Is sleeping in shifts (like 4-5hrs at night and then 2-3 hours in the afternoon) just as good as sleeping 7-8 continuous hours?

A segmented sleep pattern using two shifts of sleep each day has been common in certain cultures and certain periods in history. Medieval English writing even had terms for this: "first sleep" and "second sleep". There is some evidence from sleep research that a broken-in-two pattern of sleep can actually have benefits.

Apparently a lot of a pituitary hormone called prolactin occurs in the brain during the waking section between the two sleep periods, and can produce effects such as a feeling of peace or creativity. I have read somewhere that this period of waking during the middle of the night was when a lot of the creative juices flowed for medieval poets and writers. (I'm sorry, I can't locate this source now - it was a long time ago that I read about this.) I know for sure that I tend to feel extra creative, relaxed, and positive sometimes when I have an afternoon/evening nap then wake up for awhile.

(After one or two strong cups of tea, that is. ) Without a large body of research, we can't be sure of all the longterm effects. I'm not a doctor or qualified to give an answer about this, but something to think about is the fact that young children tend to sleep in more than one shift per day, and on some level they stop doing this as they get older so that their lives fit in better with school, family schedules, etc. Also you could take into consideration the fact that the human body still does perform its normal basic "sleep" functions when it has this kind of sleep rhythm, and the sleep is healthy and not some sort of medical problem or disorder.

Considering that many people reportedly function well this way and feel good on this sort of sleep, it seems unlikely that there would be an unknown effect occurring that is as much to worry about as sleep deprivation, for example. The sleep is still there - it's just in two sections. Add to this some research suggesting that humans have a tendency to fall naturally into this two-part sleep pattern, when they are taken away from their normal routines and allowed to sleep however much and whenever they feel like it ... and I have a gut feeling that there's no major harm to be done, especially if it feels good, is happening naturally, and works for you.

Of course don't take that as official medical advice, though. :) Happy siesta!

In the Lower Temperate Zone (Southern Europe or around that lattitude),most people have been doing 2-3 hours siestas and 4-5 hours of night sleep during the summer months for thousands of years,since the dawn of agriculture. Just make sure you sleep at night in the dark. You can also use an eye mask.

Artificial light during sleep, which interrupts melatonin production, has been tied to a higher breast cancer risk.

According to a statement by Mednick one of the researches of University of California San Diego (UCSD), he/she said that “We started looking over a number of different tests beginning with a visual learning test, which showed that if you had a 90-minute nap you showed the same level of benefit as a full night of sleep,”.

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