Leap year: Numerological predictions

Leap year: Numerological predictions

The year 2012 is a leap year with February having 29 days and total 366 days this year. Leap year comes after every four years. So, does having an additional day signify something special? Will this leap year bring you doom or boom? Let's find out...

Number 29 sums up to 2 (2+9=11=1+1=2). This number is governed by the Moon and during this phase, you will be highly imaginative, idealistic and possess a dreamy nature. Stability, peacefulness, spirituality and purity will be restored in your life, during this period. This is an auspicious time to take a relationship to a deeper level. Help and opportunities will come to you from all corners.

For predictions based on your ruling number, read on!

Ruling No. 1: The year 2012 will see you grow and learn new things in your work place. Your achievements will only help you progress further in your career. The good life attracts you and you are game for any challenges on the way.

Ruling No.2: 2012 promises many new surprises and rewards for you. Your long desires are likely to be fulfilled. New sources of income will improve your financial position and boost your confidence.

Ruling No.3: Don't be hesitant in executing your new plans this leap year. Fame and fortune will be at your doorsteps, provided you are able to grab the right opportunities. People looking for matrimonial alliances will find a suitable life partner.

Ruling No. 4: New proposals and assignments for you are likely in 2012. Business will flourish and financial gains will lift your confidence. Legal matters that have been haunting your mind will settle to your satisfaction.

Ruling No.5: A very promising and favourable period starts for you from now onwards. Sudden help from some near one or a friend will bring a major boost to your professional career.

Ruling No.6: The leap year brings you physical as well as financial benefits. Speculation in real estate will yield handsome returns. Distant travel will be undertaken for business purpose as well as pleasure.

Ruling No.7: 2012 promises new hope and possibilities. Your gains will commensurate according to your efforts, but luck will definitely be on your side. Your imagination and skills will do wonders for you and your creativity will be at all time high.

Ruling No.8: 2012 will require you to improve upon your knowledge and skills. You will have to deal with government agencies and people at higher places, who will be slow in providing results, which will prove frustrating at times. But important contacts that you establish during this phase will be helpful in the long run.

Ruling No.9: In 2012 you will find yourself changing plans more than usual and decisions you take on certain fronts will not be easy. A property transaction or acquiring a new vehicle during this period seems likely.

Courtesy: AstroYogi

Circulated by: Lawyer Asad

Qualities of a Successful Lawyer

Qualities of a Successful Lawyer

This section examines six basic personal and intellectual qualities that help make a successful lawyer. Although these qualities are more realistic than many popular perceptions of the legal profession, they will not be equally important for every individual.

1. Self-Motivated

The field of law, beginning with law school, requires considerable personal motivation. While some see a law career as an opportunity to uphold or change social and government institutions, others are driven by financial gain, the prestige of working at a certain law firm, or involvement in high-profile cases. Whatever the goal, anyone thinking of a legal career should have the tenacity to see things through.

2. Productive

Success as a lawyer is usually a result of years of hard work. Although the common view of a legal career emphasizes its financial rewards, the economics of hourly billing favors those who are most productive, especially during the early stages their careers.

3. Analytical

Lawyers must use rigorous logic to determine the best course of action for their clients. To do so, they must look at problems in terms of the fundamental facts and eliminate irrelevant details. This often demands ingenuity, sound reasoning, and the ability to analyze large amounts of information.

4. Meticulous

Because lawyers are paid to anticipate clients' problems, much of their work involves taking the appropriate steps to avoid future liabilities. This is one reason for the highly technical nature of most legal documents. To function in this environment, lawyers must be highly knowledgeable of the legal system's complex rules and procedures.

5. Clear

To be effective, a lawyer must possess excellent communication skills. This includes a high level of verbal competence as well as the ability to produce written documents that meet rigorous technical and logical standards.

6. Responsible

The legal profession has rules of conduct that greatly influence a lawyer's decisions. These rules affect a broad range of activities regarding matters of principle as well as professional ethics. Because of this, lawyers must continuously ensure that their actions adhere to these rules. Anyone interested in a career in law should be aware of the ethical and professional standards that will inevitably affect their future.
To supplement this list, it would be useful to speak to a pre-law advisor at your local university. You should also consult as many law students and working lawyers as possible in order to develop an accurate understanding of the profession.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

Natural Ways to Fight Depression

A depressive or anxious mindset continues to be one of the most common psychological ailments.

