Thread: Will Polyphasic Sleep Affect Lucidity

On a biphasic sleep schedule you're sleeping ~7.5 hours per night, with a half-hour nap sometime around noon (when our circadian cycle naturally experiences a dip - siesta, anyone?).

Polyphasic exclusion of deeper sleep states suggests that REM is more important, but I think just being awake necessitates a certain amount of wear and tear on the body that we need deep sleep for to regenerate. The fact that we don't get it in polyphasic sleep doesn't mean to me that it's optional, it just means that it's less of a priority than regenerating your finer mental faculties (in REM). You'll die without water sooner than without food, but that doesn't make food optional or extra or skippable under certain "low stress" conditions.

[edit]And I'm not even necessarily sure we do skip deeper sleep states. I've heard that they all just get compressed into microphases that last a few minutes each, but I don't know for sure.[/edit]

"I've read Pavlina's blog and I know he's kind of the figurehead for the entire 'movement,' but one manic, oppressively self-motivated man does not good evidence make."

HAHA.. I always knew I didn't like that guy and have been trying to come up with a good position against him in my mind. I think this is an excellent start.