Attempt Polyphasic Sleeping

Due to the popular concept, of which can be found
here, I have taken the liberty to come up with a small briefing to organise this whole idea.

What is polyphasic sleeping?
Polyphasic sleeping is the act of splitting up your regular 8 hour “core” sleep into several “pieces”.
There are different classifications of polyphasic sleeping which vary around the way in which the core sleep is split up.

Uberman Sleep Schedule- Having several equal naps at set intervals during the day. E.g:
Sleep periods of 30 minutes, every 4 hours.
00:00–00:30 | 04:00–04:30 | 08:00 – 08:30 | 12:00 – 12:30 | 16:00 – 16:30 | 20:00 – 20:30

Everyman Sleep Schedule- Having several equal naps at different times of the day with the addition of a longer core sleep. E.g:
1 Core nap of 1.5 hours then 5, 20 minute naps.
00:00 – 01:30 | 03:00 – 03:20 | 08:00 – 08:20 | 13:00 – 13:20 | 17:00 – 17:20 | 22:00 – 22:20

Your brain goes through 5 stages as you enter sleep, however, the stage that is considered the most valuable to the body and mind is the REM stage, the aim of doing this schedule is to get your brain used to shortening the first 4 stages of sleep which aren't supposed to be as essential and concentrating on the REM stage, and after the “training” process, thus making you able to go an entire 24-hour-day having taken 3 or 4 hours of sleep and still feeling awake and refreshed.

What is your idea about?
Many people find polyphasic sleep difficult to dedicate to, because of lack of motivation, when you are set to a strict schedule of naps every 4 hours then it isn't going to be easy for you to work a comfortable social life for a couple weeks. You may also find that during your late waking hours (from 1am to 7am) will be very lonesome and tedious for yourself.

My idea allows you to go into attempting polyphasic sleep- fully motived along side other equally motivated peers, and by the way we will work the schedule- everybody on the program, wherever they are in the world, will be sleeping at the same times and will be awake at the same times, allowing them to come onto DreamViews' live chat and discuss how everything is going.

You're more likely to succeed with the schedule if you aren't alone.

Why are you doing this?
I myself am interested in attempting polyphasic sleep and I feel that the loneliness and boredom of being awake in the wee-hours of the morning will get the better of me and I will easily fail. I can understand that the concept of trying this whole thing as a team not only gives me and everyone else at DreamView's a MUCH better chance at doing something that they really want to do but also brings together the community and allows you to get to know each other personally.

Are there any risks?
Unfortunately, there are several risks that should be adhered to during the first hard 2 weeks of strict schedule- depression is HIGHLY likely in this situation, short-tempered attitude, lack of concentration, lack of motivation and energy. Also, however unlikely, it is still very plausible that narcolepsy and schizophrenia can occur in these situations.

You must take this very seriously and make sure that you aren't putting yourself in danger and you ensure that you plan the weeks out and lead a healthy lifestyle throughout.

What should I try to do?
As I just mentioned, you must ensure that you don't put yourself at risk when attempting polyphasic sleep, you can do this by reading up as much as you can about the sleep and other people's experiences, understanding more how it works, understanding yourself and ensuring that you are in both physical and mental condition before you start the schedule, I HIGHLY recommend you change your diet if it's unhealthy before you start- ensure you eat a fruit and vegetable rich diet and equal times of the day, make sure you are ready to do polyphasic sleeping- don't worry if you're ill or just not ready by the time several people at DreamViews start as there will be more organised schedules in the future, also make sure you're comfortable with changing your lifestyle and always remember to keep hydrated and drink plenty of water to help your brain function.
I also recommend you consult a GP/doctor about your plans and get info from them about diet and safety.

If at any point of the schedule you feel way too pressured and you are feeling exhausted/very nauseous then you should immediately terminate the schedule and allow your body to catch up with a regular long rest.

Can I do it?
Of course you can! Anyone at DreamViews who follow the rules and know they are ready- physically, mentally and socially can start the schedule.

When can I start?
As soon as everything has been sorted out, after polls have been taken and everyone has decided on the best times- you can start at the same time as everyone else.





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Who would be interested in doing this?


I've made this thread just to get everyone aware, I'll make a poll after some people have replied.
Put this thread's link in your signiture if you'd like to get started sooner please! :D

Thanks very much to anyone that can get involved!
Jim.

I'm in.

