Category: Analysis

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jan Wilcox, Senior lecturer, University of Westminster

The Renters’ Rights Act has become law. This new legislation is intended to improve the experience of private renting in England by providing tenants with increased security and stability. Measures include abolishing Section 21 “no fault” evictions, enabling tenants to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of eviction.

With private renting now accounting for 19% of UK households in England – double the share it was in the early 2000s – the pressures facing tenants have never been greater.

Read more:
How new renters’ rights could drive landlords out of the market

Recent figures suggest 21 people are competing for each rental property, with average monthly private rents rising by 5.8% to £1,403 in August 2025. At the same time, there is an exodus from the rental market by private landlords, with 31% of landlords reported as reducing the size of their rental portfolio by 2026, and 16% planning to sell all of their properties. This is intensifying demand for rental properties.

In such a competitive market, tenants often take on properties in haste, without fully understanding their rights or the responsibilities of their landlords. Yet the legal landscape is complex, with a raft of existing and forthcoming regulations. Some landlords struggle to keep up with their obligations, creating risks for tenants who simply need somewhere to live.

Here are the steps you should take before signing a tenancy agreement in England:

1. Check you can – and can afford to – rent

The government suggests that rent should be 30% or less of gross income, or 35% of take-home pay. You should also ensure that you have evidence of the right to rent, if required.

2. Ensure you know who your landlord is

They could be a letting agency, a private landlord or a company. Letting agencies should all be part of a redress scheme and you should check that they are members of a client money protection scheme. A private landlord, or company, should be asked to provide proof of ownership to avoid online rental fraud. You can check ownership with the Land Registry.

3. Check the terms of the tenancy agreement

The most common form of tenancy agreement is currently the assured shorthold tenancy, which lasts for a fixed period (usually six or 12 months). You may also have a periodic or rolling tenancy. The two will have different notice periods if you want to end your tenancy.

Check the start and end dates of the tenancy, landlord and tenant names, property address, level of rent, rent reviews and any additional bills you are responsible for.

4. Look out for fees

Do not pay fees for credit checks or setting up a tenancy agreement. You may wish to pay a refundable holding deposit which should not exceed one week’s rent. All other fees are banned. This is different to the security deposit that will be held by a government approved provider. The refundable holding deposit will normally be credited against your first month’s rent.

Request details of the tenancy deposit scheme before paying any money. Your deposit is only protected if held by a government-approved provider. The maximum deposit the landlord can ask for is capped, in most cases, at five weeks’ rent.

5. Request documents

Ask for a copy of the How to Rent guide, a gas safety certificate (if relevant) and the energy performance certificate. The landlord is legally required to produce these documents. You should also be given a copy of your signed tenancy agreement.

6. Check the condition of the property thoroughly

Ask for an inventory which records the contents and condition of the property. Arrange to inspect the property with the landlord, to ensure that you have agreed the inventory, then both sign it. Take time-stamped photographs if there are areas of disagreement.

Ensure there are working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and that you are given an electrical installation condition report before you move in.

Once you are in occupation

Your landlord, or their agent, must always be your first point of contact. You should keep a detailed record of any requests or complaints made, and the response received. If problems persist, there are a range of organisations that can provide help, advice, or resolution, depending on the nature of the dispute. These include Shelter, Citizens Advice, Civil Legal Advice, National Trading Standards, the property ombudsman, the Property Redress Scheme,, the first-tier property tribunal and your local authority environmental health departments.

These bodies will advise on, or implement, penalties which are wide ranging, and depend on the intention, severity and repetition of offences. Currently, these may include ordering the landlord to carry out work by way of an improvement or prohibition notice, fines of up to £30,000, imprisonment for up to two years and rent repayment orders of up to one year’s rent.

Whether a new tenant or an existing tenant, it has never been more important to be fully informed and to keep abreast of new developments in the law. Although we cannot predict the full impact of the new legislation, there is no doubt that penalties for landlords will increase. All tenants, however long they have been renting, are able to obtain compensation for poor performance by the “rogues and chancers” that undermine good landlords.

Jan Wilcox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Renters’ Rights Act becomes law in England – here are six things to do before renting a property privately – https://theconversation.com/renters-rights-act-becomes-law-in-england-here-are-six-things-to-do-before-renting-a-property-privately-267464

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University

This article contains spoilers for the current season of Celebrity Traitors.

When TV comedian Alan Carr was selected to be a traitor, his joy quickly turned to anxiety. He proclaimed he had a “sweating problem” – and that he wasn’t able to keep a secret. A less than ideal combination for him, but for viewers it’s TV gold.

