Could Tudor sleep tips fix your insomnia? Here’s what they got right (and wrong)
What did the people of the early modern period, including the Tudors, believe about sleep?
If you ever have trouble sleeping – as many people do – you might consider seeking the assistance of a book. Or perhaps, a new mattress, or fancy blackout curtains.
One method you likely haven’t tried is putting a cold apple on your head. But, centuries ago, the Tudors and other people of early modern Britain believed that this was an effective sleeping aid.
The apple on the head is only one part of a much broader – and deeper – school of thought about how to achieve the best sleep. People in Tudor and early modern Britain treated good rest as something that needed conscious preparation, discipline and care. And, the fact is, much of their thinking still has value today.
“I do think we can learn about sleep hygiene from the early modern period,” says Professor Sasha Handley, “partly because sleep was a much more prominent concern in day-to-day life.”
So what did the Tudors do when they couldn’t sleep? Speaking on the Life Lessons From History series of the HistoryExtra podcast, Handley explains their tips and tricks, and sets out how they align – and misalign – with modern thinking
“People’s sleeping habits were part of an interconnected ecosystem of lifestyle habits that were meant to keep the body healthy and prevent illness,” Handley explains. “Sleep was one of six lifestyle behaviours widely identified by physicians, medical practitioners, and ordinary people as things they had to take regular care of in order to stay healthy in the long term.”
“It’s part of this preventative healthcare culture that we don’t really have anymore,” Handley says.
As well as dictating the value of sleep, this culture also shaped where people slept, what they slept on, what they ate before bed, and what they did when they woke in the night.
No such thing as a modern bedroom
One of the biggest differences from modern life is spatial.
“The word ‘bedroom’ is not used terribly often,” Handley notes. That is partly because beds were not usually confined to a room used only for sleep.
“Depending on how rich or poor you were, you were likely to be sleeping in a room that had multiple purposes,” Handley says. In early modern households, especially modest ones, rooms often had several functions. A bed might stand in a space used for cooking, eating, working and receiving visitors. Many households consisted of just one or two rooms, making separation of activities impractical.
Meanwhile, “those with more money could afford to separate out a particular room for sleep,” Handley explains.
That meant experiences varied sharply across the social scale. A servant lying close to the floor in a busy household space certainly didn’t experience sleep in the same way as a noblewoman in a carefully arranged chamber.
Naturally then, beds themselves became markers of wealth, hierarchy and respectability.
“The wealthiest often had very lavish beds,” Handley says. “One of the most interesting features is how many mattresses they had. The Duchess of Lauderdale, for example, had six mattresses stacked on her bed.”
This was partly about comfort, but not only that. Height itself signalled importance. “It was generally accepted that the higher your bed was off the floor, the more important you were. Beds lower to the floor were associated with illness from damp and with lower social status.”
That social meaning is especially clear in the truckle bed. “A truckle bed, for example, was used by servants,” Handley explains. It was a low bed on wheels, often stored beneath a master’s larger bed and pulled out at night so a servant could remain nearby if needed.
“These beds were very low to the floor,” she says, “and the word ‘truckling’ means to be subservient.”
Herbs, scent and the problem of temperature
Early modern sleepers also paid close attention to the sensory world around the bed.
“A mattress stuffed with straw and hops was surprisingly comfortable,” Handley says. Hops were commonly used in pillows because “their scent was thought to help relaxation at bedtime”. Hops were also used in brewing beer, and their mild sedative properties were widely noted in early modern herbals.
“There is also evidence of various herbs being used to calm the body and, crucially, to cool it down.”
That concern with temperature is particularly notable, because it aligns with one of the core tenants of modern sleep science: a slight drop in body temperature helps prepare the body for sleep.
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To encourage that cooling effect, people used scented plants and flowers in the sleeping space. “They used rose petals to scent bedchambers and plants believed to promote a cooling atmosphere. Water lilies, for example, were popular.”
Also aligning with modern sleep science was the idea that achieving good sleep began hours before actually being in bed.
“People were advised to have a light supper and to avoid rich foods such as heavy beef or sweet wines, which were thought to disrupt sleep,” Handley says.
Again, the reasoning came from medical ideas about digestion and bodily balance. Heavy or rich foods were believed to burden the body and interfere with rest. Digestion was thought to generate internal heat, which could disturb the balance of humours and make sleep more difficult. But the basic principle – that late, rich eating can make sleep harder – does resonate with modern advice.
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Prayer, fear and waking in the night
The broader lesson is that sleep was treated as something to consciously prepare for, and that involved getting into bed in a state of calm.
“Some of the most important bedtime practices involved meditation,” Handley explains. For most people, this meant prayer. Religious practice structured much of daily life in Tudor England, and the night was often seen as a spiritually vulnerable time.
This was usually done quietly, either kneeling at the bedside or once in bed. People might read a familiar prayer, devise their own words, or contemplate religious images in their surroundings.
“Bedtime prayer was important because people were genuinely concerned about what might happen during the night,” Handley says. “They believed the Devil’s power was strongest at night and sought protection through prayer, asking God to keep them safe until morning.”
When sleep was disrupted, early modern people reached for strategies that still sound familiar.
“There is also evidence of poor sleep during periods of stress, financial worry, or when there were young children in the household,” Handley says. “In that sense, they were not very different from us.”
People kept books at the bedside, including the Book of Common Prayer, which contained prayers for waking in the night. They might also use prayer beads or other repetitive devotional practices to help to calm the mind.
This is still good advice today. However some Tudor tips were rooted in medical theories that modern science certainly wouldn’t support.
Handley notes that “some sources recommend placing a cold apple on the head to help induce sleep”, because apples were considered soporific.
Nevertheless, early modern sleep culture got several things broadly right.
It recognised that routine, body temperature, the sleeping environment, and the state of mind all could impact one’s sleep for better and worse. Modern sleep science might explain the reasoning behind these points differently, but would concur with many of the conclusions.
Sasha Handley was speaking to David Musgrove on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to the full conversation.
Authors
James Osborne is a senior content producer at HistoryExtra