But I'd like to add to the risks: For those of you who are not yet adults and may still be growing, doing a sleep schedule like this may put your body under stress, and a growing body under stress will not grow as much. So if you're 15 and you'd like to be tall, don't experiment with this. Or keep your experiment brief.

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Originally Posted by AlexLou

I'm in.

But I'd like to add to the risks: For those of you who are not yet adults and may still be growing, doing a sleep schedule like this may put your body under stress, and a growing body under stress will not grow as much. So if you're 15 and you'd like to be tall, don't experiment with this. Or keep your experiment brief.

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Yes! I completely forgot about conditional things like that.
Noted :P
Also pregnancy and if you are taking certain kinds of medication, both big ones too.

Thank for the support =]
Jim.

Depending on when it will take place, I might give it a go!

However, I'm still very uncertain about the actual healthiness of the whole thing. I have read a lot about polyphasic sleep, and one link I read (can't remember where I found it I'm afraid...) seemed to make sense when it explained very scientifically why polyphasic sleep was bad for your health.

Oh, I found it again, so here it is: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm . But if you feel like it's a bit long, maybe reading only the Polyphasic sleep for dummies part: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/po...0for%20dummies

If someone has a link to a scientific explanation that evidences that the link above is just a bunch of inconsistencies, I'd be glad to give it a read!

Until then, I'll think about this polyphasic sleep experiment or not. But it's a great idea to gather people on DreamViews to attempt this. Maybe we can do it a bit like Battle Royale: 42 people in a forum and having to fight against sleep until there is only one polyphasic sleeper left!

I'm going to have to look into this a little more and assess my lifestyle before I try it, but I am very interested.

I'll be honest, I have only skimmed this idea so ar but it sounds good, summer holidays for me so I have some very flexible hours, don't worry I'm nearly 18, going to uni soon yeah yeah yeah, but I digest (family guy joke). Long story short, I could very well be in.

I might give this a go, actually.

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Originally Posted by apachama

I might give this a go, actually.

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Originally Posted by jimothyjim

I'll be honest, I have only skimmed this idea so ar but it sounds good, summer holidays for me so I have some very flexible hours, don't worry I'm nearly 18, going to uni soon yeah yeah yeah, but I digest (family guy joke). Long story short, I could very well be in.

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Originally Posted by Flying Mandarine

Depending on when it will take place, I might give it a go!

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Originally Posted by Man of Steel

I'm going to have to look into this a little more and assess my lifestyle before I try it, but I am very interested.

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Good stuff :)
Keep up with advertising as much as you can please :D

Thanks very much =]
Jim.

i'm in, but it has to be done over this summer.i also am turning eighteen shortly,this month, woot!, but i'm okay.i have read a bit about this and it is supposed to be better for you in the long run .after you get used to it, than just one huge chunk of sleep.many wild animals ,such as wolves, sleep like this and is one reason why they are able to survive.this sleep pattern is proven to increase brain activity and stamina.

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this sleep pattern is proven to increase brain activity and stamina.

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Do you have any scientific source (at least an Internet page) to back up this claim?

After all, if polyphasic sleep is supposed to increase one's stamina, why do people who have that kind of sleep schedule need an alarm clock to wake up? Also, why is it that it seems that they cannot do things such as reading or working at certain times of the day because they are sleepy?

Mmmh... Maybe that's not the good thread to be talking about the healthiness or unhealthiness of polyphasic sleep...

I've noticed that you seem to be lacking anything about the Dymaxion sleep schedule. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller

I've been doing that, and having six hours between naps is so much more convenient for me. If I had to crash every four hours I couldn't get anything done (I live in Los Angeles).

All of the rules apply as they would for Uberman, but it's 30min 4x a day. The only problem I find is that in the adjustment period I have the worst time being able to stay up long enough to get to the next nap period. The creator of the Uberman sleep schedule even commented on how much harder the Dymaxion sleep schedule is, and I'm sure that the distance between naps is why.

Oh, by the way, polyphasic sleep IS bad for children. Stages 1-4 sleep are required for continued brain development and growth hormone production. Children grow the most in their sleep, so your little ones must sleep their full and alloted time of 8-12 hours based on age.

So I'll say from personal experience what is happening to me and why:

You WILL fall asleep faster. This is not some magical training, this isn't some sort of brain-science, you just become EXHAUSTED from not being able to sleep, so every time you go to take a nap you'll drop off faster. Eventually your brain is conditioned to just drop off like this, I believe.