People seem hesitant to seek help, afraid that taking psychotic drugs or counseling will make them look ridiculous. If you are one of such folks, reading about natural ways of defeating depressionmight prove rather useful. Others, who don't have a severe problem of depression but suffer from phases of low mood too can benefit from the following advice:

Exercise Regularly

Exercising regularly is perhaps the best, daily activity you can indulge in to ensure better mood. Researchers across the world have confirmed that you don't need to be a gym-junkie or into hardcore weight training to feel the benefits of exercising. Just take upon any kind of physical activity that gets your heart pumping and makes you sweat. This includes running, jogging and a bit of stretching. If you can combine some bit of light-weight training, it is even better but not imperative. Exercise has a direct impact on our mood. It makes the body secrete more endorphins. These biochemicals are responsible for inducing a feeling of goodness that sustains for many hours after exercising. You should exercise for more than 30 minutes to use exercising as an anti-depression tool.

Make Small Dietary Changes

You can make small dietary changes to fight off depression. Ensure that you get your daily quota of vitamins, particularly folic acid and other types of vitamin Bs. For this, regularly indulge in green leafy veggies, bright-colored fruits, potatoes and dairy products like yogurt and cottage cheese. These vitamins are essential for synthesis and release of mood-lifting chemicals within the brain. Vitamin B12 is required for the overall regulation of our nervous system. Combine this with some source of essential fatty acids. This includes flax and mustard seeds. Omega 3 fatty acids are required for release of mood boosters like Serotonin and Dopamine. Thus, increase your intake of walnuts, soybeans, fish and tofu.

Get Sufficient Sleep

All of us suffer from phases of troubled sleep. When this problem starts to surface regularly, it becomes an underlying cause of depression. Lack of good sleep causes irritation. It reduces your ability to handle low mood swings. Trying to catch a nap and staying-up late at night watching TV further reduce the quality of night sleep. Ensure that you get at least seven hours of peaceful sleep each night. Lack of sleep disturbs the body clock, and can push you towards chronic depression.

Take Psychological & Physical Breaks

Boredom and a mundane lifestyle are among the more common causes of depression. Even if you don't have something really exciting to do, seek regular breaks. Here, a break refers to something that engages your mind and body. This ensures that you are holistically disengaged from your anxiety or depressive way of thinking. For instance, going shopping to the local market, playing a game of soccer outdoors, playing snooker or bowling indoors or washing your car occupy your mental and physical faculties. Try talking more among your friends and family to ensure your mind is engaged in healthy conversations or arguments that help you get rid of feelings of anguish or frustration.

Develop Better Lifestyle Habits

Some seemingly minor factors contribute to depression in a big way. For instance, lack of exposure to sunlight causes Vitamin D deficiency. This vitamin is essential for better mental health. Similarly, people on low-fat diets don't understand that a basic amount of cholesterol is required for the synthesis of serotonin. Without this neurotransmitter, we cannot sustain that good/happy feeling. This makes us more prone to being anxious. Thus, extreme dieting should always be avoided.

Avoid Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia is a condition of lack of sufficient sugar in our bloodstream. This is often found among people who tend to fast for long periods, between meals. Phases of Hypoglycemia aren't good for your mental health. This impairs the release of serotonin. Hypoglycemia is often found among people who tend to consume too much of refined sugars. Such sugars are highly processed and get immediately absorbed into the bloodstream. This causes a surge in the blood sugar levels, inducing a feeling of goodness. However, the surge is soon followed by a sudden fall in sugar levels as refined sugar is metabolized quickly. Thus, a few minutes after eating a sugar-loaded candy, you might suffer from a short phase of Hypoglycemia. These wide fluctuations in blood sugar levels cause a spike in the release of stress hormones like cortisone and adrenalin, making us more prone to nervousness and anxiety. Thus, eat regular intervals but stay away from snacking on processed, sweet foods. (Health, MensXP.com)

Circulated by: Lawyer Asad

21 Rules to Live Your Life

Editor's note: The 21 precepts below were written just as Miyamoto was giving away all his possessions in preparation for death and I think many of them still apply to our modern society and lifestyles and hence I'm sharing them there.

1. Accept everything just the way it is

I've already stated that I think acceptance is the way to instant happiness so I always try to implement acceptance into my life. If you aren't accepting things then you are simply resisting what is, resistance causes internal conflict and then tends to lead to negative emotions or downward spirals.

