Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Polyphasic Sleep

en.wikipedia.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 45 posts

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#21

Post by alexhawdon »

hoers wrote: post #17
alexhawdon wrote: post #10

Not completely connected, but I'd be very interested to hear if anyone's experienced something similar. Or, even better, can point to some science that can explain my experience: I find my concentration improves tremendously after I've been awake for 20-24 hours, and I can continue being more productive than usual for up to about 40 hours, at which point the negative effects start to outweigh the positives. Anyone ex…

Sleep deprivation and short sleep cycles are a symptom for mania, and most people with bipolar disease experience this. But weirdly enough, it's not only a symptom, but also a trigger. Means you can simulate/induce mania by depriving yourself of sleep. I actually know a lot of People doing this on purpose. Although apart from being bad for your body in general, if you are in risk of developing bipolar, this might acc…

Interesting.

This is nit-picking if I'm right but potentially enlightening if I'm wrong (so apologies if it's the former): wouldn't /insomnia/ be the symptom of mania, and sleep deprivation be the consequence?

Also, I always thought of mania as being either very 'up' or very 'down' - is that my ignorance? I feel neither happy nor sad during these periods, just a lot more focussed.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#22

Post by jerf »

nicholassmith wrote: post #18

I'm considering switching to a polyphasic sleep cycle in the next few weeks, I've often found myself more productive on 4 hours + nap when I've had the opportunity but my work schedule has precluded me from attempting it. There's been a few interesting studies and articles where the rise of monophasic sleep is a relatively recent addition to modern lives (I think ~Victorian era), but obviously we all have a distinct…

After all the discussions HN has had on this topic, I'm still waiting for someone to pop up with "Yeah, I've been doing this for two years now and I'd never go back." So far the stories have all been in agreement... "it sort of kind of worked for maybe a month or twoish (with rare people sticking somewhat longer), then I hit a wall because I was ever so slightly bumped off the schedule and I just fell apart. Also in hindsight I realize that I wasn't doing as well as I thought I was at the time."

So far I'm not seeing any concrete evidence that the general idea of polyphasic sleep is anything but wishful thinking. I recognize that anecdotes are not data, but after a while the complete lack of even anecdotes of success, after the number of people trying it publicly, is itself evidence of a sort.

"Biphasic", or "afternoon naps", by comparison, are indeed quite natural, though I'm not sure I've seen that much convincing evidence that night sleep+naps is universally better or worse than just night sleep. Individual differences are probably swamping any attempt to make sweeping declarations. Personally I do a lot of "just listen to my body" here and over the years and various growth and health stages I've swung all around on what I seem to need.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#23

Post by outworlder »

I have found exactly zero peer-reviewed studies that say that you can replace what is considered to be normal sleep (with one or two phases) with polyphasic sleep.

I've once seen a quote (can't find it on google right now) from a doctor who said something like "Trying to 'adapt' to polyphasic sleep is like trying to teach your bowel to excrete in portions of exactly 25 grams. It doesn't work that way.".

Alarm clocks are designed to scare our brains, as if we were in danger, to forcefully wake us up. I can't imagine that sort of punishment, multiple times a day, over long term.

Researching the subject, I have found the following link. Note that the Supermemo software is from the author, so there is some bias there towards using (and purchasing) the software. Other then that, the articles are interesting. http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic2010.htm

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#24

Post by outworlder »

jerf wrote: post #22
nicholassmith wrote: post #18

I'm considering switching to a polyphasic sleep cycle in the next few weeks, I've often found myself more productive on 4 hours + nap when I've had the opportunity but my work schedule has precluded me from attempting it. There's been a few interesting studies and articles where the rise of monophasic sleep is a relatively recent addition to modern lives (I think ~Victorian era), but obviously we all have a distinct…

After all the discussions HN has had on this topic, I'm still waiting for someone to pop up with "Yeah, I've been doing this for two years now and I'd never go back." So far the stories have all been in agreement... "it sort of kind of worked for maybe a month or twoish (with rare people sticking somewhat longer), then I hit a wall because I was ever so slightly bumped off the schedule and I just fell apart. Also in…

Exactly.