Anyone who has ever been caught in a lie or found themselves in tense circumstances might have related to Carr. But why is it that so many of us sweat when we’re in stressful or uncomfortable situations?

Sweating typically happens for two reasons. One is when the body gets too hot. Sweating is our most effective method for reducing the body’s temperature. The other reason is emotionally driven and linked to psychological stimuli caused by anxiety, fear, pain or stress.

Humans have approximately 4 million sweat glands. There are two categories of sweat glands: apocrine and eccrine.

Eccrine glands make up around 90% of our sweat glands. These glands help cool the body. They respond to the release of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, which plays a central role in involuntary body actions, such as sweating.

The body has far fewer apocrine glands. These are mainly located around the nipple, armpits, face and genitals. These glands respond to a neurotransmitter called adrenaline. This neurotransmitter only becomes active when we’re in a “fight or flight” mode. The reason our palms sweat during these moments is because there are a high number of eccrine glands located there – so they go into overdrive when activated by adrenaline.

Adrenaline can also activate eccrine sweat glands in these high stakes situations, which means we begin to sweat all over our body.

The amount a person sweats varies from one person to another and is determined by a huge number of variables, including the number of sweat glands they have, the amount of adrenaline produced, how hydrated they are and their emotional state.

The amount that a person sweats during a stressful situation can also be made worse if they have a “sweating problem”, like Alan Carr does – such as the condition known as hyperhidrosis. This medical condition affects approximately 1%-3% of people in the UK – though in some countries it’s higher, with approximately 5% of the US population and as many as 16% of people in Germany affected.

There are two types of hyperhidrosis: primary and secondary. Primary accounts for 93% of hyperhidrosis cases. The cause of primary hyperhidrosis is unknown but genetic factors are thought to play a role – particularly because many with primary hyperhidrosis report having parents with the same diagnosis. It’s also theorised that hyperhidrosis may be caused the nerves that make us sweat being more overactive than they should be.

Read more:
Hyperhidrosis: the excessive sweating condition that could ruin your life

Secondary is usually caused by medications, particularly those that affect nervous system function.

People with hyperhidrosis can sweat at rates far above what’s considered normal. This is why the condition can have such a huge impact on quality of life and health.

People with hyperhidrosis are at greater risk of dehydration due to the amount fluid a person loses when they sweat – up to 5.8L an hour in some people. In comparison, people without hyperhidrosis only lose about 2L an hour when exercising.

They’re also at greater risk of fungal infections (such as athlete’s foot), bacterial infections (such as impetigo) and bad body odour as their warm, moist skin provides the perfect environment for microbes.

Hyperhidrosis and stressful situations may act as a self-perpetuating spiral. People with hyperhidrosis say the condition causes high physiological strain. High physiological strain causes sweating for everyone – but for people with hyperhidrosis, this is amplified, resulting in more sweating.

Prescription antiperspirants may help with mild to moderate cases of hyperhidrosis. If these don’t work, iontophoresis may be tried. This is where hands are placed in water with a small electrical current passing through to stop the sweat glands from working.

When these fail, botulinum toxin injections are administered directly into the armpit. The effects typically last around six months. This toxin blocks the action of acetylcholine preventing it from activating the sweat glands – thereby reducing their activity.

Stress sweat

In the context of The Traitors, sweating when we lie is primarily driven by the body’s nervous system which activates the “fight or flight” response during stress.

Read more:
The Celebrity Traitors: psychologist explains how to defend yourself when you’re accused of lying

Lying often evokes thoughts that are negative, especially if the lie induces anxiety or fear of being caught – thoughts the brain perceives as a threat. This activates the hypothalamus (a brain region which controls automatic body functions), which signals the adrenal glands on top of the kidney to release stress hormones – such as adrenaline. These hormones of course stimulate the eccrine sweat glands – especially those in the palms, feet and underarms.

Sweating itself doesn’t confirm deception. Rather, it reflects the psychological stress that triggered it. This sweat increase causes the electrical conductance of the skin to change, which is why lie detectors (polygraphs) measure galvanic skin response as a proxy for stress.

Read more:
Polygraph lie detector tests: can they really stop criminals reoffending?

But even these are not without issue because they cannot account for a person’s baseline sweat levels or how they adapt in stressful situations. It’s also important to note that not everyone can sweat – a condition known as anhidrosis – so a polygraph would probably not work in these instances.