Cool thing: One out of two times I've felt myself drop into stage 2 sleep and slip further down the chart and start hallucinating while I was starting to nap.

Keep yourself very well nourished. I'm partially anorexic and I would wake up feeling HORRIBLE (like hangover from hell and you just woke up after three hours of sleep to lift all of your heavy luggage and put it on a plane on which you can't sleep so you drift in and out of watching the in-flight movie and LIVING the in-flight movie kind of feeling horrible), but then I stuffed my face full of whatever I could find, chased it with a glass of water, then I felt fine.

Oh, the anorexia isn't a problem now. =D
Supposedly doing these types of things cure insomnia patients and all sort of other things. It's maaaaagic!

So probably by day 3 you're going to feel like hell. In the afternoon I was hallucinating, randomly alternating with bouts of yelling, crying, and going blank-faced staring at a wall. This lasted for about an hour before I just went on a nice jog and woke myself up. Essentially I was drunk on sleep deprivation.

Supposedly day three is just like the three-day-hump for quitting smoking, one to two weeks is when you get used to it, but it'll take a month or more to fully adjust mentally and physically to the schedule.

Oh yes, and you don't recover from physical activity or illness very well while trying to adapt. I would suggest supplementing this sleep style with a period of 10-30 minutes of extreme relaxation, meditation, or binaural input. It is possible to have your muscles go through the same reconstructive state during sleep while you're awake. However, if you catch cold or something similar, either throw in a few extra naps or be a lump and try to recover, perhaps even sleep a full night.

The easiest way to start, I believe, is to get a full night of sleep. My naps are at 0h, 6h, 12h, and 18h. I picked the closest one and just flopped down on the bed for thirty minutes, didn't fall asleep, got up and felt fine. Even if you aren't tired, it makes life so much easier to just take those naps. The worst thing you can do is oversleep.

The second worst thing you can do is miss your scheduled nap time. I haven't had a problem with this yet and I continue to lead an active metropolitan life. I had to drive to Downtown L.A. from the San Fernando Valley, so I left at 10h30, buggered around a bit and landed where I needed to be at 11h30, crashed at 12h, got up at 12h30 and went to my 1h appointment 15 minutes early. Then I had to drive to Hollywood, bugger around some more, fill out some crap, then I got to go play (went to the Meltdown and goofed on Sunset strip) before going home. Well, L.A. traffic being what it is, I was stuck at 5h45, so I pulled off and parked in a fast food parking lot. I snagged a burger and napped from about 6h10 to 6h35, woke up feeling great, and drove the rest of the way home (traffic had cleared up a bit by then, making it all the more convenient).

It doesn't make anything uncomfortable, just nap 30 minutes on your lunch and none of your other naps should enter into your work environment.

SO! Let's summarize:

1. You're going to be tired all the time and everything in your body is going to tell you to give up because it'll never work.
2. Your body is wrong.
3. Keep yourself well hydrated and well fed. My 'hibernation reflex' doesn't turn off when I get up, so I don't know that I'm hungry or how much I'm hungry until I eat.
4. It takes beating day 3 to get confident, it takes a week or more to get used to it, and it takes a month or more to adjust fully. You're not 'polyphasic for nine days omgwtfbbqsaucelol' you're exhausted and miserable.
5. It is possible to lead a normal life with this schedule.
6. It sucks adjusting.
7. It sucks adjusting.
8. You do not talk about Fight Club.
9. It SUCKS adjusting.

I'd like to try, but I'm not sure what my colelge schedule would allow for, since I might have an opening that works for it on 3 days, but not on the other 2 or whatever. (this is the only reason I didn't try it in highschool, couldn't keep straight days where it would work) And from what I can tell- monday will ruin it (I found both uberman and everyman with 3hr core schedules that work on all days BUT monday)

Also- isnce I'll be transitioning FtM, does anyone know what this would do to hormones/surgery/etc? I'm almost 18 so it's not like I'll be growing any time soon, but I'm a bit worried about that stuff.

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Originally Posted by Jimmehboi

I feel that the loneliness and boredom of being awake in the wee-hours of the morning will get the better of me and I will easily fail.

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They're actually not that hard to deal with, and I quite prefer them for the privacy. When everyone else is asleep you feel much more comfortable being yourself than when someone might walk in at any moment. Because I have a hard time working with people around I find myself drawn to nocturnal schedules anyways. For someone like me being able to function in the day while still working at night would be a blessing.

