there are those who float somewhere in between, adapting as needed. These patterns aren’t random. They’re actually driven by your body’s internal clock — what scientists call your chronotype.
Chronotypes are partly genetic and deeply rooted in how your brain responds to light, darkness, and other environmental cues. This internal rhythm influences everything from when you feel most alert to when you naturally get sleepy. That’s why some people feel amazing at 6 a.m., while others can’t fully function until noon. It’s not a flaw — it’s biology.
But there’s more to the story than just morning people and night owls. Our modern idea of sleep — a solid 7 to 8 hours each night, uninterrupted — is actually a relatively new invention. For most of human history, people didn’t sleep like that at all.
If you go back far enough, sleeping through the night wasn’t just rare — it was risky. Our ancestors lived in environments where danger could strike at any moment, from wild animals to rival groups. Because of this, they often slept in shorter segments, waking frequently to keep watch or tend to fires. Researchers studying traditional hunter-gatherer societies have found that sleep was often fragmented, with individuals resting in overlapping shifts of two to four hours.
Even in more recent history, segmented sleep was the norm. In pre-industrial Europe, people commonly followed a pattern known as "first sleep" and "second sleep." They would go to bed shortly after nightfall, sleep for a few hours, wake around midnight to read, pray, talk with family, or even visit neighbors, then return to bed for another few hours. This pattern is well documented in historical texts, medical manuals, and even court records.
What changed? In a word: electricity. With the introduction of artificial lighting, people started staying up later, and the expectation of a single, unbroken block of nighttime sleep gradually became the norm. But our bodies didn’t necessarily evolve to follow that pattern. Some scientists believe that the rise of sleep disorders like insomnia could partly be due to this mismatch between our ancient sleep biology and our modern lifestyle.
So if your sleep schedule doesn’t fit the standard mold, you’re not broken. You’re just human — and possibly more in tune with your ancestral roots than you realize. Understanding your natural rhythm, rather than fighting it, can go a long way toward improving your energy, mood, and overall well-being.
In the next post, we’ll explore another often misunderstood part of our sleep history — the humble daytime nap — and why taking one might be the most natural thing in the world.
Further Reading:
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Roger Ekirch, At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past
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Jerome Siegel, "Sleep in Animals: Comparative Aspects" (Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
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National Institutes of Health – Sleep and Chronotypes
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Current Biology: "Segmented Sleep in Preindustrial Societies"