Sweating is an involuntary process that happens when we’re stressed or under pressure. So whether you’re a Traitor or Faithful, there’s not much you can do to stop the sweat when facing interrogation at the round table.

Adam Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Celebrity Traitors: why we sweat when we’re nervous – or lying – https://theconversation.com/celebrity-traitors-why-we-sweat-when-were-nervous-or-lying-267796

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dylan O’Driscoll, Associate Professor in Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation, Coventry University

The walls of Belfast in Northern Ireland are more than just brick and mortar. They are canvases for public communication, reflecting the city’s history of conflict and its ongoing journey towards peace.

From large murals depicting significant events to subtle markings, these visual messages offer a unique lens into the evolving sentiments and politics within local communities. They also reveal the unity and divisions that exist across communities in a society in transition.

Our research shows that by systematically tracking changes in murals over time and across different locations – what we call “spatio-temporal analysis” – we can gain profound insights into the dynamics of peace and conflict. The walls themselves provide messages that can be inviting or excluding, or even communicate shifts within a community’s own identity. For instance, if a mural with paramilitary associations is replaced by one featuring a symbol of peace, it sends a powerful message that attitudes are changing.

To understand these visual shifts, we built a unique dataset of murals from Belfast, spanning from 1998 to 2022. This period is particularly significant as it began with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, a pivotal moment for peace in Northern Ireland. Our approach leveraged open-access digital archives and Google Street View. This allowed us to track changes over time.

A broad trend emerged. Over the years, there was a significant move away from murals that glorify violence, weaponry and paramilitaries. For example, in the Unionist Shankill area, the murals we mapped showed a 75% decrease in depictions of paramilitaries and violence since 1998. They have largely been replaced by artwork honouring culture, heritage and community.

However, this shift is not necessarily a move towards reconciliation between communities. Instead, it often signifies a solidification of distinct identities.

In Unionist areas, new murals frequently portray Protestants as hardworking, alongside symbols of the monarchy and union jacks. Meanwhile, Nationalist areas show strong connections to socialism, resistance movements, Gaelic traditions and the Irish flag. While less violent, these murals still maintain a sense of “othering” (creating us and them). This contributes to the ongoing process of separate nation-building within each community.

Reading walls

The murals on Peter’s Hill, marking the entry to the Unionist Shankill Road, clearly demarcate territory. In 1999, a mural honoured Loyalist paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). In the 2009 and 2021 versions, depictions of weapons and paramilitary groups were gone.

The 2009 mural explicitly claimed Shankill as “original Belfast”. The “i” was dotted with a crown in a nod to the monarchy. The 2021 version, while retaining this claim, shifted to celebrating community work. It depicted local community workers and young people. This showed a move away from glorifying violence, yet still reinforced a distinct Unionist cultural identity.

The Falls Road International Wall is a key stop for Belfast’s conflict tourism. It is used by the Nationalist community to express solidarity with globally oppressed groups, linking their struggle to international revolutionary movements.

Our analysis shows how dynamic this wall is, often changing in response to local and global events. A 2001 mural depicted Nationalists as victims of state violence. By 2002, it featured anti-war messaging after the invasion of Afghanistan. The wall has since shown strong affinity with the Palestinian cause, honoured Gerry Adams and even featured a mural for the National Health Service (NHS) during COVID. However, by 2022, it shifted back to strong Irish Republican ideologies, featuring figures like Bobby Sands and calls for a united Ireland.

On Whiterock Road in west Belfast, outside the main tourist routes, a mural set holds deep historical significance. The current mural, appearing during the Ballymurphy inquest (2018-2021), commemorates the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre. It depicts the 11 victims and a scene from the event. Earlier murals in this spot memorialised the 1916 Easter Rising. The timing of these changes highlights how this site is used to remember and memorialise specific historical periods, reflecting the community’s ongoing engagement with its past.

The large mural network on Newtownards Road, known locally as “Freedom Corner”, has been a long-standing symbol of paramilitary territorial claim-making for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). While it was refreshed in 2015 after damage, its message and style remained largely unchanged from the Good Friday Agreement to 2022.

In 2022 the murals were whitewashed and new ones commissioned without consulting the community. While the art style changed, the substance continued to link Northern Ireland to the British union and promote paramilitary activity. Interestingly, the new mural also includes the role of women, indicating a desire to break the perception of male-dominated Unionism.

Our research demonstrates that murals are far more than just art, they are a powerful, dynamic communication method. Murals offer invaluable insights into local perceptions of peace and conflict, societal transformation, and community positioning.