Often things we resist are in the past i.e. not accepting that someone has died or still being angry about a previous relationship. These are things we simply can not change and that is why it makes no sense to resist what has happened. Total acceptance also allows you to live in the now and much more consciously.

2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake

This is one I really had to think about to start to understand. What I believe Miyamoto was suggesting here is that you should not look for pleasure simply in order to have pleasurable feelings. Another interpretation of this by the University of Minnesota suggests that it means you shouldn't seek pleasure solely for yourself.

In my opinion, you should focus on the things that you enjoy then pleasure will exist as a byproduct, rather than pleasure something you've had to work on specifically in order to receive the benefits.

3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling

This is quite self explanatory, but, simply put; don't act in high importance or high risk situations based on a partial feeling. It's great to go with your instinct now and then and just 'go with the flow' but when something is crucial, make sure you know what you are getting into.

4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world

You are who you are, nothing more and nothing less. You are not the car that you drive and you are not the size of your bank balance. It's fine for others to think of you as funny, cool, rich or any of those things, but if you place a large importance on them and start to identify with what these words represent then you'll start to live a much more reactive life.

Accept who you are, know your strengths and weaknesses, don't over qualify yourself to the world but definitely don't under estimate your potential. The world and everything in it is truly amazing, see it, explore, make the most of everything; take nothing for granted.

5. Be detached from desire your whole life long

Detachment is to be disinterested in the outcome of an event or situation. Therefore, being detached from desire your whole life long means that you shouldn't care about the outcome of the things you want in life. Worry about the outcome projects negative emotions such as fear. As with a point earlier, attachment to something means you are identifying with it, you see it as part of yourself in one way or another.

Whatever your desires are in life, don't make the outcome necessary. If something doesn't happen then be OK with that, realise everything in life is abundant.

6. Do not regret what you have done

I have a favorite saying for when I look back after having taken action on something that says "I'd rather regret the things I DID do rather than the things I DIDN'T do". However, if you look at this on a presence and acceptance level, you should never regret the things you have done, simply because you can't change what has happened.

7. Never be jealous

What reasons do you have to be jealous of anybody? If you are jealous of somebody with lots of money then you should re-frame your thinking. Be glad there are people out there that show you there is potential for you to make lots of money as well.

If you are jealous of somebody's looks then you identify with superficiality much more than is even necessary. You never know what 'problems' people can have under the surface, fitting in with society standards doesn't make you a happier person, it just makes you more socially conditioned.

8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation

According to the Buddha, attachment is the source of all suffering and as far as separation goes this certainly applies. Separation can apply to losing a partner, a pet, money, possessions or anything of the sort. I think what Miyamoto is referring to here is once again live in total acceptance of what happens and don't hold on to things that have occurred previously.

You have the choice to be angry or happy at all times, there's no point wasting time in the frame of the former. When I was mugged at knife point recently I lost my drivers license, lots of money, my credit card, mobile phone (worth over $300) and more. I was disappointed for a short while, but I was more pleased about the fact the knife wasn't used on me or my brother during the incident.

9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others

Once again this is pretty self explanatory. Resentment and complaint aren't going to get you anywhere in life, except to be troubled with negative emotions. Accept everything for what it is and always appreciate the moment, nothing else applies.

10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love

I don't think that this means anything to do with celibacy like others have interpreted this as, but more about controlling your own destiny. If you have a good grasp on reality a.k.a. an abundance mindset then you will know there are literally billions of potential partners out there for you. I don't believe that there is always just 'the one' but I believe there are many people you can connect with and love.

If you feel you want to marry someone then go down that route, but don't let your strong attachment and emotions guide the direction of your life. Take control and enjoy lust / love on the way, don't completely immerse yourself in their powers and detach from other areas of your life.

11. In all things have no preferences

Before you are so quick to dismiss this, think about what it is saying. Obviously we all have a preference over things such as Coke vs Pepsi or Cars vs Motorbikes but that isn't the main message. I think the message here is not about having no preferences but rather about not letting certain preferences control your emotions.

For example, if there is a noisy party next door and you are trying to sleep then wishing there was silence (preferred) isn't going to help. Instead, you should just accept the noise, don't create any internal conflicts and you'll be asleep before you know it. [Example Source]

12. Be indifferent to where you live

The word indifferent is best described as "that which does not matter, one way or the other" and in reality where you live shouldn't make any difference to you internally. Whether Miyamoto was referring to the idea that you should travel more or the underlying fact that it was much harder to move around in 1645 I'm unsure.

