Polyphasic sleep

[Raptor]

Polyphasic sleep involves taking multiple short sleep periods throughout the day instead of getting all your sleep in one long chunk. A popular form of polyphasic sleep, the Uberman sleep schedule, suggests that you sleep 20-30 minutes six times per day, with equally spaced naps every 4 hours around the clock. This means you’re only sleeping 2-3 hours per day. I’d previously heard of polyphasic sleep, but until now I hadn’t come across practical schedules that people seem to be reporting interesting results with.

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I wondered if anyone has more information about this? I've done some brief reading about it and so far I haven't read anything credible to say it's dangerous or has any negative effects on your health. I know that sleep deprivation itself is harmful, but like I said I can't find anything to say that this timetable results in sleep deprivation.

[GreyWeather]

seems horrible for the duration of the beginning, but then gets goes back up when you have adjusted.

but for me, my poly~ sleep suits me just fine

[coldethyl]

I think it's a hotly debated subject. I found this:

Critics have expressed concern that the ways in which polyphasic sleep limits actual sleep time, restricts time spent in peripheral stages of the sleep cycle, and disrupts the circadian rhythm of the body will eventually cause subjects to suffer the same negative effects as with most forms of sleep deprivation, such as decreased mental and physical ability, increased stress and anxiety, and weakened immune system. There is a lack of controlled study documenting the negative side effects, but critics point to journals kept by subjects who have difficulty waking at specific intervals without oversleeping as anecdotal evidence that the pattern is unsustainable.

Advocates of polyphasic sleep often claim that the procedure boosts their alertness, but skeptics question whether this alertness is related to the sleep pattern or whether increased adrenaline and cortisol is gained from eagerness to succeed in their polyphasic experiment and their other productive pursuits. A study published in the Journal of Sleep Research in September of 2002 concerning the effects of napping on productivity found that 10-minute naps tended to improve productivity more than longer naps, which may suggest that the onset of sleep is not the cause of the increased alertness.

Polyphasic sleep is also thought to increase REM sleep, but it may also be likely to upregulate slow-wave sleep, causing a polyphasic sleeper to gain less REM sleep in a given period of time than with standard sleep patterns. Different sleep patterns may also give varied results (polyphasic sleeper Steve Pavlina reported dissatisfaction with the 6-hour interval, 30-minute nap variation [2]).

Most polyphasic sleepers tend to claim that the most difficult aspect of the sleep pattern to overcome is the social aspect, as the work hours of modern careers generally do not allow for the required nap periods at regular intervals. Personal accounts indicate that missing even one nap can cause heavy drowsiness, and thus even successful polyphasic sleepers often revert to monophasic sleep to accommodate their schedules.

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