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An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

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Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#31

Post by pchristensen »

This comes up on HN about once a year. Here's my blog where I wrote about trying it: http://www.pchristensen.com/blog/category/polyphasic/

tl;dr version: - the first 5-7 days are just awful but after that you're not tired - deviating from the schedule (say, staying awake 7 hours one time instead of 4) is devastating - you do feel different and perceive time differently. Kind of like San Diego weather instead of Boston.

Interesting experience, worth a try, I'd do it again in a heartbeat if my home and work schedule accommodated it.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#32

Post by sammyo »

The sailors that cross oceans single-handed use some variant of this. The reports I've read is that the first two days are quite hard to handle but once in the quite issolated routine it works for certain folks.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#33

Post by freehunter »

brokentone wrote: post #21

I experimented with this though college. I found the idea that you could have extra months in your year amazing. But I could never stick with it for more than a couple days at a time. It was primarily this that kept kicking me off: "I also have a theory about just being conscience that long, you start to lose a sense of time there is no finality just this never ending loop of waking up and sleeping" I really decided…

I never tried any unusual sleep schedule, but I have worked third shift while trying to keep a social life.

It does get hard, even on a third shift schedule that millions of normal people deal with, to tell the days apart. When the day switches in the middle of your work shift, when it's light out all "night", even a normal third shift schedule makes the days run together. I did it for a year, and not a single day went by when it didn't feel like I took a short nap through the day then worked the rest of the time. Even when I got 8 hours of sleep.

I started drinking. I started smoking. I got short with my friends. I had to quit, because when there are no "days", life became meaningless to me. It was just one long night that lasted for a year. Things that happened ten minutes ago went into my memory as happening yesterday. When I quit my job and went back to sleeping normal, I stopped my self destructive habits literally overnight.

Millions of normal healthy people do it every day. But beware of forcing yourself into sleep schedules that you are not mentally prepared to handle. Know when to throw in the towel.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#34

Post by stcredzero »

jdkent wrote: post #16

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…

I have a biphasic sleep schedule, but it just means it takes me two sessions to sleep through the night.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#35

Post by calydon »

It's hard for me to say anything on this topic without resorting to hyperbole. I have a serious sleep disorder and in desperation, I tried a polyphasic experiment about 7 years ago.

I was determined to see it through no matter what the cost. The conclusion I came to was that it is a complete scam, perpetrated on life-hackers who are often, productivity hounds. Polyphasic sleep does not work; it does not improve productivity; it is not healthy. The only people who have slept like this on a consistent basis are soldiers or other people in extreme situations, where wakefulness is equivalent to survival and so the damage to your mind is a trade-off. If you are not fighting to stay alive, then you gain nothing by not following your body's natural rhythms, and you can seriously mess yourself up by experimenting with alternatives.

Then again, you're young so you'll probably recover. Probably.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#36

Post by calydon »

Lewton wrote: post #24
Loic wrote: post #14

If you are interested in polyphasic sleep, the best long run experiment I know is from Steve Pavlina. 90 days of polyphasic sleep: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/

I read this some years ago.. I've since then become very skeptical about his story. The guy makes money off of his blog, he's basically the internet version of a life coach. Writing "inspirational" articles on how to improve your life, with almost nothing to back them up. There's plenty incentive for him to have fabricated this. And back when I was interested in the uberman sleep schedule, he was the only person on t…

Steve Pavlina is a known charlatan whose lies have been disproved on several occasions.

Further reading: http://stevepavlinalies.wordpress.com/ http://www.scottfreethinking.com/2010/02/why-steve-pavlina-i...

I don't think he lasted 5 months on his polyphasic regimen for the same reasons listed in the sleepmemo article.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#37

Post by dshaw002 »

calydon wrote: post #36
Lewton wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this some years ago.. I've since then become very skeptical about his story. The guy makes money off of his blog, he's basically the internet version of a life coach. Writing "inspirational" articles on how to improve your life, with almost nothing to back them up. There's plenty incentive for him to have fabricated this. And back when I was interested in the uberman sleep schedule, he was the only person on t…

Steve Pavlina is a known charlatan whose lies have been disproved on several occasions. Further reading: http://stevepavlinalies.wordpress.com/ http://www.scottfreethinking.com/2010/02/why-steve-pavlina-i... I don't think he lasted 5 months on his polyphasic regimen for the same reasons listed in the sleepmemo article.

I'm not debating your position on whether or not Steve did the polyphasic sleep, but none of those links don't really have much actual evidence of him being(or specifically call him) a liar or a charlatan.

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#38

Post by patricklynch »

calydon wrote: post #36
Lewton wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this some years ago.. I've since then become very skeptical about his story. The guy makes money off of his blog, he's basically the internet version of a life coach. Writing "inspirational" articles on how to improve your life, with almost nothing to back them up. There's plenty incentive for him to have fabricated this. And back when I was interested in the uberman sleep schedule, he was the only person on t…

Steve Pavlina is a known charlatan whose lies have been disproved on several occasions. Further reading: http://stevepavlinalies.wordpress.com/ http://www.scottfreethinking.com/2010/02/why-steve-pavlina-i... I don't think he lasted 5 months on his polyphasic regimen for the same reasons listed in the sleepmemo article.

"for the same reasons listed in the sleepmemo article"

Do you have a link to this article? I couldn't find it on either of those blogs.

    EDIT: parent must mean this:
http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic2010.htm

Re: An Experiment: Polyphasic Sleeping

#39

Post by calloc »

freehunter wrote: post #33
brokentone wrote: post #21

I experimented with this though college. I found the idea that you could have extra months in your year amazing. But I could never stick with it for more than a couple days at a time. It was primarily this that kept kicking me off: "I also have a theory about just being conscience that long, you start to lose a sense of time there is no finality just this never ending loop of waking up and sleeping" I really decided…

I never tried any unusual sleep schedule, but I have worked third shift while trying to keep a social life. It does get hard, even on a third shift schedule that millions of normal people deal with, to tell the days apart. When the day switches in the middle of your work shift, when it's light out all "night", even a normal third shift schedule makes the days run together. I did it for a year, and not a single day we…

My sleep schedule naturally is all over the board, that is just the way my body is designed, I can't help it, and I have found my days running together in some sort of glob, like there is nothing in between.

To me it is a weird sensation, but being a work-aholic I hardly noticed it till I started being off by a day or two and my boss caught me on it. I started making sure to take the weekends off and it has slowly corrected itself, now I take the weekends off and do what I want to do not work and it is absolutely fantastic.

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