Polyphasic sleep for a month means exactly nothing. I've been sleep deprived for periods longer than that, sleeping less than six hours a day. Doesn't mean that "sleep deprivation works", or that it is healthy, or that it can be sustained.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#25

Post by nicholassmith »

jerf wrote: post #22
nicholassmith wrote: post #18

I'm considering switching to a polyphasic sleep cycle in the next few weeks, I've often found myself more productive on 4 hours + nap when I've had the opportunity but my work schedule has precluded me from attempting it. There's been a few interesting studies and articles where the rise of monophasic sleep is a relatively recent addition to modern lives (I think ~Victorian era), but obviously we all have a distinct…

After all the discussions HN has had on this topic, I'm still waiting for someone to pop up with "Yeah, I've been doing this for two years now and I'd never go back." So far the stories have all been in agreement... "it sort of kind of worked for maybe a month or twoish (with rare people sticking somewhat longer), then I hit a wall because I was ever so slightly bumped off the schedule and I just fell apart. Also in…

I think I've seen one long term self-study that was ~18 months which said it worked for them. I've seen plenty of fallen off the wagon, or cautiously optimistic though.

Maybe a mixed solution would work, biphasic sleep during the week when you're maximising productivity, monophasic when it's less important (holidays etc) to get around the constraints. Not sure, I might experiment with it.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#26

Post by tokenizer »

outworlder wrote: post #23

I have found exactly zero peer-reviewed studies that say that you can replace what is considered to be normal sleep (with one or two phases) with polyphasic sleep. I've once seen a quote (can't find it on google right now) from a doctor who said something like "Trying to 'adapt' to polyphasic sleep is like trying to teach your bowel to excrete in portions of exactly 25 grams. It doesn't work that way.". Alarm clocks…

Steve Pavlina had taken the schedule up and had wrote about it in some detail. Not what you'd considered peer reviewed but definitely a first hand experience akin to Buckminster Fuller's experience with the attempt at a polyphasic sleep schedule.

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#27

Post by pizza234 »

randall wrote: post #12

I did it for 90 days. It was awesome. Then the holidays hit, which made it impossible. Polyphasic is perfect for the person who doesn't have any other life commitments and wants to be super productive every day. (Weekend mornings get super boring, btw. So I replayed every Xbox game I own. And then that got boring.)

Based on what you write, I guess you don't practice sports.

One interesting fact is that people attempting to hack their sleep never talk about it, and from the perspective of sporty people, the reason is obvious.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#28

Post by randall »

Raphmedia wrote: post #19
randall wrote: post #12

I did it for 90 days. It was awesome. Then the holidays hit, which made it impossible. Polyphasic is perfect for the person who doesn't have any other life commitments and wants to be super productive every day. (Weekend mornings get super boring, btw. So I replayed every Xbox game I own. And then that got boring.)

What kind of Polyphasic sleep did you attempt?

Trying to remember.

I think I did 3 hours core, 3x20 naps, then switched to 4.5+2x20.

The adaptation period was almost exactly three weeks, iirc. After that it wasn't too bad.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#29

Post by randall »

pizza234 wrote: post #27
randall wrote: post #12

I did it for 90 days. It was awesome. Then the holidays hit, which made it impossible. Polyphasic is perfect for the person who doesn't have any other life commitments and wants to be super productive every day. (Weekend mornings get super boring, btw. So I replayed every Xbox game I own. And then that got boring.)

Based on what you write, I guess you don't practice sports. One interesting fact is that people attempting to hack their sleep never talk about it, and from the perspective of sporty people, the reason is obvious.

Correct. I didn't exercise. I basically did startups and that's it. Folks who do sports claim that if you already are in a regimen, you can switch without too much difficulty, but starting an exercise / sports regimen when on polyphasic seems almost impossible.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#30

Post by albedo »

I think a lot of people think about this the wrong way.

The way I see it, if you're able to successfully adapt to Uberman, you get an additional ~6 hours a day. Any negative effects you would experience from being on Uberman need to be collectively greater than getting 6 hours of additional life per day, in order for it to not be worth it.

6 hours per day is really awesome. It's not just additional productivity. It's additional life. And it's not additional life at the end of your life, it's additional life now, when the value is likely to be very high.

A useful test for these sorts of things is to ask yourself whether you would make the same trade if it were to be reversed. If you had grown up on polyphasic sleep, would you give up 6 hours of your life per day in order to feel mildly more productive on average, and to gain some additional flexibility in your schedule?

Post reply on HN