By systematically analysing these visual changes over time and space, we can better understand how communities express themselves, maintain their identities, and navigate the complex path of post-conflict evolution. This foundational method opens doors for further research, helping us ask deeper questions about the decision-making behind these murals, their funding, community buy-in and their true impact on local dynamics.

The walls of Belfast continue to tell a story, and by reading them we can learn a great deal about the complex journey towards peace.

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

Dylan O’Driscoll is affiliated with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Birte Vogel and Eric Lepp do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. What Belfast’s changing murals can tell us about peace – https://theconversation.com/what-belfasts-changing-murals-can-tell-us-about-peace-267887

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rebecca Wynne-Walsh, Lecturer in Film, English and Creative Arts, Edge Hill University

Sourcing family friendly frightening fiction can be a bit challenging. That said, while straightforward horror texts rarely serve family audiences, the gothic is a mode of storytelling that has a long history of delighting and disgusting parents and children alike.

Naturally, there is intellectual and stylistic value to both classic horror and the gothic. However, while horror interacts more directly with fear, the gothic favours observing the tension surrounding the source of fear.

Read more:
Scary stories for kids: these tales of terror made me a hit at sleepovers as a pre-teen

The stereotypical gothic heroine is not only trapped in the haunted house, she desires to understand it. Children’s books which use the gothic mode of storytelling encourage a similar investigative impulse in children. This is the modus operandi of the Scooby Doo gang, for example: research, exploration and answer-seeking rather than simply succumbing to fear.

Some iconic examples of children’s gothic literature include Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), Roald Dahl’s The Witches (1983), The Spiderwick Chronicles (Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, 2003 to 2009) and The Saga of Darren Shan (Darren Shan, 2000 to 2004).

This article is part of a series of expert recommendations of spooky stories – on screen and in print – for brave young souls. From the surprisingly dark depths of Watership Down to Tim Burton’s delightfully eerie kid-friendly films, there’s a whole haunted world out there just waiting for kids to explore. Dare to dive in here.

While these are all excellent tales, the spooky story which impacted me most as a child, and still does as an adult, is Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (1999 to 2006). This 13-book series follows three orphaned siblings, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire as they are forced to navigate the homes of various (increasingly odd and occasionally villainous) guardians. All the while they try evade capture at the hand of evil Count Olaf who seeks their family fortune, and solve the mystery of what the VFD (Volunteer Fire Department) organisation is – the answer to which might hold the key their parents’ mysterious past.

I was five years old when I received a copy of the first book in the series, aptly titled, The Bad Beginning. That first foray into the dark world of the Baudelaires meant that for the next few years the days I got to go to the bookshop to get the next book were some of the most exciting I experienced.

Aside from being devilishly delightful tales full of mysteries, adventure, danger, songs and a surprising amount of food recipes, these books never shied away from the harsher elements of real life. Among many important lessons, Snicket also taught me that horseradish and wasabi are in the same family, that first impressions of new people aren’t always accurate and that grief may never be understood but can be managed.

As he writes in the second book, The Reptile Room:

[Grief] is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.

During many of the most challenging parts of my childhood (and now my adulthood), these books offered me agency, riddles to solve, new words to learn, puzzles to put together and complex histories to understand. This is the core joy of these books – Snicket treats his intended readers (children) like people, instead of talking down to them.

The quirky and interactive elements of these books are a major factor in their enduring popularity. In an era of ever decreasing attention spans, Snicket offers an interactive reading experience in which no two chapters, and even no two pages are the same.

In one of the books, the Baudelaire children fall down a broken elevator shaft, a plot point illustrated literally by the three pitch black pages which “narrate” their descent. Another book sees the children receive a coded message, this chapter must be read in front of a mirror to decipher the backwards text. And most, if not all the books, incorporate poetry, songs, plays and paintings – which the Baudelaire orphans, and the readers, must use to decipher the mysteries surrounding the titular unfortunate events.

From the outset the reader is presented with total agency, invited to “shut the book” in a manner which directly encourages child autonomy. Nonetheless, children and adults alike have continued to engage with this franchise in all of its forms. Whether that be the original books, the 2004 feature film, the Netflix series released in 2017, the audiobooks narrated by Tim Curry, the concept album based on the books by The Gothic Archies or the ever updated Lemony Snicket website with multiple extra materials.

In short, the spooky gothic fun never has to end. As someone who has read these books annually since their original release, I can confidently attest to this as I continue to try and solve the eternal mystery of the VFD and the reason why Snicket’s villains are so damn villainous.

