Much like the experience of Wehr's subjects, these references describe a first sleep which began about two hours after dusk, followed by waking period of one or two hours and then a second sleep.

"It's not just the number of references - it is the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge," Ekirch says.

During this waking period people were quite active. They often got up, went to the toilet or smoked tobacco and some even visited neighbours. Most people stayed in bed, read, wrote and often prayed. Countless prayer manuals from the late 15th Century offered special prayers for the hours in between sleeps.

And these hours weren't entirely solitary - people often chatted to bed-fellows or had sex.

A doctor's manual from 16th Century France even advised couples that the best time to conceive was not at the end of a long day's labour but "after the first sleep", when "they have more enjoyment" and "do it better".

The historical concept of First Sleep and Second Sleep is very interesting to me.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783

While we were dating, my bf would wake me in the morning to give me a kiss before he left for work. That was cute, once or twice a week. But when we moved in together and the first day he woke me up to kiss me goodbye I thought, "Every day for the rest of my life..."

I told him I appreciated what he was doing, but asked him not to wake me up to say goodbye anymore.

I hate that so much. I'm glad it worked for you. It always pissed off my SO's no matter how nicely I asked them not to wake me. Fortunately I'm by choice forever alone from now on (at least living arrangement-wise...and not because of kissing in the morning), so I can sleep like Odin whenever I choose, as long as the kids aren't around.

Is your sleep so vitally important that it should be named after you?