Daily Archives: 9th August 2016

Notes from the author: Sasha Handley on Sleep in Early Modern England

As humans, we spend almost one-third of our lives asleep. Sleep is a biological necessity that nobody can live without and so it is logical to assume that it is a natural impulse that has remained the same throughout history. As I began to read the work of sociologists and human geographers on this subject however, I was struck by how important our material and cultural worlds are in shaping sleep’s value, timing and quality.  I was equally struck by how little notice historians have taken of this ubiquitous practice and so attempted to write a history of sleep that focused on its daily practice within English households from c.1650-c.1750. Read more >>