If you have not yet had the chance to enter the wild, woeful and wonderous world of the Baudelaire children and the mysteries surrounding their series of unfortunate events, I encourage readers of all ages to ignore Snicket’s suggestion to shut the books. Indeed, look to these tales, in the words of Snicket, to find a “small, safe place in a troubling world”.

The Series of Unfortunate Events is suitable for children aged 8 to 14.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

Rebecca Wynne-Walsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Scary stories for kids: A Series of Unfortunate Events taught me that grief can’t be understood but can be managed – https://theconversation.com/scary-stories-for-kids-a-series-of-unfortunate-events-taught-me-that-grief-cant-be-understood-but-can-be-managed-267786

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Styliani Panetsidou, Assistant Professor of Finance, Coventry University

When you think about your environmental footprint, what comes to mind first? Maybe the flights you take, the car you drive or whether you choose the train instead. Perhaps it is the plastic you try to avoid, the clothes you buy or the food on your plate. But what about your money – how often do you think about where it is kept and what it supports?

Banks are a part of our everyday lives. We use them to receive salaries, make transactions, pay bills or take out loans and mortgages. Yet behind every transaction lies a financial system that quietly shapes not only our economy but also – less visibly – our planet. The way banks operate can influence which industries thrive, which decline and how businesses affect the environment.

Banks worldwide function on what is called “fractional reserve banking”. Under this system, when we make a deposit the money is not simply stored in a vault. Banks use most deposits to issue loans – for housing, businesses or infrastructure – keeping only a small portion as reserves.

Some central banks require a fraction of the deposits to be held as minimum reserves, but many countries, including the UK and the US no longer impose such a requirement. As a result, banks decide how much of the deposits they will hold as reserves while the remainder facilitates lending to borrowers.

But decisions about lending are powerful. Since banks can decide where credit goes, they can also influence where new money enters the economy. To put it simply, lending for housing can expand the property market, financing renewable energy can support low-carbon infrastructure, while funding coal mines or oil and gas extraction may risk locking in future carbon emissions over decades.

These choices affect which sectors see lower borrowing costs and greater capital flows. Banks serve as stewards of economic growth and, as such, as stewards of environmental impact.

Yet a large share of bank lending goes to carbon-intensive sectors. For example, between 2021 and 2024, the 65 largest banks worldwide have allocated around US$3.29 trillion (£2.45 trillion) to fossil fuels, compared to about US$1.37 trillion to sustainable power including solar, wind and related infrastructure.

Similarly, BloombergNEF’s recent Energy Supply Banking Ratio shows that for every dollar that the world’s leading banks invest in oil, natural gas or coal, only 89 cents are invested in low-carbon energy companies. Even in the face of the climate crisis, green financing still lags behind.

Does it matter where we bank?

Banks have traditionally favoured fossil fuel projects due to the sector’s strong profitability and reliable credit ratings. However, as more capital flows into renewable projects, it could accelerate the low-carbon transition, reducing financing costs and lowering perceived risks.

With this in mind, perhaps it is time to consider whether the bank we select could subtly influence environmental outcomes.

Individuals might feel small compared with the might of the banking sector, but they really could influence these dynamics through their choices. Most people would assume that their deposits play only a minor role, but collectively they represent vast sums of money.

To illustrate this, in August 2025 alone, UK households’ deposits with banks and building societies increased by £5.4 billion, following a net increase of £7.1 billion in July 2025. These deposits would include funds in current accounts, savings accounts and ISAs.

The sums involved are huge, yet our banking decisions are rarely framed as environmental ones – even though they are part of the broader system that directs capital flows. Each depositor’s choice contributes, however modestly, to the overall pattern of where credit flows.

An individual account may not shift global outcomes on its own. But many small choices, made by millions of people over time, can shape incentives and expectations. Understanding how banks operate, what they finance and how transparent they are, is another way our financial decisions intersect with climate realities.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How banks affect the environment and the role your money plays in it – https://theconversation.com/how-banks-affect-the-environment-and-the-role-your-money-plays-in-it-267661

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Darren Rhodes, Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology and Environmental Temporal Cognition Lab Director, Keele University, Keele University

Continuous sleep is a modern habit, not an evolutionary constant, which helps explain why many of us still wake at 3am and wonder if something’s wrong. It might help to know that this is a deeply human experience.

