About the project

‘Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World’ was a four-year project from 2021 to 2025 funded by the Wellcome Trust. It explored an environmental approach to the history of sleep care.

This project was the first to define and analyse sleep habits as historically-situated environmental practices. It investigated how and why communities in Britain, Ireland and England’s emerging American colonies c.1500-1750 engaged with their physical surroundings in an effort to sleep well and safeguard their health.

The project uncovered an environmentally informed culture of ‘sleep care’, its conceptual underpinnings, and its manifestation in a range of everyday ‘sleep care’ practices. These ranged from the preparation of soporific tonics to the composition of bedding materials. It demonstrated that ‘sleeping well’ involved much more than simply avoiding sleep disorders or coping with sleep loss.

A range of research impact activities resulted from the project. You can read more about this work here.