13. Do not pursue the taste of good food

I have a feeling that this doesn't refer to food literally but haven't found anyone that has yet to explain this in more detail. Maybe a copy of the book is needed or if anyone can leave a comment I'll update this one.

14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need

Letting go of the things that you don't need can give you multiple benefits. First of all you get a lot more clarity in your life (and environment) due to lack of clutter. Secondly, someone else can benefit from your possessions and put them to good use.

This may seem quite negative to the likes of collectors and those who are very materialistic but it makes a lot of sense. Also, we tend to attach ourselves to our possessions and feel strong negative emotions if anything happens to them, even if we don't need / use them.

15. Do not act following customary beliefs

We live in a society where a large majority of people spend their time living in spectator mode, just like everybody else. We follow celebrities in the media, we play computer games and we watch a lot of TV. These are all influences on how we should live our lives and are actually a place where a lot of this 'life' is wasted.

Make your own life rules based on reference points, experience and with proper, truthful mindsets such as those of abundance and potential.

16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful

In 17th-century Japan this was a lot more relevant due swords being a commonality and the many forms of Martial Arts were in full swing. I take this message as saying 'Don't waste time with things (weapons) that aren't going to benefit you'.

Sure, there are hobbies such as fencing that involve weapons which aren't necessarily used in this way because they are useful. People take part in fencing because they enjoy what they do. However, in terms of learning to perform skills with weapons which serves no purpose, this could be seen as protecting you from acts which simply inflate the ego.

17. Do not fear death

I'm a big preacher of living in the moment and doing things for the now, I started learning more about 'The Now' through the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. In his first book Eckhart states that there is 'no such problem in the now'. In my lack of understanding, I hesitantly asked on an Eckhart Discussion Forum how the likes of having a knife in your chest could not be seen as a problem in the now.

One of the responses I received that I liked went along the lines of "Death is no different to birth, they are both natural. They are one and the same. If you fear death then that is like fearing birth."

18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age

Stated very strongly in the book 'The Four-Hour Workweek', we tend to try to save up our money so that we can start to enjoy life once we retire from our jobs. However, as you will discover, if you can live in the moment you will see how stupid and incorrect our societal views on this actually are.

Think about it, most of us actually do plan to save money so that we can enjoy life when we retire and do the things we love. However, this is silly because we are planning for something that:

a) We may never reach
b) Involves our form being in it's worst ever condition (aging)
c) We could be doing right now

19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help

I'm not Christian or involved in any other religions so I don't believe in the common view behind the word 'God'. However, that isn't to say I would judge or look down upon anyone that chooses to have belief that such Gods exist.

Respect the teachings and messages of others, but don't use them as a crutch to keep you balanced.

20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour

The one thing we all have in common when we born, albeit deemed as negative, is that we are going to die. We can't stop the aging process (although we can limit its affects through the likes of plastic surgery) and we can't cheat death.

Despite that, this precept is saying that along the way you should always stand to live by your own moral values. Don't change them due to pressure from others or the usual conforms of society.

21. Never stray from the Way

'The Way' may be viewed as something monumental like finding and acting our your life's purpose and it may also be viewed as something small like keeping on top of your goal progress. Either way, you should always try to remain focused on the things you want to achieve and stay on that path.

There are many distractions these days with drug or alcohol abuse, financial worries and much more. However, you should simply see these distractions as hurdles that filter out those that really want to achieve something and those that don't. Never stray from the way.

 

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

 

Keep Pressing On

Keep Pressing On

A famous mountain climbing resort in the Swiss Alps caters to businesses that encourage their employees to hike up the mountain trails together. The goal is to build camaraderie and to teach teamwork. Although it is about an eight hour trek to the summit, anyone in reasonably good shape can ascend to the top. In the morning, the hikers gather at the base of the mountain for a pep talk before starting the climb. Usually the group is so excited, they can hardly wait to head up the slopes, have a group picture taken, and celebrate the excitement of the journey they are embarking upon.

