Student Tests Medieval Sleep Pattern, Writes Best Poetry Ever

Anna Fox didn't expect a 400-year-old sleep habit to transform her creative life, but that's exactly what happened when she started waking up at 1:30 a.m.

The North Carolina State University grad student was curious about biphasic sleep, a common practice in pre-industrial Europe where people slept in two distinct phases. Back in 1600, you'd sleep for a few hours after sunset, wake around midnight for "the watch," then return to bed until morning.

During that middle-of-the-night break, medieval folks did chores, prayed, wrote letters, or even had sex. It wasn't insomnia. It was just normal.

Fox decided to try it herself this past summer, waking between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. for quiet activities. She set strict rules: no overhead lighting, no phone, and absolutely no to-do list items.

"It was kinda just curiosity to see what would happen," Fox says. She secretly hoped the experiment might help with her chronic fatigue.

That didn't pan out. But something else did.

Fox found herself writing poetry unlike anything she'd created before. "I was writing better poetry than I've ever written in my life," she tells Fast Company.

She also read books, journaled, and worked on creative projects during those peaceful pre-dawn hours. Thousands followed along on social media as she documented the experience.

Why This Inspires

Fox's experiment reveals something our always-on culture often misses: sometimes the best creativity happens when we step completely away from productivity pressure. No screens. No task lists. Just stillness and contemplation.

The medieval practice offers a gentle counter to hustle culture's demand for optimized, uninterrupted sleep followed by maximum output. Instead, it creates space for the kind of unhurried thinking that sparks genuine creative breakthroughs.

Fox may not have cured her chronic fatigue, but she discovered something equally valuable: her best work emerged not from pushing harder, but from carving out time to simply be.