Surprisingly, people used to sleep differently than we do today. Here’s a link to an article recently published at the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783. The short of it goes that before the advent of artificial lighting, people would go to sleep a couple of hours after the sun went down. They would then wake up in the middle of the night, staying awake for a couple to three hours. They would then fall back asleep for another few hours or so. This is known as bi-modal or segmented sleep. Scientific research has shown that this mode of sleep is natural to all mammals, and that includes us humans.
I have begun to sleep in this manner, and have noticed a considerable change (for the better) in my overall well-being. The catch is that you have to go to sleep early and avoid artificial lighting after the sun goes down, because it particularly interferes with the kicking-in of your natural circadian sleep rhythm. I use oil lamps at night to read by, and have found that the period “in between sleep” is especially good for prayer and study.
I won’t go on, but I encourage you to do a bit of research on the subject. I think it’s a potential game-changer for anyone.
That makes matins seem much more simple, doable, and reasonable. It was never “interrupting” their sleep in the first place. The monastic life really likes to show up the rest of the world. Avoiding artificial lighting, however, is not quite as simple–though it seems ideal and, therefore, desirable.