The most disruptive and threatening period for Britons in the last century was the time of the Blitz, when bombs rained down across the country sending families fleeing into shelters. How on earth did people sleep during this ongoing assault? We asked historian Phil Lewis to shed some light on how we reacted during this dark hour.
During the period of the Blitz it seems likely that there was great difficulty in setting a definite routine in going to bed at a set time. Air Raids tended to start at different times and it depended on whether you went to a public shelter or took refuge in a domestic shelter such as the Anderson (an outdoor shelter normally erected in your garden) or Morrison (indoor metal cage) types.
It is not certain how much lighting would remain on in public shelters, including the London Underground stations but the majority of domestic shelters relied on candles or lanterns (blackout regulations still had to observed when using these).
When the Blitz started most people found it difficult to get to sleep but after a time they became almost immune to the noise and found that they could sleep during raids. Children and babies found it easier to sleep through the noise except for very loud explosions near to the shelter they were sleeping in.
Most working people could not catch up on missed sleep during the day and were sometimes in a permanent state of tiredness. People at home during the day could sometimes catch up on missed sleep, snatching an hour or two here or there. Civil defence and emergency service personnel had to in many cases get used sleeping in the day to make up for the large number of nights that they were on duty during the Blitz.
Most people wanted to sleep and advertisements offering remedies proliferated. Claims were made for drinks like Horlicks that claimed it could enhance the chances of achieving a deep sleep. It is not recorded how effective any of these remedies were.
Most people would try to sleep (some local authorities issued earplugs) but when this became impossible some people would read, others would play chess, draughts or cards. There might be sing songs or storytelling.
Some lucky people who had a radio with batteries (a rare item) might put it on to pass the time and take their mind off the bombing outside. In some shelters even concerts and short plays were put on.
At the beginning of the Blitz the Mass Observation Unit produced a report on how much sleep people were managing to get. On 12th September 1940 they recorded that 31 per cent of those polled said that they had not slept at all, 32 per cent said for less than 4 hours, 22 per cent for between 4 and 6 hours and only 15 per cent said that they managed 6 hours or more.
The adaptability of humans
