Free-running sleep

Free-running sleep is sleep that is not artificially regulated. It is used as a form of chronotherapy that can help to cure some sleep disorders. Most people in the industrial world cannot afford free-running sleep. Few people can maintain the practice of free-running sleep due to conflicts in synchrony with the schedules demanded by work and family. The most typical violation of free-running sleep is the use of an alarm clock. Another violation is staying awake past one's accustomed bedtime in spite of drowsiness. (Staying up late when one is not sleepy does not violate free-running sleep.) Going to sleep too early (for example, to force longer sleep before early arising) may also disturb the free-running sleep cycle.

Free-running sleep as a concept is largely derived from observing non-hibernationary animals, as Max Scheler, (GER)and Matthew Fowler (AUST)have both discussed at length in their works. Scheler's references pertain to sleep being used less as a coping necessity, and more as an escape in life of increasing self-awareness. The results of this in application have been the loss of sleep upon sensory inputs to the conscious for human and animals alike, with sleep being taken in one defined block. The block is then placed within a certain time-frame, defined by the external environment, so as to allow for specialization in senses, hence greater evolutionary ability. An example of this is the adaptation of fruit bats to two sleep blocks of pre-dawn and dusk, to allow for the specialization of their senses, mainly sight and hearing to cope with feeding in this restricted environment.

Fowler’s references to the benefits and costs of free-running sleep on and to society largely centre around the weight the individual holds against that of society. While Fowler addresses the issue of free-running sleep’s impact on the 24 hour cycle, Scheler and Fowler reach contrasting opinions, with Scheler taking a what can be described as a realistic view against Fowler’s impractical but ‘Utopian’ mindset.

The major drawbacks posed to the modern lifestyle by free-running sleep continue to be the lack of elasticity of contemporary living to support disjointed and constant short periods of sleep, and the difficulty experienced in transition by those attempting employ it.