They hike for several hours before taking a break. Approximately halfway up the mountain stands a quaint alpine restaurant. About noon, the weary hikers trudge into the restaurant, peel off their hiking gear, and plop down by the fireplace to have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and eat their lunch. With the mountain as their backdrop, the hikers savor the warm, cozy, picturesque setting.

Interestingly, after they are full and comfortable, fewer than half the hikers choose to continue climbing to the top of the mountain. It isn't because they aren't able; it isn't because the climb suddenly appears too difficult. Their reluctance to continue is simply because they are satisfied with where they are. They've lost their drive to excel, to explore a new horizon, and to experience vistas they'd never previously imagined possible. They have tasted a bit of success, and they think it is good enough.

Many times, we approach life a lot like those full and comfortable hikers sitting in the restaurant enjoying the view. We have a goal to break a bad habit, to lose some weight, or to pay off our credit cards. At first, we're so excited. We're fired up and we go after it! The first leg of the climb up the mountain is powered by enthusiasm for our new goal. But over time, we get lazy and complacent. Maybe we see a little improvement, but then we get comfortable right where we are. This might not be a bad place, but we know it's not where we're supposed to be. Like those hikers sitting in that quaint restaurant, we are still perfectly capable of craning our necks and looking up the mountain. We're not stretching our faith or our potential and we know it. Maybe you own a business, and you've experienced a bit of success. Lately, however, you've been coasting. Or maybe you set out to lose 20 pounds, you lose 10, and feel like all is good and you get complacent. Don 't stop halfway just because it's easy! Instead, remember what it is that you really, really want. Put out the effort and go the whole way. to the top of the mountain.

Step out of your comfort zone today! Keep pursuing and keep believing. It doesn't take any more effort to believe and stay filled with hope and faith than it does to develop a negative and defeated attitude. Get up every day and say, "This is going to be a great day! I believe my dreams are coming to pass. There are great things in store for me and everyone around me." When you have that kind of attitude you are releasing God's goodness. But it doesn't come easily.

People who see their dreams come to pass are people who have resolve and backbone. They are the ones who refuse to settle for the little victories along the way and see themselves at the finish line, instead continuing on, pushing on toward the ultimate goal. No one wants to be mediocre. You are made for so much more. Realize that what your mind focuses on, it can achieve. It is up to you. Pay attention only to those silent whispers within that say "You can do it!"

Linda McLean

Linda McLean is an internationally respected business and life coach. Her company, www.mcleaninternational.com , helps businesses and individuals reach their next level using a customized solution-oriented approach to business and life planning. This story was from her newly released book:Next Level Living: Today's Guide for Abundant Life.

Courtesy: Bob Proctor

Brought to you by: Lawyer Asad

Five Qualities of Successful Lawyers

Five Qualities of Successful Lawyers

By Dave Lorenzo

During this day and age of limited time and resources I am constantly being asked to boil success down to a handful of qualities. Everybody wants the five "secrets" to success.

While I am hard pressed to limit the qualities of successful lawyers to just five things, I can give you five qualities that are common among all successful people.

Incidentally, these five qualities were not developed by me.  They were developed by a guy named Napoleon Hill as a result of a 20 year study he conducted on successful business people.

Good old Napoleon came up with 16 laws of success as a result of this study.  All of Hill's laws can be applied to attorneys but there are five in particular that separate the winning attorneys from the moderately successful attorneys.

Here are the five qualities from Napoleon Hill's work that I believe to be most responsible for a lawyer's success:

Quality 1: Successful Lawyers have a Burning Desire to Serve Their Clients: 

This means you must really want to make a difference to your clients and you believe in your ability to do so.  That passion and desire is easily spotted in successful people.  It is a quality that attracts others – clients and referring attorneys – to you like a magnet.

If you are currently practicing law and you do not have a passion for it, consider a career change.

Quality 2:  Successful Lawyers Make Use of Specialized Knowledge: 

Every attorney has specialized knowledge of the law (compared to a non-attorney).  But successful attorneys also have the specialized knowledge of how to build and run a law firm. They have specialized knowledge on how to build systems to set their practice up for success.  They have specialized knowledge in business strategy and they know how to deploy their resources toward an area of need in the market.  They know how to attract clients to their law firm and persuade those clients to retain them. 

Specialized knowledge goes well beyond the law.  It extends to the knowledge necessary to build and grow a thriving law firm. 

Quality 3: Successful Lawyers are Decisive:

This is a quality that stands out in a good lawyer.  They assimilate information and then they make a decision.  You have to make correct decisions and you have to do it in a way that projects confidence in yourself and in the people around you.

