Summary
According to historical sources, the term, “night watching” had a different connotation from that which we assign to it today. The author presents historical data, as well as modern sleep research, leading to a recommendation that the rubric “night watching” in our repertories be reclassified as waking in the middle of the night, and any references to wakefulness caused by nursing the sick be changed to a new rubric.
KEYWORDS
Night watching - Sleep disorders - Insomnia - Linguistics - Ailments from nursing others - Sleeplessness - Pre-industrial society