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Originally Posted by Flying Mandarine

Do you have any scientific source (at least an Internet page) to back up this claim?

After all, if polyphasic sleep is supposed to increase one's stamina, why do people who have that kind of sleep schedule need an alarm clock to wake up? Also, why is it that it seems that they cannot do things such as reading or working at certain times of the day because they are sleepy?

Mmmh... Maybe that's not the good thread to be talking about the healthiness or unhealthiness of polyphasic sleep...

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yes, a book by farley mowat (i think that is how you spell it)called never cry wolf.he is researching wolves and their effect on the ecosystem.it is his first hand account of his life studying them and in it he follows a polyphasic sleep cycle like the wolves and experiences more stamina and states that he can think clearer.take to mind though that he was doing this for a long time not just a month or so.and i am sure you can find an internet source that says the same.

also though his sleep cycles are more irregular.in the book he says the key to more stamina and such is to wake every ten minutes or so change position and fall asleep again.i suppose for some people if they wanted to try polyphasic sleep it would be more convenient to have a large chunk of sleep such as eight hours but do it in short intervals like this.(sorry double post...)

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Originally Posted by Flying Mandarine

Do you have any scientific source (at least an Internet page) to back up this claim?

After all, if polyphasic sleep is supposed to increase one's stamina, why do people who have that kind of sleep schedule need an alarm clock to wake up? Also, why is it that it seems that they cannot do things such as reading or working at certain times of the day because they are sleepy?

Mmmh... Maybe that's not the good thread to be talking about the healthiness or unhealthiness of polyphasic sleep...

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Study on 99 sailors: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/con...2431473~db=all
Here's a report from someone who did it for 6 months- http://pure-doxyk.livejournal.com/229675.html
A book on it- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_...trashort_Sleep

After a time you won't necessarily need an alarm, but at first you do. There's a transition period of at least a week where your body adjusts to the sleep schedule, it's not like you just set out and say "I'm doing an uberman sleep schedule!" and you suddenly do. The alarm helps you keep it and get used to it at first. That and some people just need alarms for whatever reason. I would often wake up as much as a half hour before I needed to while trying for 8 hours a night, and would still wait for the alarm because I liked having the time to relax before the day, I can imagine doing this if I woke up a minute or two early.

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Originally Posted by lindarthebard

8. You do not talk about Fight Club.

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Lol.

Thanks for the interesting read =]

i am starting it to-night. wish me luck:P

Good luck:)

yeah...didn't work:P:D i'm trying to do it without alarms because my brother sleeps in the room next door and is a very light sleeper. i woke twice but fell asleep again immediately. oh wells:) persistance!

Dymaxion sleep schedule

I am gunna try and roughly do that that I think. Although mainly I expect Iwill just try sleeping when it seems like the best time to fit it in, difference is I think I am gunna try gradually getting into it as opposed to instant change.

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Originally Posted by ray

yeah...didn't work:P:D i'm trying to do it without alarms because my brother sleeps in the room next door and is a very light sleeper. i woke twice but fell asleep again immediately. oh wells:) persistance!

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Did you start by trying to wake during the night? I think it would be best to start with the naps because it's hard to sleep more than 30 min when you're not tired anyway.

I was actually doing pretty well with this last week. I was too busy to sleep through the night so I was just taking scheduled naps. I failed when I couldn't fall asleep for a nap. Then the sleep debt started adding up and I slept a full night once I was finished with my project.

yeah but it worked better last night. i fell asleep around midnight and woke up at three but i fell asleep again until four.i got up and ate and went out to run,came in watched t.v.,went out,came back in and fell asleep (accidentally) around six and woke up at nine. should i continue this three hour interval or do something different?

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should i continue this three hour interval or do something different?

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I think you should plan what your sleep schedule will be, and stick to it no matter what. I have read quite a few times that you must be strict and never oversleep, or it will never work.

Ryles: I've read your links, many thanks! But still I don't see anything really scientific. The books you've linked to might be, but well, aren't they just about sleeping in extreme conditions where you cannot really sleep a full night's sleep?
I guess my main concern is that it seems the first stages of sleep are of some importance, but we don't know yet what importance they have (do we? I'm going to research on that), so it can be risky to just skip them as that's what happens when you follow a polyphasic schedule.