Polyphasic Sleep: How to Add 6 Hours of Awake Time To Your Day!
Is a Polyphasic Sleep Schedule Right for You?
Let me just say from the start that polyphasic sleep is not for everyone. It is extremely regimented and must be that way in order to be successful. Most people cannot make polyphasic sleep work for them, because such a regimented sleep schedule conflicts with their other obligations and activities.
The majority of people in the world do not have a polyphasic sleep schedules. Most people have monophasic sleep schedules where they sleep for one long period every day.
Employers usually will not make allowance for an employee who must nap every few hours, as a polyphasic sleep schedule requires. Employment is usually the main deterrent to a polyphasic sleep schedule, but it is not the only deterrent.
How Polyphasic Sleep Schedules Work
Steve Pavlina experimented with a polyphasic sleep schedule a few years ago, and he has written extensively on the subject, sharing the detailed records of his experiment.
Pavlina followed a polyphasic sleep schedule for 5 and a half months in order to better understand if it could be practical, workable, and physically and emotionally healthy. He slept approximately 20 minutes every 4 hours, keeping to that schedule 24 hours a day.
Pavlina slept a total of 2 hours out of every 24, which gave him an additional 6 hours everyday to be productive in his writing and other activities, but as he pointed out, he sacrificed flexibility considerably in his daily schedule in order to accommodate and maintain the polyphasic sleep schedule.
Maintaining the 20-minute nap every 4 hours is the reason polyphasic sleep schedules tend not to be practical for people who work as employees or who may have social obligations that interfere.
According to Pavlina, “. . . it takes a lot of discipline to avoid oversleeping.” There is extremely little flexibility in rearranging a polyphasic sleep schedule.
More Examples of Polyphasic Sleep Schedules
Some professionals give the example of newborn human infants as having polyphasic sleep schedules, where they awake every couple of hours or so for feeding, etc. Sometime elderly people develop a polyphasic sleep schedule where they sleep in several segments instead of one or two long blocks of sleep (3-5 hours each, for example). Also, some animals have polyphasic sleep patterns.
Technically, polyphasic simply means sleeping in several segments, and does not necessarily include such a regimented schedule as Pavlina used or recommends as being the most successful way of making use of that kind of sleep pattern.
In some cases, “systematic napping,” may be necessary because of extreme conditions. There are times when people have trouble sleeping because of physical injury, illness, or events in their lives, like the death of a loved one, etc. In such a case, a polyphasic sleep pattern may help them get through a difficult time.
Polyphasic sleep patterns can also be useful in combat situations or even with our people in the space program or on the space station. However, no one in my research recommended polyphasic sleep for long or indefinite periods of time.
Naps were again sited as being helpful for improving memory and learning.
More From Au Fait About Sleep
- Is It Insomnia or Just Your Body Trying To Act Naturally? Segmented Sleep Patterns
For 18 centuries people practiced what is called segmented sleep patterns, then came the light bulb and that changed everything. Exploring segmented, or biphasic sleep, and why some scientists and psychiatrists believe it is the natural sleep pattern - Biphasic Sleep -- Makes You Smarter!
Why Biphasic or segmented sleep is better for us, and how it benefits our health and our cognitive abilities.
How Easy Is It To Develop and Maintain a Polyphasic Sleep Schedule?
Pavlina reports that getting into the polyphasic sleep schedule is extremely difficult and took him nearly 3 weeks during which time he was so exhausted he felt like a zombie. However, things went well once his body adapted to the new sleep pattern. Read more about this in Pavlina’s own words by clicking here.
Even though Pavlina has reverted back to a monophasic sleep schedule for more socially practical reasons, he says he has taken away several advantages he mastered during his experiment with the polyphasic sleep schedule. He says he is now still able to take short naps – 15-20 minutes at will and that during those naps he is able to enter REM sleep immediately, just as he did once he was able to accomplish the polyphasic sleep pattern.
Of his dreams, Pavlina writes, “I suspect it [entering REM sleep quickly] may be a permanent adaptation. I took a nap this afternoon, had a dream that seemed about an hour long, and woke up naturally feeling refreshed and with a clear memory of the dream. But the total time I was lying down was only 13 minutes.”
REM sleep is sleep characterized by rapid eye movement, lack of reflexes or suspension of body movement, and dreaming.
It seems to come down to polyphasic sleep having advantages primarily during difficult high stress times in a person’s life. The rest of the time biphasic or monophasic sleep schedules, whichever works best for the individual, would seem to make more sense and be easier to accomplish and maintain.
This Man Has Figured Out How to Make Just 4 Hours of Sleep a Day Work For Himself
© 2012 C E Clark
Comments
What an interesting article and one that I just now discovered. It is understandable why polyphasic sleep would not work for most employed people. The one nice side effect of that experiment that Pavlina did was how he can easily now nap and get to the REM state quickly. That would be a plus. Of course he felt like a zombie until his body adjusted. Ha! You always write the most interesting articles! Happy to share.
Interesting topic on sleep patterns and the sleep study by Steve Pavlina - and he's kinda cute, too. I tend to sleep a maximum of five hours before awakening like it's a brand new day. Anytime I do fall asleep, I begin to dream vividly, even if it is a short nap of 15 minutes.
Doctor appointments would prevent a polyphasic sleep schedule. I love to sleep!
Wonderful hub, enjoy it very much.
I would love to add 6 waking hours to my day, but the cost of polyphasic sleep is too high for most of us. It sounds interesting and could work for a short period of time, but I think we would eventually shift back to our old habits.
This is very interesting. I've never heard of this but if I had to compare it it sounds like a similar concept to eating small meals throughout the day instead of three larger ones. It sounds like a good concept for someone doing shift work or working inconsistent hours. Voted up and shared!
This sounds like it would be very hard to do. I read about your biphasic sleep pattern and that sounded do-able. But this having a short sleep for just 20 minutes every 3 hours and 40 minutes, don't think I could do it. Like you said it didn't work for the guy trying it because of his social obligations, but for me, I think I just couldn't discipline myself to do it. Still, an interesting concept. Interesting to learn about it.
So surprising that Pavlina could accomplish sleeping this way and not get sick! I can understand sleeping a little here and there at times when things are not going well, but to do it all the time? I don't think I could do it.
I like the biphasic sleep pattern that you wrote about best. This is still a very interesting article. The thing about your articles is that I always learn something. I like that.
Voting you up, most interesting, I love to sleep and dream, even is my dreams are not always good ones, and sometimes I can go inside my dreams and change them.
Interesting hub, as always.
I love your hubs Au fait! I'm still trying to implement the biphasic sleep pattern. Like you said it's quite difficult to stick to. But I'm looking forward to the permanent adaptation Pavlina spoke of.
When you think about it, we're really the only life that has a monophasic sleep pattern (hibernation doesn't count lol). My cats take naps constantly! We could learn a lot from them!
Voted up and useful!
It's interesting to observe most higher mammals sleep on an off in the day and for longer periods in the night (or day if they are nocturnal) I am sure it's very unatural to sleeep 8 or more hours at night and stay awake 16 hours, but it seems to work for us the way the world is organized. I personally like about 6 hours at night and a couple of naps in the day...works for me, partly because I observed the Mexican siesta system for so many years.
Interesting article sweetie
Bobx
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