Let's face it; if you have the will, you can recover from almost any mistake you make in life. 

However you may never be able to recapture an opportunity that presents itself if you don't make a decision.  Great opportunities – golden opportunities – only come along so often – and you need to be decisive to take advantage of them.  Napoleon Hill found that decisiveness was a key quality in successful people and I could not agree more.

Quality 4: Successful Attorneys Set Goals:

Successful people are goal oriented. This means they have actually taken the time to think about where they want to be in five years, ten years and twenty years. 

If you want to achieve significant success you need to first define what success is.  That means setting goals. 

If you have never done any goal setting exercises, try this:

• Pick out five things you would like to accomplish between now and the end of the year.
• Write these five things down on a sheet of paper.
• Fold the paper up and put it in your pocket.
• Review this sheet of paper every time you eat a meal.?

You will be amazed at the results.

When you write your goals down your subconscious mind automatically goes to work to try to help you achieve them.  You will find yourself drawn to activities that will bring you closer to your goals.

Once you become comfortable with this process, conduct a similar exercise, setting goals for the next five years. 

Quality 5: Successful Attorneys Tap into the Collective Intelligence of Others

This is critically important.  You need to have a group of people you can trust to give you honest feedback on your ideas and performance.  You must have a group of like-minded people who know and understand what you are going through and can help you achieve your goals.

This last one really resonates with me because when I started my own practice I was a one person operation.  After having worked my entire career in big firms, I suddenly found myself without a sounding board for ideas.  This lead to a stifling of my creativity.

As my business has grown I have actively sought out successful people to bounce my ideas off of.  This process has been phenomenally value in many ways.  Every lawyer needs a handful of people in whom he can confide. 

When a lawyer comes to me and says he needs help with his law firm, I review these five characteristics with him.  Almost always, the struggling lawyer has not developed any of these qualities in himself.  That's when I ask him a critical question:

"Are you willing to adopt these five qualities and use them in your law practice?"

You see, part of Napoleon Hill's study revealed that successful people are not born with these qualities.  They developed them over time.  Success is learned behavior. 

So I ask you now:

Are you willing to adopt these five qualities and incorporate them into your law practice?

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

The myth of the eight-hour sleep

By Stephanie Hegarty

BBC World Service

Continue reading the main story

We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural.

In the early 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of people were plunged into darkness for 14 hours every day for a month.

It took some time for their sleep to regulate but by the fourth week the subjects settled into a very distinct sleeping pattern. They slept first for four hours, then woke for one or two hours before falling into a second four-hour sleep.

Though sleep scientists were impressed by the study, among the general public the idea that we must sleep for eight consecutive hours persists.

In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks.

His book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, published four years later, unearths more than 500 references to a segmented sleeping pattern - in diaries, court records, medical books and literature, from Homer's Odyssey to an anthropological account of modern tribes in Nigeria.

Roger Ekirch says this 1595 engraving by Jan Saenredam is evidence of activity at night

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".

Ekirch found that references to the first and second sleep started to disappear during the late 17th Century. This started among the urban upper classes in northern Europe and over the course of the next 200 years filtered down to the rest of Western society.

By the 1920s the idea of a first and second sleep had receded entirely from our social consciousness.

Continue reading the main story

When segmented sleep was the norm

• "He knew this, even in the horror with which he started from his first sleep, and threw up the window to dispel it by the presence of some object, beyond the room, which had not been, as it were, the witness of his dream." Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1840)
• "Don Quixote followed nature, and being satisfied with his first sleep, did not solicit more. As for Sancho, he never wanted a second, for the first lasted him from night to morning." Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote (1615)
• "And at the wakening of your first sleepe You shall have a hott drinke made, And at the wakening of your next sleepe Your sorrowes will have a slake." Early English ballad, Old Robin of Portingale
• The Tiv tribe in Nigeria employ the terms "first sleep" and "second sleep" to refer to specific periods of the night

Source: Roger Ekirch

• 
  

He attributes the initial shift to improvements in street lighting, domestic lighting and a surge in coffee houses - which were sometimes open all night. As the night became a place for legitimate activity and as that activity increased, the length of time people could dedicate to rest dwindled.

In his new book, Evening's Empire, historian Craig Koslofsky puts forward an account of how this happened.

