Polyphasic Sleep
 

So, while perusing the always informative articles on Cracked.com, I found out about polyphasic sleep; that is, dividing your sleeping schedule into several increments throughout the day, thereby awarding yourself more time in the day. The idea behind it is that as your body gets used to the schedule, you'll fall into REM sleep faster and skip the supposedly less important stages of sleep. The most famous schedule is the Uberman sleep schedule, wherein the person sleeps in six 20 minute increments throughout the day at specific times.

Obviously, this isn't especially healthy and there is plenty of room for error, as noted in this rather bitchy article, which also explains many misconceptions about polyphasic sleep which decrease the credibility of some of it's practitioners. However, those who have tried it, most famously the bloggers PureDoxyk (who coined "Uberman") and Steve Pavlina, appear to enjoy it, and seem to mostly quit because it either interferes with their schedules or the find it difficult to fully adapt in a world of monophasic sleep.

On one hand, science doesn't promote this lifestyle. On the other hand, those who have tried it generally loved it. Based on this, I'm planning on trying out polyphasic sleep once this semester ends, though if I'm working on a shoot that might not be possible. Eventually, however, I will try it and blog my findings, even if that does contribute to some feelings on it simply being a meme.

Thoughts? Experiences?

that means only 2hrs every 24hrs?! that seems completely unhealthy. I can barely function on 6hr or less. 7 or more is a good night.

What are the usual gaps? like when are they taken? this means you would have to be self-employed. keep us posted.

There's 3 hours and 40 minutes between each nap, which as time goes by result in falling (almost) directly into REM sleep during their 20 minute durations, which is the most important stage of sleep. There are variations on this, but I'll be trying the Uberman schedule because it's the most commonly talked about polyphasic schedule.

Had a friend who did this for a while.

Hey, seems like a great idea if you can make it work.

I just reckon I'll have a tough time explaining to my clients when I need sneak off for some kip every few hours.

Had a friend who tried it as well for a while.

Did not last, in the end you build up such a sleep-shortage, that your body simply forces you to sleep through any and all kind of alarms you set, in order to set your counter at 0 again.

It's not healthy, but mostly, it's pointless... The rest of the world around you doesn't follow this practice, and in the end, you have some more time during the night, but you lose time during the day, when you could be interacting with people.

In case you're curious:
http://blog.rykus.com/2009/04/05/sle...ent-conclusion

+1 to what Nisses said. Sleep is not something you can cheat your way out of.

The dark circles under my eyes are testament to that :expressionless:

Most people would get "more time" out of their day if they'd only sleep properly to begin with. It's my understanding that most North Americans are at least somewhat sleep deprived.

Some get 5 or 6 hours of sleep but need 7 or 8. Others get a "solid" 6 or 7 but need 8 or 9. Some drink coffee in the evening, or simply too much throughout the day. Some keep erratic sleep schedules.

I imagine many are in denial or are ignorant about this. They'll say, "I can function just fine on six hours." But how do they know what "fine" is if they've been sleep deprived for years?

If you know the amount of sleep you need and you get it, there would be no need for questionable sleep practices to claim more time in your day. You can do that by sleeping as much as you need to (while keeping a consistent sleep schedule), eating a balanced diet, and getting enough exercise. Manage your stress, and then cut out the time wasters in your life. Heck, try to find a 20 minute nap in there somewhere too.

Finally, stand back and look at all the time you have and how much you can accomplish.

How many times have you decided to do or not do something because you "didn't feel like it" or were "too tired"? Think about that.

Well, it's more just an experiment than anything else. I don't expect to use it longterm, but I'm interested in the reported experiences people had with it. Pavlina's specifically intrigues me.

This thread is making me sleepy.

I dicked around with it for a bit. I always had a love/hate relationship with sleep. After a couple week transition, I was on a pretty steady schedule for a few months. I never hit a wall after the transitory period. The real problem was just scheduling. I could not put my sleep schedule above getting some classes that I needed and I lapsed back into my normally erratic sleep patterns.

I think I am a bit out of the norm though as I have never had a "normal" sleep pattern for as long as I can remember. Even when forcing myself to go to bed and get up at "normal" times for months, I would feel worse than I did with a shifting schedule. I think that fact has adapted me to playing with my sleep schedule as I THINK I can deal with lack of sleep better than most.

I have repeatedly considered going back into it but my situation at work has no real good place to nap.

A motivational speaker and a blogger versus the medical community and sleep researchers. I know who I'm siding with. Everyone I know who's tried it, including me, has ditched it after a very short time. You know the feeling you get if you normally sleep 7 hours and only get 3? Imagine feeling and functioning like that if you miss 5 minutes of sleep or have to stay awake for a full 6 hours. Yes, you will get more REM, but replacing several hours a night with 5-10 minutes 6 times a day does not give your brain enough time to do everything it does when you're asleep (and all phases are important.) Your daily routines will be screwed up, your appetite and fitness will suffer, your memory will suffer, and your alertness and concentration at important times will suffer.

I've done bi-phasic sleep very successfully breaking my sleep into about 3.5 hours at night, and about a 1.5 hour nap during the afternoon. The trick is finding out how long you need to sleep - you might need to sleep a bit more or less to cycle properly.

I would never even try six different naps during the day.