Immersed in a 1940 evening, the creator of Real Vintage Doll House tested a simple method to overcome insomnia and the results are spectacular.
The sleep of the French is in free fall: a quarter of adults sleep less than 6 hours per night (compared to the recommended 7-8 hours) and around 23% of the population (i.e. more than one in five French people) suffer from chronic insomnia, specifically including difficulty falling asleep. Often, it’s because of the omnipresence of screens and blue light, which excite our brain right before bed instead of letting it calm down naturally. But then, why not take inspiration from the good old habits of our grandparents to finally find calm and restorative nights?
Specializing in the historical reconstruction of everyday life, videographer Hannah known under the pseudonym “Real Vintage Dolls House” decided to test the bedtime routine of a woman from the 1940s, a period when the uncertainty of war paradoxically forced citizens to create reassuring habits to cope and forget daily stress.
Concretely, after her day of work, Hannah returns home and starts by preparing her simple, light, plant-based and homemade dinner. “At the time, a lot of garden vegetables and little meat were used to compensate for the restrictions“, she explains in her YouTube video. On the menu, for example, vegetable croquettes, mashed potatoes/carrots or lentils with two eggs. Dinner is eaten early, between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Once finished, she immediately cleans her kitchen and does her dishes. The idea is not to leave any chores for the next morning in order to have a light mind.
She devotes an entire hour to a manual activity that requires concentration but no excitement: she can repair an old object, read a book while listening to vintage records on a phonograph. EShe also suggests writing letters, keeping a journal or doing a puzzle. During this “quiet hour”, she drinks “Horlicks”, a hot drink made from milk (cow or oat), barley malt powder and a touch of honey. “It was the typical sleep elixir of the time.”. She then listens to a comedy radio show at a specific time. Once the show is over, the entertainment stops, which avoids having to be glued to a screen for hours. “Unlike Netflix where you can chain episodes, the radio stopped at a specific time. It’s this “imposed end” that helps you avoid procrastinating going to bed.“, she explains.
She then moves on to personal care, considered at the time essential for morale: she removes her make-up with cold cream and cleans her face with soap, she brushes her hair for a long time (the famous rule of 100 brush strokes) and eShe puts on a long, comfortable nightgown. She prepares her clothes for the next day and uses an oil lamp or very dim light (to imitate the absence of electricity or the curfew).
The results of this experiment were, according to her, spectacular. Hannah says she fell asleep in just 2 minutes, enjoying a night without the nightmares that usually haunt her in times of stress. When she wakes up, she notices not only an unusual feeling of calm, but also an improvement in the condition of her skin, often damaged by eczema. Although she doesn’t plan to give up her smartphone for good, she concludes that our ancestors’ transitional structure remains one of the best remedies for modern exhaustion.