"Associations with night before the 17th Century were not good," he says. The night was a place populated by people of disrepute - criminals, prostitutes and drunks.

"Even the wealthy, who could afford candlelight, had better things to spend their money on. There was no prestige or social value associated with staying up all night."

That changed in the wake of the Reformation and the counter-Reformation. Protestants and Catholics became accustomed to holding secret services at night, during periods of persecution. If earlier the night had belonged to reprobates, now respectable people became accustomed to exploiting the hours of darkness.

This trend migrated to the social sphere too, but only for those who could afford to live by candlelight. With the advent of street lighting, however, socialising at night began to filter down through the classes.

In 1667, Paris became the first city in the world to light its streets, using wax candles in glass lamps. It was followed by Lille in the same year and Amsterdam two years later, where a much more efficient oil-powered lamp was developed.

London didn't join their ranks until 1684 but by the end of the century, more than 50 of Europe's major towns and cities were lit at night.

Night became fashionable and spending hours lying in bed was considered a waste of time.

A small city like Leipzig in central Germany employed 100 men to tend to 700 lamps

"People were becoming increasingly time-conscious and sensitive to efficiency, certainly before the 19th Century," says Roger Ekirch. "But the industrial revolution intensified that attitude by leaps and bounds."

Strong evidence of this shifting attitude is contained in a medical journal from 1829 which urged parents to force their children out of a pattern of first and second sleep.

"If no disease or accident there intervene, they will need no further repose than that obtained in their first sleep, which custom will have caused to terminate by itself just at the usual hour.

"And then, if they turn upon their ear to take a second nap, they will be taught to look upon it as an intemperance not at all redounding to their credit."

Today, most people seem to have adapted quite well to the eight-hour sleep, but Ekirch believes many sleeping problems may have roots in the human body's natural preference for segmented sleep as well as the ubiquity of artificial light.

This could be the root of a condition called sleep maintenance insomnia, where people wake during the night and have trouble getting back to sleep, he suggests.

The condition first appears in literature at the end of the 19th Century, at the same time as accounts of segmented sleep disappear.

"For most of evolution we slept a certain way," says sleep psychologist Gregg Jacobs. "Waking up during the night is part of normal human physiology."

The idea that we must sleep in a consolidated block could be damaging, he says, if it makes people who wake up at night anxious, as this anxiety can itself prohibit sleeps and is likely to seep into waking life too.

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Stages of sleep

Every 60-100 minutes we go through a cycle of four stages of sleep

• Stage 1 is a drowsy, relaxed state between being awake and sleeping - breathing slows, muscles relax, heart rate drops
• Stage 2 is slightly deeper sleep - you may feel awake and this means that, on many nights, you may be asleep and not know it
• Stage 3 and Stage 4, or Deep Sleep - it is very hard to wake up from Deep Sleep because this is when there is the lowest amount of activity in your body
• After Deep Sleep, we go back to Stage 2 for a few minutes, and then enter Dream Sleep - also called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep - which, as its name suggests, is when you dream

In a full sleep cycle, a person goes through all the stages of sleep from one to four, then back down through stages three and two, before entering dream sleep

Source: Gregg Jacobs

• Gregg Jacobs' site - CBT for Insomnia

Russell Foster, a professor of circadian [body clock] neuroscience at Oxford, shares this point of view.

"Many people wake up at night and panic," he says. "I tell them that what they are experiencing is a throwback to the bi-modal sleep pattern."

But the majority of doctors still fail to acknowledge that a consolidated eight-hour sleep may be unnatural.

"Over 30% of the medical problems that doctors are faced with stem directly or indirectly from sleep. But sleep has been ignored in medical training and there are very few centres where sleep is studied," he says.

Jacobs suggests that the waking period between sleeps, when people were forced into periods of rest and relaxation, could have played an important part in the human capacity to regulate stress naturally.

In many historic accounts, Ekirch found that people used the time to meditate on their dreams.

"Today we spend less time doing those things," says Dr Jacobs. "It's not a coincidence that, in modern life, the number of people who report anxiety, stress, depression, alcoholism and drug abuse has gone up."

So the next time you wake up in the middle of the night, think of your pre-industrial ancestors and relax. Lying awake could be good for you.

Craig Koslofsky and Russell Foster appeared on The Forum from theBBC World Service.

Circulated by: Lawyer Asad