Wakey, wakey

Most glorious night! Thou wert not sent for slumber! 

        Lord Byron 

        I guess some would agree with Byron on that... but only some....
..
   
        Have a look at the facts first: how did (do) writers view it?
         

 If you have problems viewing it correctly try this website

Writers' sleep habits




You may also get some useful tips from the Kinfolk article: "Before the Day Starts".

"Frank Lloyd Wright developed his architectural designs from 4 to 7 a.m., and Immanuel Kant meditated over a pipe and weak tea before heading to the local university to teach science."

"Proust slept during the day and worked through the night, George Gershwin came home after evening parties to compose music until dawn, and George Sand often left her lovers’ beds to write in the midnight silence that inspired her."

OR 

BBC article about M. Thatcher 

Can people get by on four hours' sleep?

The article on the website is rather long, so here is its student-friendly version:

Thatcher: Can people get by on four hours' sleep?

By Tom de Castella BBC News Magazine

Margaret Thatcher is famously said to have slept for only four hours a night. How easy is it to do a high-powered job on this amount of sleep?

Her biographer John Campbell, author of The Iron Lady, says her late-to-bed, early-to-rise routine made her the "best informed person in the room".

Sleep comes to be seen as part of a leader's character. When Napoleon Bonaparte was asked how many hours sleep people need, he is said to have replied: "Six for a man, seven for a woman, eight for a fool."

Churchill survived on four hours a night during the war. But what is less often noted is that he had regular afternoon naps in his pyjamas. Lady Thatcher was not one for these afternoon sleeps. "No, she wasn't a napper," Ingham says.

But is the four-hour measure something ordinary people should aspire to?
In the world of business it is certainly something people strive for. High-profile chief executives from Marissa Mayer at Yahoo! to Pepsi's Indra Nooyi get by on four hours a night, while Donald Trump claims to survive on three.
Geraint Anderson, author of City Boy, who worked as an analyst and stockbroker for 12 years, recognises the phenomenon."There was a real macho competition in the City about sleep. One of the ways of getting respect was bragging about how little you got."

The hours were long - from 6.30 in the morning to seven at night. Socialising might mean staying out till three in the morning.

As well as business, there have been military leaders who eschewed the eight hours and opted for the Spartan Thatcher credo. General David Petraeus ate one meal a day and slept only four hours a night.

There's no correct amount of sleep, says Prof Kevin Morgan, of Loughborough University's sleep research centre. The only rule is to sleep long enough to feel refreshed when you wake up.

I would like to draw your attention to the interesting tidbits:

 

• Madonna is a long-term insomniac, which she blames on "being a workaholic and a film star, singer and mother all in one"
• Charles Dickens tackled his sleeplessness with long nocturnal walks, on one occasion tramping all the way from north London to Kent
• Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards once stayed awake for nine consecutive days - and then collapsed so quickly he broke his nose

Here come discussion questions:

1. What is your favourite time of day?
2. When do you feel most alert at dawn or at dusk?
3. What is it that you normally do first thing in the morning and last thing at night?
4. When was the last time you got up at the crack of dawn?
5. Do you tend to remember your dreams? What are they like? Do you dream in colour/sound? Any premonitory dreams?
6. Do you know/ have a recipe for a good night's sleep?
7. Do you take power naps?


 Vocabulary-wise this topic opens up possibilities of letting students become familiar with:

at dawn *    at dusk *   mid-afternoon *  mid-morning *  at midday *  at midnight   *at sunrise  *  at sunset*

at noon *  at twilight *  at daybreak * in the middle of the night  *   in the wee hours

and 

 take a nap  °      sleep tight  °   not to sleep a wink °     sleep like a log °   to doze off   °   to have a sleepless night °    sleep soundly  °     to nod off    °   to oversleep  

 

And finally, time for a video:

Here is what I have come across while browsing TED lessons worth sharing:

 Good luck to all the larks and owls!