Biphasic Sleep

[PenguinLord13]

I am wondering if anyone here has attempted Biphasic Sleep. I have read about it a bit, and it looked like a nice way to maximize restfullness while cutting down on time, which would be great for me next year as I know I am going to have a HUGE workload of homework and stuff for school. I actually sleep very well right now (generally 8.5 to 9 hours), but for some reason my sleep leaves me more tired than when I went to bed, and I am looking for an alternative pattern that may help correct this. I don't think my schedule will permit the ultra-rigid polyphasic style of sleeping, so I am interested in another method. If anyone here has attempted or at least has good information on biphasic sleep I would really appreciate it. If you've tried it/are doing it, how well does it work? how refreshing/easy to follow? Any other advice?

[Developer]

I actually sleep very well right now (generally 8.5 to 9 hours), but for some reason my sleep leaves me more tired than when I went to bed..[/b] Same here

[Tsen]

Biphasic sleep seems to come naturally to me. I often drift into a biphasic sleep cycle without trying. It does seem to increase my dream recall and LD count, but I can't say it's saved me any time. I seem to still need about the same amount of sleep, just split up into two periods.

[PenguinLord13]

Biphasic sleep seems to come naturally to me. I often drift into a biphasic sleep cycle without trying. It does seem to increase my dream recall and LD count, but I can't say it's saved me any time. I seem to still need about the same amount of sleep, just split up into two periods.[/b] That's interesting. From what I understood reading a while ago, you could get by on 4.5-6 hours and still feel refreshed with Biphasic sleep, which is what I am shooting for (more on the 6 hour side though, 4.5 would leave me too much time, and there is no way it would do for me as I am still growing, and need the rest).

[Tsen]

Maybe it's just because I'm lazy and oversleep anyways. I'd say just give it a shot--It can't hurt, and it's a lot easier to adjust to (and from) than polyphasic sleep.

[laconix]

Same here [/b] Given the chance (ie. Not a school day) i can sleep 15 hrs.

[PenguinLord13]

Maybe it's just because I'm lazy and oversleep anyways. I'd say just give it a shot--It can't hurt, and it's a lot easier to adjust to (and from) than polyphasic sleep.[/b] I will give it a shot, probably in April vacation or during summer break, but i am interested in hearing more people's experience with it so I get a better understanding of how to best biphasic sleep.

[Placebo]

For many people, biphasic is more natural than monophasic. Many sleep therapists advocate it actually, unlike the more extreme polyphasic schedules. Hell, in some countries it's the norm. E.g. siestas in mexico.

[dodobird]

I am wondering if anyone here has attempted Biphasic Sleep. I have read about it a bit, and it looked like a nice way to maximize restfullness while cutting down on time, which would be great for me next year as I know I am going to have a HUGE workload of homework and stuff for school. I actually sleep very well right now (generally 8.5 to 9 hours), but for some reason my sleep leaves me more tired than when I went to bed, and I am looking for an alternative pattern that may help correct this. I don't think my schedule will permit the ultra-rigid polyphasic style of sleeping, so I am interested in another method. If anyone here has attempted or at least has good information on biphasic sleep I would really appreciate it. If you've tried it/are doing it, how well does it work? how refreshing/easy to follow? Any other advice?[/b] Sorry if I go off-topc, but maybe you can try somehow to fix the problem of the sleep leaving you more tired than you went to sleep, without using a completly different sleep pattern. For example: did you try to sleep with better air flow, such as keeping a window open?

[Placebo]

Good point. Are you getting a lot of distractions? Are you struggling to get to sleep? Is there good ventilation? Are you too hot or cold at night? All those things make a huge difference sometimes. If you are struggling to sleep through the night, then consider something like melatonin. It has no known side effects or overdose symptoms, but makes you drowsy and causes your sleep to be natural. Available over the counter. Disclaimer: I always advise that a person does research on supplements and come to their own opinion and decisions. This post is simply for the sake of information.

