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Polyphasic Sleep

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Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#31

Post by mistercow »

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…

There don't seem to be any long term studies (which isn't terribly surprising, as getting significant compliance in the long term would be incredibly difficult. There are a couple studies over small periods which found increased/equivalent alertness from short sleep periods.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#32

Post by jason_slack »

I read a lot about this and tried it mid last year. It was hard to adjust to at first. I was really missing some social time and there were times at around 2am that I became depressed with being up at that hour, even though it was my choice.

Productivity was great. I felt rested after my small naps and the dreaming felt very real. Almost to real for certain types of dreams.

I am in the middle of writing a video game and was talking with my wife yesterday about trying this again to get through the last crunch.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#33

Post by singold »

comrh wrote: post #14

Also interesting is caffeine BEFORE a nap. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_nap#The_caffeine_nap

This is really incredible, now that i've read it, it seems very intelligent, but I don't know if it can have any other side effects.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#34

Post by Lewton »

tokenizer wrote: post #26
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/

Dude is a 'life coach'... There's absolutely zero reason to trust anything he says

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#35

Post by albedo »

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…

The way that adaptation works (warning: simplifying a bit here) is that your brain wants you to get restful sleep when you aren't allowing it to. In this situation, its default strategy is to cause you to feel the effects of sleep deprivation in order to induce sleep. If you successfully resist this urge, only going to sleep at certain times, and follow a schedule fairly strictly, then your brain will give up after a week or two, and will learn to just take whatever it can get during those time slots (i.e. go directly into REM sleep).

After a while of doing this (adaptation), you will get most or all of the sleep you need, just from naps, and you will no longer feel sleep deprivation.

Check out the book "Ubersleep" written by Pure Doxyk, someone who has successfully done long-term polyphasic sleep, for details on this model of sleep.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#36

Post by hoers »

alexhawdon wrote: post #21
hoers wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

First off: Mania only describes the up phase, bipolar is the term for describing both up and down (depression being the down phase). Insomnia is usually more a symptom of depression (as in not being able to fall asleep), manic people generally just tend to be overly energetic, needing very little sleep (like 2-4 hrs a day) for long periods of time. Trigger wise you can induce this energetic up feeling by depriving yourself of sleep (by which I don't mean insomnia, but actively keeping your sleep cycles short), but you will pay the price at some point.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#37

Post by wellboy »

Ok my friend has done this and it is definitely interesting. However, if you do polyphasic sleep, you age several times faster during that time, approximately around 5 times faster. So if you do Polyphasic Sleep for a month, you'll actually age 5 months. If you do it for 5 years, theoretically you will 25 years, whereas I believe the aging process accelerates every month.

There are no research results on these numbers yet and it could be only 4 times faster, 10 times faster or accelerate by one time faster every month, however the reason for accelerated aging process is the fact that with Polyphasic sleep you only hit the REM phases of sleep, which regenerates your mind.

So you can give your mind a break and it will be back to speed again, however you never hit deep sleep phases which is where the cell regeneration happens.

So as long as you're doing Polyphasic Sleep, you are essentially going without cell regeneration, thus the accelerated aging process.

So you have to be aware of the trade off between increased productivity to accelerated aging. However, Polyphasic Sleep for 2 weeks in a crucial time in your life (finals, startup just getting traction etc.) it can definitely be an attractive option, because it can improve your life dramatically and it doesn't really matter if your lose a couple of weeks of life span, since you can get it back when your can harvest your fruits of work. :)

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#38

Post by drygh »

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.

I was on a polyphasic schedule for 3 months while in college last year. I noticed I had slightly decreased strength and energy levels while lifting and playing various sports. Overall my body felt slightly sluggish, like it was running at 90% speed. One thing to consider is the fact you are staying up for significantly longer. My diet changed quite a bit because of this - I was eating more often, but smaller meals. I assume this alone could have been effecting my metabolism / energy levels over the long term.

Overall though, it was the negatives on the social side of things, rather than the physical, that caused me to stop.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#39

Post by burgerz »

Speaking from personal experience, but I'm sure many of you can relate, when I wake up from afternoon sleep, I will feel even more tired, disoriented and sometimes with a headache. Perhaps you have to adapt to breaking up sleep, but I've found it difficult.

Re: Polyphasic Sleep

#40

Post by FR6 »

albedo wrote: post #35
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…

The way that adaptation works (warning: simplifying a bit here) is that your brain wants you to get restful sleep when you aren't allowing it to. In this situation, its default strategy is to cause you to feel the effects of sleep deprivation in order to induce sleep. If you successfully resist this urge, only going to sleep at certain times, and follow a schedule fairly strictly, then your brain will give up after a…

albedo you have made a excellent summary! When I tried it, I slept 20 minutes every 4 hours and at the end when my system had adapted, I woke up automatically after 20 minutes even before my alarm went off and full of energy as if I slept 10 hours. But after 4 hours, I was completely exhausted and I really needed my 20 minutes of sleep.
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