For most of human history, a continuous eight-hour snooze was not the norm. Instead, people commonly slept in two shifts each night, often called a “first sleep” and “second sleep.” Each of these sleeps lasted several hours, separated by a gap of wakefulness for an hour or more in the middle of the night. Historical records from Europe, Africa, Asia and beyond describe how, after nightfall, families would go to bed early, then wake around midnight for a while before returning to sleep until dawn.

Breaking the night into two parts probably changed how time felt. The quiet interval gave nights a clear middle, which can make long winter evenings feel less continuous and easier to manage.

The midnight interval was not dead time; it was noticed time, which shapes how long nights are experienced. Some people would get up to tend to chores like stirring the fire or checking on animals. Others stayed in bed to pray or contemplate dreams they’d just had. Letters and diaries from pre-industrial times mention people using the quiet hours to read, write or even socialise quietly with family or neighbours. Many couples took advantage of this midnight wakefulness for intimacy.

Literature from as far back as ancient Greek poet Homer and Roman poet Virgil contains references to an “hour which terminates the first sleep,” indicating how commonplace the two-shift night was.

How we lost the ‘second sleep’

The disappearance of the second sleep happened over the past two centuries due to profound societal changes. Artificial lighting is one of them. In the 1700s and 1800s, first oil lamps, then gas lighting, and eventually electric light, began turning night into more usable waking time. Instead of going to bed shortly after sunset, people started staying up later into the evening under lamplight.

Biologically, bright light at night also shifted our internal clocks (our circadian rhythm) and made our bodies less inclined to wake after a few hours of sleep. Light timing matters. Ordinary “room” light before bedtime suppresses and delays melatonin, which pushes the onset of sleep later.

The Industrial Revolution transformed not just how people worked but how they
slept. Factory schedules encouraged a single block of rest. By the early 20th century, the idea of eight uninterrupted hours had replaced the centuries-old rhythm of two sleeps.

In multi-week sleep studies that simulate long winter nights in darkness and remove clocks or evening light, people in lab studies often end up adopting two sleeps with a calm waking interval. A 2017 study of a Madagascan agricultural community without electricity found people still mostly slept in two segments, rising at about midnight.

Long, dark winters

Light sets our internal clock and influences how fast we feel time passing. When those cues fade, as in winter or under artificial lighting, we drift.

In winter, later and weaker morning light makes circadian alignment harder. Morning light is particularly important for regulating circadian rhythms because it contains a higher amount of blue light, which is the most effective wavelength for stimulating the body’s production of cortisol and suppressing melatonin.

In time-isolation labs and cave studies, people have lived for weeks without natural light or clocks, or even lived in constant darkness. Many people in these studies miscounted the passing of days, showing how easily time slips without light cues.

Similar distortions occur in the polar winter, where the absence of sunrise and sunset can make time feel suspended. People native to high latitudes, and long-term residents with stable routines, often cope better with polar light cycles than short-term visitors, but this varies by population and context. Residents adapt better when their community shares a regular daily schedule, for instance. And a 1993 study of Icelandic populations and their descendants who emigrated to Canada found these people showed unusually low winter seasonal affective disorder (SAD) rates. The study suggested genetics may help this population cope with the long Arctic winter.

Research from the Environmental Temporal Cognition Lab at Keele University, where I am the director, shows how strong this link between light, mood and time perception is. In 360-degree virtual reality, we matched UK and Sweden scenes for setting, light level cues, and time of day. Participants viewed six clips of about two minutes. They judged the two minute intervals as lasting longer in evening or low-light scenes compared with daytime or brighter scenes. The effect was strongest in those participants who reported low mood.

A new perspective on insomnia

Sleep clinicians note that brief awakenings are normal, often appearing at stage transitions, including near REM sleep, which is associated with vivid dreaming. What matters is how we respond.

The brain’s sense of duration is elastic: anxiety, boredom, or low light tend to make time stretch, while engagement and calm can compress it. Without that interval where you got up and did something or chatted with your partner, waking at 3am often makes time feel slow. In this context, attention focuses on time and the minutes that pass may seem longer.

Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) advises people to leave bed after about 20 minutes awake, do a quiet activity in dim light such as reading, then return when sleepy.

Sleep experts also suggest covering the clock and letting go of time measurement when you’re struggling to sleep. A calm acceptance of wakefulness, paired with an understanding of how our minds perceive time, may be the surest way to rest again.

Darren Rhodes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why we used to sleep in two segments – and how the modern shift changed our sense of time – https://theconversation.com/why-we-used-to-sleep-in-two-segments-and-how-the-modern-shift-changed-our-sense-of-time-267909