[PenguinLord13]

Good point. Are you getting a lot of distractions? Are you struggling to get to sleep? Is there good ventilation? Are you too hot or cold at night? All those things make a huge difference sometimes. If you are struggling to sleep through the night, then consider something like melatonin. It has no known side effects or overdose symptoms, but makes you drowsy and causes your sleep to be natural. Available over the counter. Disclaimer: I always advise that a person does research on supplements and come to their own opinion and decisions. This post is simply for the sake of information.[/b] Other than the light in the morning which often wakes me up even through the shades I have because I am very light sensitive when it comes to sleeping I really don't have any big distractions. I also keep two open windows so I am getting plenty of air, there are no noisy distractions, and generally I am a comfortable temp at night (though if I'm not then that does cause problems for me). I still have trouble falling asleep though, and it takes me 30-60 minutes to fall asleep generally (I know that's not that bad compared with many people who really can't fall asleep, but it's enough to get annoying). I seem to have relatively good conditions to sleep in, but one observation I have is that I hate going to bed before 10:30 to 11, and need to go to bed before 10 to get good sleep because I get up at 6:45 and like a good 8.5 to 9 hours of rest. This week I have vacation, and though I still end up waking between 7:30 and 8:00 sleeping to that slightly later time, and being able to lie down a while before getting up makes a huge difference. On the melatonin note, unless not getting asleep becomes a really major problem, I prefer not to really on supplements like that to help me sleep.

[Placebo]

Sounds like you just need to force your body to get used to a new sleep time. Melatonin would be the easy way out, but I can understand the reluctance to use a hormone supplement pill. The natural way is to consistently go to bed at the time you need to, for at least a week, perhaps 2 or 3. Perhaps putting a sleep mask on, for a sense of darkness. That's if you don't mind things on your face when you sleep. That's about the extent of my advice. I'm not a qualified sleep therapist or anything, you know!

[vsk]

The length of your sleep has little to do with feeling refreshed and alert when you wake up. The reason for which you are so tired when getting out of bed is (probably) that you wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle. One sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. Try to get out of bed excactly at the end of a cycle. I.e. try to sleep 6 hours (= 90+90+90+90) (or 7.5 hours of sleep - adding one more sleep cycle) and then get out of bed. You should feel very refreshed. note: the length of a sleep cycle may vary slightly from person to person

[PenguinLord13]

The length of your sleep has little to do with feeling refreshed and alert when you wake up. The reason for which you are so tired when getting out of bed is (probably) that you wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle. One sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. Try to get out of bed excactly at the end of a cycle. I.e. try to sleep 6 hours (= 90+90+90+90) (or 7.5 hours of sleep - adding one more sleep cycle) and then get out of bed. You should feel very refreshed. note: the length of a sleep cycle may vary slightly from person to person[/b] Yeah, I try getting that (my cycle is between 70-80 mins long I think), and when I hit that right time I feel much better, but it is hard for me to get it right as I sometimes take a long time to fall asleep, and sometimes fall asleep within a few minutes, making it difficult to intentionally sleep the proper cycle lengths. A cycle tends to end up completing 20-50 mins before I plan on waking up, and I end up just falling asleep for a bit, and then having to wake up mid-cycle, feeling like crap.

[azureone]

This is really interesting! I'm curious about biphasic also.......but I dunno how it would work with my sched... is it that you have to at least get 6 hours a day split in half at any time or do you have to go asleep at 7:30 and then do the second phase at 1 in the morning or whatever? I want to try Sleep from Midnight- 5am and then a 2 hour nap at 1:00. What do you guys think?

[Taiji X]

without a parent or alarm clock waking me up for any obligations and left alone, i sleep like a bear for 10-12 hours a day. serious.. just started experimenting with napping, something like 6 hours at night and a 2-3 hour nap. i don't know why i sleep so much but hey, it's so easy to lucid when you nap a few hours after your initial get-up for the day.

[Areyoudreaming?]

Just found this: http://www.straighttothebar.com/2006...y_summary.html First useful info I've found on biphasic sleep really...