polyphasic sleep patterns

brianthebard

Who here has heard of this before? Anyone tried it? I read an interesting article about it before and it seems like a good idea (or at least an interesting experiment) if you can find the right schedule. thoughts?

kdouglas

I've attempted it a couple of times back when I was in college, pulled a lot of late nights in those days (less than two years ago, i'm sounding old already) and anything that gave me more time to work on projects was always good. I also somewhat enjoyed the feeling of being up late/all night when the rest of the world was asleep.

I tried to do the full uberman sleep schedule a couple of times (20 mins every 4 hours), but never succesfully switched over completely, my main downfall was trying to find somewhere to sleep during the day.

If you are going to try it, I would thoroughly recommend taking about a week or two off from work or whatever to get into it, for the first few days you are going to be quite tired, and for several days after that you will be quite sleep deprived until such times as your body adjusts. At the same time though, you'll need something to keep you active and entertained all night, for me I was doing alot of programming stuff for college and this was grand most of the time, but always make sure to back up anything that you work on because your mind can go a bit funny after a few days with no sleep

Watching tv to keep you awake wont work, it'll just make you fall asleep. Eat plenty of fruit. Avoid the temptation to drink stimulants, red bull, coffee, tea, anything designed to keep you awake or with strong amounts of caffeine as these will only make you more tired when they wear off. Drink plenty of water. No alcohol for the first while at least because you'll just pass out. Once you've become accustomed to the cycle you have more flexibility, but for the first while, keep as strictly to the schedule as you can, even if you are not falling asleep, at the very least lie down for the 20 or 30 mins that you are supposed to sleep for, it helps get your body to adjust.

brianthebard

Cheers for the info and advice. I also enjoy that feeling of working while everyone is asleep. I will hopefully be moving to my new apartment a few weeks before uni starts so I can try and adjust to it then, and see how it goes. I won't be trying the 20 mins every 4 hours either, I was thinking of going to bed round 2 or 3, then getting up at 6 or 7, and then later in the day, a nap, for an hour or two, round 6 or 8? It will all depend on my schedule tbh. It sounds like a mad question, but in this context, is that too much sleep? I've noticed I function as well and for almost as long on five or six hours sleep as I do eight, and that anything more than eight usually leaves me more sleepy for longer after getting up. However I've never really tried to keep to five or six hours for more than a few days before, with the possible exception of final exams fortnight! As far as watching tv or finding ways to keep occupied, I'll either be productive in some sense or I won't be up, I don't plan to do it for the hell of it. What do you think, is there anything else I need to consider?

kdouglas

Quite commonly that's the easier method of polyphasic sleeping, the key seems to be consistency so that your body get's into the rhythm of it. So if your planning on sleeping say 5 hours total a day, make it 3-7am and 6-7pm or whatever suits your schedule, i'd imagine you'd have a bit more flexibility with the evening nap than with the 20mins every 4 hours method, but honestly I wouldn't bother with 2 hours in the evening, 1 hour would be enough.

It might also be a good idea to try to figure out your natural sleep cycle, there was a watch I remember seeing which would monitor your sleep (primarily through heart rate I think) and would be able to tell you how long your natural sleep cycle was (generally it's around 90-120 mins which goes from light sleep right down to REM and back up again, this is repeated over and over throughout the night), once you know this, you should plan your sleep in multiples of that period, that way you're not trying to wake your body when your in the deepest stages of sleep, this is a good idea regardless of whether you sleep polyphasic or monophasic and will help you feel more refreshed and alert when you wake up. Ever get woken by your alarm clock and feel wrecked? You likely were woken during one of the deeper stages.

I used to read quite a bit about this, but haven't done so in quite a while, and tbh just thinking about it now is making me realise how messed up I've allowed my sleep pattern to become, really should get it back in order

brianthebard

thanks again for all the info, might look into that watch, I've always felt that prescribing everyone eight hours sleep doesn't make sense.

Black Swan

Polyphasic? A condition that may be caused by:

• Coffeehouse addiction - hanging out late drinking java with friends, solving the world's problems, then unable to sleep, but continually nodding out during the day
• Exam cram - trying to squeeze as much into your black box before exams, then tossing and turning in your bed stressed out
• Chat obsession - IMs and PMs with someone attractive & losing track of time, catching a nap, only to return to pick up where you left off

kdouglas

It's not a condition if it's something you intentionally seek out. Many polyphasic sleepers have reported that they feel much more alert and less tired than when sleeping monophasic, and yet they have much more free time compared to most people.

The only main problem I personally have with it (aside from the physical and mental discipline required to start doing it) is that social problems it causes, having to nap every 4 hours has to be built into your plans if you're going out with friends or whatever. That's one reason I'd most likely do a 30-40mins every 6 hours schedule if I attempt it again, I think this would give more flexibility for social activities.

Of course during the initial transition period, forget about doing much