Eat, Sleep, Lust, Repeat: Bedtime Routine, Health and Herbals in Early Modern England

Although historians have remarked on the material significance of beds and bedding, and on the importance of getting good night's sleep to health, the importance of beds as spaces of medical care and the expression of sexuality has hitherto been unexplored. Beds, this article suggests, were key sites for the regulation of routine and health in which sex and sleep were key. Drawing on regimens, herbals, manuscript receipt books, casebooks and cheap print, this article uncovers a range of botanical ingredients and processes that early modern householders and medical practitioners used to procure sleep and quench lust.