By Tim Lambert
Sleep in the Ancient World
We all spend a large part of our lives asleep. People have always looked for comfortable places to sleep. It’s thought that the earliest beds consisted of leaves or furs placed on the floor. However, with the invention of farming, people began to sleep on raised platforms. In the Neolithic village at Skara Brae in the Orkneys, stone furniture was found, including stone beds.
In Ancient Egypt, wealthy people slept on raised beds. However, instead of pillows, they used wooden headrests. Ordinary people in Ancient Egypt lived in simple huts and they may have slept on the flat roof when it was hot. The Egyptians also invented folding beds.
In Ancient Greece, rich people lived in large houses with several rooms, often with an upper story. Upstairs were bedrooms. The Greeks reclined on couches (which could also act as beds). The couches were simply wooden frames with rope webbing and mats or rugs laid on top. Poor people rose at sunrise and went to bed at dusk, but the rich lit their homes with olive oil lamps.
The Romans, too, slept on beds. Mattresses were stuffed with feathers, hay, or wool. Wealthy Romans had pillows of straw or feathers.
Medieval and Renaissance Sleep
The Anglo-Saxons lived in wooden huts with thatched roofs. Usually, there was only one room shared by everybody. There were no separate bedrooms.
The Vikings also usually lived in one-room huts. Only wealthy Vikings could afford beds. Most people slept on benches with rugs around the side of the hut. Even if you had a bed, the mattress was not very comfortable; it was stuffed with straw or down. Blankets were made of wool; otherwise, you used furs.
In Saxon times, a rich man and his entire household lived together in one great hall. In the Middle Ages, the great hall was still the centre of a castle, but the lord had his own room above it. This room was called the solar. In it, the lord slept in a bed surrounded by curtains, both for privacy and to keep out drafts. The other members of the lord’s household, such as his servants, all slept in the great hall.
In the late Middle Ages, some better-off people slept in box beds. As the name suggests, they were large wooden boxes with doors. Inside was a mattress. Sleeping inside a large cupboard shielded you from drafts.
In the Middle Ages, peasants slept on straw mattresses. Sometimes they were laid on the floor or on a low wooden platform. The peasants did not have pillows. Instead, they rested their heads on wooden logs. For most people, there was no privacy. Having your own bedroom was a luxury.
Comfortable beds became increasingly common in the 16th century. In a middle-class Tudor home, a mattress was often stuffed with flock (rough wool). Rich people slept in four-poster beds hung with curtains to reduce drafts. They often wore nightgowns. Truckle beds were common in wealthy homes. This was a low bed, on wheels. During the day, it was stored under the main bed. It was pulled out at night. Children or servants slept on truckle beds.
From the 17th century to the early 20th century, people used bed warmers. They were metal pans with lids and long wooden handles. The pan was filled with hot ash and was placed under the bed sheets to warm the bed before use.
The poor had none of these things. They continued to sleep on straw mattresses on low wooden benches or on the floor, without sheets or pillows.
Meanwhile, the Indigenous people of Central America invented hammocks more than 1,000 years ago. The Spanish introduced them to Europe. In the late 16th century, English sailors began sleeping in hammocks.
Modern Sleep
The Industrial Revolution allowed the mass production of beds and mattresses, making them cheaper. Iron beds became common. Beds also became more comfortable. In 1865, Heinrich Westphal invented the coiled spring mattress. Pillows also became cheaper and more common in the 19th century. Sheets also became cheaper and more common.
In the late 19th century, pyjamas became common for men. The word pyjamas comes from the Persian words pay and jama, meaning leg and garment. Women first began to wear pyjamas in the 1920s.
Bedtime drinks were invented. Horlicks was invented by James and William Horlick in 1873. Ovaltine was invented in 1904 by Dr George Wander.
The modern rubber hot water bottle was patented by Eduard Penkala in 1903. The electric blanket was invented in 1912 by Sidney I. Russell.
Fitted sheets were patented by Bertha Berman in 1959. Memory foam mattresses were introduced in 1992. Duvets have been used in parts of Europe for centuries. However, they did not become common in Britain until the 1960s.
Charles Hall invented the modern water bed in 1968.
Meanwhile, Antoine Redier invented the first adjustable, mechanical alarm clock in 1847. The electric alarm clock was invented in 1912. However, until the 20th century, alarm clocks were a luxury. During the 19th century and the early 20th century, many people in Britain relied on ‘knocker-uppers’, people who were paid to knock on your bedroom window with a long stick to wake you up. Sometimes they used pea shooters.
It’s a popular myth that the phrase ‘sleep tight’ is from the days when mattresses were strung on ropes. You tightened the ropes before you got into bed so you could ‘sleep tight’. Indeed, mattresses were once laid on ropes. But the phrase ‘sleep tight’ has nothing to do with that. It was first used in the 19th century, long after people had stopped sleeping on mattresses on ropes. ‘Sleep tight’ meant sleep safe or secure, as in ‘sit tight’.
Lastly, 18 March is World Sleep Day.
Last revised 2026