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Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

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Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#41

Post by whymauri »

I maintained a pseudo-polyphasic schedule for two years during high school. I think it went like this:

2:00 or 3:00 AM - 6:00 AM (three to four hours)

6:20 AM - 7:20 AM transit (one hour)

At least three 10- to 20-minute naps throughout the school day. I negotiated with my teachers to make this acceptable. One pre-lunch nap, one around lunch hours, and one after.

2:20 PM - 3:20 PM transit (one hour)

8:30 PM - 9:30 PM transit or at home (one hour)

I was dual-enrolling at the local college at the time for night classes. I was productive, but it was awful, and I wouldn't recommend it. It became a (benign) running joke at my school that I was more likely to be asleep than awake.

I got 7-8 hours of sleep, but it's nothing compared to sleeping like normal. Any disruption to my schedule was absolutely fatal for my productivity.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#42

Post by kren »

I attempted uberman on two separate occasions and had to stop in fear that lack of sleep would permanently damage my brain. I was able to hit rem every nap after 2-3 weeks but never recovered on sleep within the 30 day transition period. I'm pretty sure it is because it is much easier if you are a vegetarian since eating meat is so heavy and messes with your sleep.

It was a neat experience though. I had the most vivid lucid dreams, flying and doing whatever I could imagine. The rem naps would seemingly last 90 minutes even though my alarm would wake me after 20. The days meshed together and felt surreal. I enjoyed it but I feel like I'd have to give up meat to realistically achieve uberman.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#43

Post by nradov »

nijaru wrote: post #26
corty wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't make sense to me, siesta wastes precious daylight. If anything, the availability of light at night should have promoted daytime sleep, if there was any influence.

Growing up somewhere with a Mediterranean climate that has hot summers, I’ve always assumed it was to sleep through the heat before a/c was invented.

How can people sleep during the hottest part of the day? I've never been able to manage that.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#44

Post by krustyburger »

whymauri wrote: post #41

I maintained a pseudo-polyphasic schedule for two years during high school. I think it went like this: 2:00 or 3:00 AM - 6:00 AM (three to four hours) 6:20 AM - 7:20 AM transit (one hour) At least three 10- to 20-minute naps throughout the school day. I negotiated with my teachers to make this acceptable. One pre-lunch nap, one around lunch hours, and one after. 2:20 PM - 3:20 PM transit (one hour) 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM…

What made you do this? Was it to gain an academic advantage?

I don’t mean to sound judgmental; I honestly find this fascinating.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#45

Post by rsfern »

tomc1985 wrote: post #40

20 minute naps? That seems like barely enough time to lose consciousness let alone get any kind of REM sleep.

20 minute power naps are awesome if you can get the timing right. I usually use an alarm, because if I nap much longer than 20 minutes then coming out of deep sleep leaves me feeling super disoriented.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#46

Post by kccqzy »

ghettoimp wrote: post #29
ashtonkem wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biphasic and triphasic are actually pretty normal, historically. Modern humans go to bed super late compared to our pre-electricity brethren; most people the world over would go to bed super early and have a “first” and “second” sleep, plus maybe an afternoon nap. You’ll notice this effect if you go camping. The moment the sun goes down you’ll crash much sooner than you would at home, and you might find yourself full…

> Biphasic and triphasic are actually pretty normal, historically. Is there evidence of this? I'm not doubting - I think I've seen this suggested before. I just don't know how people figured this out?

Biphasic sleep is pretty common in Asian cultures. An afternoon nap is common in pre-schools and elementary schools, less common but still not non-existent in higher education and the workplace.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#47

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

monkeydreams wrote: post #37
bonniemuffin wrote: post #5

Having recently experienced raising an infant, let me tell you, getting all my sleep in I was getting what this article suggests would be a viable polyphasic sleep schedule (total of 8 hours per 24 hour period, in chunks of 1-2 hours throughout the day and night whenever the baby slept), but I started hallucinating, got deeply depressed, and felt like I was losing touch with reality. All the symptoms vanished as soon…

> getting all my sleep in I can sympathise with this. My son spent about 18 months (from 4 months old onwards) only sleeping 45 -50 minutes at a time, before waking up crying. It felt like every aspect of our lives at that point was outside of our control and any attempt to organise ourselves or to co-ordinate outside assistance (in the form of family, friends, medical intervention) was an ordeal beyond our mental ca…

> He went from 45 minute sleep to 6 hour sleep in the course of two days.

That must have been the happiest days of your life!

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#48

Post by whymauri »

krustyburger wrote: post #44
whymauri wrote: post #41

I maintained a pseudo-polyphasic schedule for two years during high school. I think it went like this: 2:00 or 3:00 AM - 6:00 AM (three to four hours) 6:20 AM - 7:20 AM transit (one hour) At least three 10- to 20-minute naps throughout the school day. I negotiated with my teachers to make this acceptable. One pre-lunch nap, one around lunch hours, and one after. 2:20 PM - 3:20 PM transit (one hour) 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM…

What made you do this? Was it to gain an academic advantage? I don’t mean to sound judgmental; I honestly find this fascinating.

I had to transit anyways, and I found it hard to work in transit. In hindsight, I had terrible sleeping habits, and eventually, it forced me to start taking naps wherever I could. A schedule materialized organically and became the norm when I gained the trust of my instructors.

And yeah, it was for a competitive advantage. Not within my school, but for college. I didn't understand how college or scholarships worked until my 10th year, which meant that I had to become competitive much quicker than other applicants.

On a side note, the worst periods were phasing in-and-out of schedule during winter and summer break (I worked a 9-to-5 on breaks), which I did three or four times.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#49

Post by krustyburger »

whymauri wrote: post #48
krustyburger wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What made you do this? Was it to gain an academic advantage? I don’t mean to sound judgmental; I honestly find this fascinating.

I had to transit anyways, and I found it hard to work in transit. In hindsight, I had terrible sleeping habits, and eventually, it forced me to start taking naps wherever I could. A schedule materialized organically and became the norm when I gained the trust of my instructors. And yeah, it was for a competitive advantage. Not within my school, but for college. I didn't understand how college or scholarships worked u…

You really put yourself through a wringer at a tender age. Not to sound flippant, but I doubt many people would be capable of that. Congratulations on surviving what you put yourself through. I hope your habits are more ordinary these days.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#50

Post by themodelplumber »

deelawn wrote: post #8

I did tried my best to keep to the dymaxion schedule (thirty minute nap every six hours) in college for about two months for a blogging assignment. The first two weeks were pretty terrible but it got better after that. I can confirm what was written in the article, that oversleeping or missing one of those naps would be disastrous for continuing to keep the schedule. On a positive note, I was more productive during t…

I wonder if that productivity effect is part of what enabled Fuller's gift of gab. I noticed that when I really need to bust through a lot of outward-facing sensory or communicative tasks, a sleep deficit is very helpful. For example I posted a personal-record number of blog posts while working on little sleep--to the point that some blog readers emailed me and asked how I did it. I found it hard to recommend the procedure because there were big tradeoffs in other ways, like a deep sense of inner resilience and confidence that only returned in strength when I was rested up again.
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