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The History of Sleep

From premodern times until the early Renaissance, sleep and dreams were important elements of overall human health. That changed with the Enlightenment’s belief in the superiority of reason. Philosophers René Descartes, David Hume and John Locke demeaned sleep as an impediment to the quest for knowledge. Their logical inquiries into reason stood in sharp contrast to sleep’s haphazard dreams. By the 19th century, thinkers regarded sleep as “primitive” behavior, a time of mental waste compared to the abilities of the conscious, scientific mind.

The devaluation of dreams gained currency as the exploding factories of the industrial age sought attentive workers. Yet, plant managers noticed that workers’ performance improved with rest, so they established breaks to ensure continued productivity. Today, globalization removes the need for any halt in a company’s endeavors, because workers stand ready in all time zones to perform and sustain the business 24 hours a day. Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams reinforced the notion that dreams are evocations of humankind’s primitive, irrational, childish minds. The enchantment of dreams, and the...