I will be encouraging all of us (especially as we grow older) to anticipate the bridge between the two segments – and the second segment itself – with a positive attitude. Make the second segment different from the first. Take a different pathway to sleep for the second segment. Sleep in a new room or make your room colder (or warmer) during the second segment. Turn on (or turn off) music during segment two or use your jaw alignment appliance (or CPAP machine) during only one of the two segments. Go back to sleep with your spouse during the second segment or leave your spouse in order sleep in a different room (or even on the couch) embracing all of the sleep-aides during this second segment that your spouse hates.
And what if you must face the challenge of a third segment? Do the same thing: make it different in some important way from segments one and two. Become an architect or interior decorator of your sleep by designing each room (segment) in a different way and fill it with diverse elements of the pathways I will be identifying in this series of essays. Try out different designs—they don’t have to be permanent. Become your own sleep researcher and test many of the pathways I will be identifying in these essays – and recognize that a pathway which works for you at the start of the night might not be most effective when engaged at 1am or 4am.
There is another way to conceive of biphasic sleep. The second segment (or the first segment for that matter) doesn’t have to be contiguous with the other segments. This segment can be scheduled for another time during the day (in keeping with your circadian clock). This radical idea of an noncontiguous segment is something called a “nap”! Yes, that thing you did as a child during the school day or at home on the weekend (or when you were pre-school in age). It is OK to take a nap during the day. You don’t have to be a child or an incontinent elder to earn the right to take a nap. As we all know, this noncontiguous practice is common in many societies – especially those near the equator or in other heat-challenged environments. This practice is called the afternoon siesta. Sadly, one of the “advances” offered by many Northern Europeans and Americans (USA and Canada) is unwarranted advice to colleagues from warmer and more humid climates. We discourage the biphasic siesta.
