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An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

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Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#11

Post by Monotoko »

I saw an article that debunks a lot written by a doctor, that might be biased but it's still worth a read: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic2010.htm

Don't get me wrong, I've tried it, and failed like many others before me. I'd tried the uberman method for about 2 weeks before falling, and I didn't feel very productive during that time at all (although there were times that I felt more awake than I ever have done, and time seemed to merge, days didn't exist... it's a weird feeling)

I've now adapted the old version of polyphasic sleep, take a nap in the afternoon and sleep for about 6 hours on a night and it seems to be doing me well :)

But! I am tempted to give the uberman method another try, and I will write about it if anyone would be interested?

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#12

Post by jerf »

xutopia wrote: post #3
googletron wrote: post #2

Just some notes; on what I thought about polyphasic sleeping; I will answer any questions people may have.

It seemed like all the other articles were super positive about it. This one seems more in line with my own experiences. I've settled on a biphasic sleep (5-6 hours + 30-40 nap midday) but only when I can. If I have too much trouble waking up or if I can't take a day nap I sleep like a normal person.

Can you find one of these "super-positive" people that are still doing it after, say, a year?

Honest question, BTW, if you've got a link. I'm not aware of any, though.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#13

Post by stevejalim »

I'm the dad of a five-week old and, give or take a little, this seems pretty much the pattern I had for weeks 0-3. The thing I found most surprising was how I did manage to function after waking, and in a relatively short space of time after waking. The second most surprising thing was how hellish, for me, it felt to be waking after the naps.

Edit: Since about week 4, I've tried to pack more 'regular' sleep in.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#15

Post by jwuphysics »

I've gotten locked into strange sleep cycles simply out of necessity (I am an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon). I've found that, while my body will accept a psuedo-equilibrium of somehow getting ~ 20 hours of sleep a week, it will almost always become unsustainable after 2 weeks... in which I'll need another day or two to recover. But after that (usually I take an entire week off, where I get at least 30 hours of sleep) I go back into my regular routine (note that I have a 105 minute sleep cycle, which is a little longer than most people's:

M3:30 T0:20 W3:30 R0:20 F3:30 S7:00 U3:30

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#16

Post by jdkent »

I had a biphasic schedule about 8 years ago for 9 months. I slept at night from 1:30am to 6:00am and in the afternoon from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. I was never tired. I felt like I had two days in one. It was great. I worked from 7am - 2pm, ate lunch, and went back to sleep. When I woke up at 4:30pm, I had 9 hours of free time until I would sleep next.

I don't have a flexible work schedule like that anymore, and now that I live in San Francisco, the environment is not exactly quiet enough at 3pm for quality sleep.

I recommend trying it out if you have the flexibility. Avoid caffeine. Treat the afternoon sleep time, the same as you would the night time. Block out noise and light. Be consistent. Having two days in one is pretty awesome.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#18

Post by AndyNemmity »

I have a sort of strange sleep schedule.

I work for international teams with no one I work with being on my timezone, I work from home.

So every day my sleep schedule is different. My wake schedule is different. I should record my schedule since it's difficult to remember since it changes every day.

To give some impression, yesterday I had meetings at 2am, 6am, 6pm, and 10pm. Through that I slept, and had social time. I ate and had normal experiences.

They just weren't on any sort of real schedule. Tired? I sleep. Awake? I go do things or work.

Anyone else do this sort thing? So far I don't ever feel "wrong" about the schedule physically, because it's always changing. Now constant change feels right.

Sleep all night tonight? Sure. Wake up at 2am and work till 10 am this night? Sure. Have a meeting a 3am, then sleep till 6am, then work some more? Sure.

I just follow whatever seems like the most reasonably course of action. Including work 10 hours today, and 6 hours the next. Whatever makes sense.

International-Logic-Phasic Sleep. Heh.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#19

Post by piinbinary »

jwuphysics wrote: post #15

I've gotten locked into strange sleep cycles simply out of necessity (I am an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon). I've found that, while my body will accept a psuedo-equilibrium of somehow getting ~ 20 hours of sleep a week, it will almost always become unsustainable after 2 weeks... in which I'll need another day or two to recover. But after that (usually I take an entire week off, where I get at least 30 hou…

I'm curious: how did you figure out your sleep cycle that precisely (105 minutes)? I have been feeling like 90 minutes is not exactly right for me, but I haven't figured out a way to measure my sleep cycle.
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