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Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

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Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#91

Post by trickle_learn »

DanBC wrote: post #3

I think the article points out a useful fallacy: that polyphasic sleep means you can get away with less sleep. We should probably move away from trying to get less sleep, and move toward getting better sleep. This may reduce our waking hours, but would make those hours more productive. Having 18 hours a day available isn't much help if you're a tired confused angry mess. > Polyphasic sleep purportedly had famous prac…

Good point! I actually mention Ekirch in a separate post. I'd call what he's talking about "biphasic," because people in that time slept in two phases. I personally prefer biphasic to involve an afternoon nap.

https://trickle.app/drip/23814-sleep-of-pre-industrial-commu...

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#92

Post by trickle_learn »

FirefoxIsSlow wrote: post #12

Does biphasic sleep count as polyphasic? I've been doing it for years following the 6 hr core and 20 minute nap. (Basically this https://efficiencyiseverything.com/sleep/ ) It's been extremely doable for over a year. Sure I sleep in when I'm hungover or on a lazy Saturday, but it's closer to a regular 8 hour sleep rather than 10 hours. I'm not in agreement of this overly simple article.

Thanks for the feedback. I can see the argument that polyphasic sleep is anything more than one monophasic block of sleep. In practice though, I'd say most people differentiate between a biphasic schedule and a polyphasic one.

Napping is absolutely sustainable. Trying to reduce total sleep time by sleeping in small bursts throughout the day and night does not appear to be sustainable over long periods.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#93

Post by kren »

urxvtcd wrote: post #81
kren wrote: post #42

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 vivi…

I also tried uberman some years ago, I don't remember how many days I lasted but I'd guess between 5 and 10. It was amazing that I was able to fall asleep, have a dream and wake up before an alarm, and feel refreshed. But still, I was severely sleep-deprived, I was starting to hallucinate, and I gave up. I was sensing some presence in the room, I knew it wasn't real, but I got scared as shit and decided to fall aslee…

Haha, yeah 10 days is when it is the hardest, actually, and it gets slightly easier once the body adjusts after that. But hallucinating sounds no good!

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#94

Post by kren »

swader999 wrote: post #56
kren wrote: post #42

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 vivi…

Tried it as well with similar experience. Concluded that it sort of works but I didn't feel my concentration was superior on it. Socially it's terrible. If you miss your scheduled 20 minute nap every four hours it's devastating.

Yeah, it was always weird gaming with friends and then being like "be back in 20..."

I'd always return with them asking how the nap was and I'd always say it wasn't enough...haha

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#95

Post by codr7 »

scandox wrote: post #74
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…

Everybody's situation is different but in our case we did sleep training around 4 months and we had whole night sleep from then on - with a few minor regressions and a bit more training. My wife found letting the baby cry out very difficult so I did have to be quite firm about it... But my daughter is 8 now and doesn't seem the worse for it ... As far as I can tell. Edit: only mentioning this in case anyone is in des…

Sleep training, so that's what they call it now.

My mom tells me it was standard practice back when I was born, they used to say it was good for their lungs as well, but she couldn't do it either.

They will eventually shut down in self-defense to escape the terror of being abandoned by their parents.

All I can say is it doesn't sound like a very good idea to me, no matter how convenient.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#96

Post by kgwxd »

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…

You probably weren't getting much "good" sleep time. I know the anxiety of anticipating when the next wake up is going to be, it's like trying to sleep with one eye open.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#97

Post by dhruvkar »

codr7 wrote: post #95
scandox wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody's situation is different but in our case we did sleep training around 4 months and we had whole night sleep from then on - with a few minor regressions and a bit more training. My wife found letting the baby cry out very difficult so I did have to be quite firm about it... But my daughter is 8 now and doesn't seem the worse for it ... As far as I can tell. Edit: only mentioning this in case anyone is in des…

Sleep training, so that's what they call it now. My mom tells me it was standard practice back when I was born, they used to say it was good for their lungs as well, but she couldn't do it either. They will eventually shut down in self-defense to escape the terror of being abandoned by their parents. All I can say is it doesn't sound like a very good idea to me, no matter how convenient.

We've attempted this with our daughter several times from 6 to almost 10 months now.

Just can't do it, it feels wrong. Obviously not science-based, but we haven't been able to do it for more than a few days at a time.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#98

Post by alessivs »

tom_mellior wrote: post #70
alessivs wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Experimenting with any non-monophasic sleep pattern sounds exhausting and I'm afraid could have serious health impacts I assume you speak for yourself. Biphasic sleep is not an abnormal occurrence and actually quite embedded in some non-anglo cultures (e.g. late afternoon opening times). Even when occurring naturally, it isn't extravagant to be aware of provisions so that nap time doesn't cause a naturally avoidabl…

> I assume you speak for yourself. Biphasic sleep is not an abnormal occurrence and actually quite embedded in some non-anglo cultures I think you misunderstood the parent, and your reaction seems a bit confrontational. Surely the parent wasn't suggesting that a good night's sleep plus an afternoon nap "sounds exhausting" and "could have serious health impacts". They were talking about patterns that do not include a…

Ah, that's an understandable interpretation, but my response was not meant to be unnecessarily confrontational. If anything, the closing sentence was an admission that, while we seem wired to sleep mono or biphasically and maintain good health, a poorly executed second sleep block had the potential to compromise it, and that there were provisions that in my judgment were worth knowing.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#99

Post by leesec »

smabie wrote: post #71
leesec wrote: post #31

Used to work on a cement tugboat, 12 hour days 28 days a time. Unfortunately, it wasn't 12 on 12 off, it was 6 x 6 x 6 x 6. Meaning you could rarely get more than 4.5 hours of sleep at one time for the whole hitch. Depending on if the Captain had it out for you or what your route demanded, your sleep schedule could be even more irregular. It felt unsustainable to me. You'd come off the boat a zombie, and in just 12 d…

Why couldn't you just work 12 hour shifts instead of 6 hour ones? Honestly, 6 hours on, 6 off sounds like complete hell to me.

Yeah why anything? Many of the policies on the boat seemed solely to punish the employee. Some boats had it 12 x 12, some boats even had 4 x 8 x 4 x 8, which is just a normal 8 hour day. But not my boat.

I lasted less than a year, it was also hell to me.

Re: Polyphasic sleep takes napping to the extreme

#100

Post by leesec »

audiometry wrote: post #65
leesec wrote: post #31

Used to work on a cement tugboat, 12 hour days 28 days a time. Unfortunately, it wasn't 12 on 12 off, it was 6 x 6 x 6 x 6. Meaning you could rarely get more than 4.5 hours of sleep at one time for the whole hitch. Depending on if the Captain had it out for you or what your route demanded, your sleep schedule could be even more irregular. It felt unsustainable to me. You'd come off the boat a zombie, and in just 12 d…

A tugboat made out of cement? A tugboat that delivers cement?

Yeah a tug and barge that hauls around cement.
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