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.
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