During a normal sleep schedule you lie down at 10PM sleep for 9 hours and are up at 7AM. This is 9 hours of sleep. In the first 90 minutes you experience four 'stages' of sleeping, and then enter REM sleep after that and continue cycling between the five stages.
This leads to a grand total of 90 minutes REM sleep for every 9 hours you sleep.
REM sleep is the sleep that makes you feel refreshed and awake afterwards.

But certain people, most likely insane people, developed a different way of sleeping...
Six 30-minute naps every 3-4 hours a day.
After a few sleep deprived days of living this way (because the body gets NO REM sleep) the mind changes how it approaches sleep. Instead of spending 90 minutes entering REM sleep, the mind jumps straight into REM sleep whenever you close your eyes.
This means that (after 8 days of pure hell) you can get over 2 hours of REM sleep (far better than normal sleeping) but only sleep for roughly 3 hours.

This leaves you with six extra hours every single day to do whatever you feel like doing.
Pretty interesting stuff, right?

Drawbacks:
You have to take the naps. Missing a nap completely leads to oversleeping and a mild relapse (can be cured by taking another nap)
You will spend many many hours alone at night while the rest of the world hibernates.
You need a very flexible schedule, and at least 8 free days to begin the schedule.
Not everyone has the mental capacity for it.

Benefits:
6 extra hours a day
No jetlag
Easier to raise babies
If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, just wake up again in three hours.
Dreams become more vivid (and lucid)
It would be incredibly trippy.


So I'm thinking of starting this sleep schedule, some time next month maybe, and I'm wondering if anyone here knows anyone who's doing/has done it - or if this interests anyone else here. If anyone's heard of massive side effects I'd like to hear that too.
If you're a little confused feel free to google up on either Polyphasic sleep or the uberman sleep schedule.

To reword this. There are four stages of sleeping, each lasting 90 minutes, between each stage there is brief REM sleep, after the four stages, you mainly have REM sleep. You don't "continue cycling between the five stages".


How is it far better than normal sleeping?

The thing is, we don't know the long term effects of such a sleeping pattern because there are no scientific studies on Uberman's sleep schedule, and there seems to be very little research studying Polyphasic sleep in general.

This doesn't seem that great for me:

http://www.supermemo.com/help/faq/polyphasic.htm
http://blog.myzeo.com/what-are-the-risks-o...lyphasic-sleep/

Two links a google search turned up. Maybe something like the Da Vinci method would be more practical?

What is the Da Vinci method if it isn't a polyphasic sleep schedule?

It is a polyphasic sleep method...

I had read that we continue cycling between stages as follows:
1,2,3,4,3,4,5,4,3,4,5,4,3,4,5 with each 5 lasting progressively longer and each 3-4 lasting progressively less. It's possible this is inaccurate, I haven't read too much on the topic - though I intend to as much as possible before I start this little experiment.

2 hours of REM sleep is better than 1 1/2 hours of REM sleep, and can be achieved in three hours if the other sleep stages can be skipped. There have been no reported side effects of long term use, but also no definite positive effects. People claim to feel better, but I'm aware this is a placebo.

My main hope in trying this myself is to find out for sure. Maybe I'll fail to even get into the pattern, but I'd be glad to share anything I find out along the way. I have read a handful of reports by people though. It seems mentally taxing, but ultimately beneficial. The only downside is the loneliness of being the only person awake all night.



Da Vinci was an Uberman sleeper (according to the FAQ you linked me) and that is the kind of polyphasic sleep I'm going for. Polyphasic sleep in general (such as staying awake 6 hours a time) is ineffective, but a mixture of free running and thirty minute naps (the uberman) results in pretty decent results (according to some - including the blogger from the second link you gave me)

By all means go for it, I just don't think its suitable for me to try such a thing at my age.

I have no idea what that is, but my guess is you, actually I've no idea what my guess would be. We have four stages of sleep, and the cycle looks like this.




90-120 minutes of REM sleep is normal though, but my question still stands, how is it better?

I think it's a give and take.

You give up your regular sleep schedule, may suffer sever syndromes. Actually, I think some people may break if they started such sleeping habits. In return, you need less sleep as your brain learns to adapt to the short time you do sleep, your more alert and such when awake. Though I believe a long term sleep after initiating this schedule can revert a person if I read correctly.

To be honest I don't know much about sleep, however both sides of this debate throw around REM like it's the holy grail. One side says "More REM sleep is achieved through Uberman, which is responsible for its heightening of cognitive processes" and the other says "Don't you realise it takes 90 minutes to access REM sleep? You'll never get any of the best kind of sleep"

Both are actually wrong though (I've done some more reading) proportionally all the key stages of sleep are there exactly as they would be in monophasic sleep. Imagine your diagram there but compressed into thirty minutes with only one section of each. Supposedly.

The problem with researching polyphasic sleeping is that there is an abundance of directly conflicting evidence and I'm trying not to be taken by the wayside on any one person's claim. Some people cite data and say "This is why it's impossible" but a quick youtube search has diaries of people going through polyphasic sleep successfully. Of course, you could easily say these are lies or placebos, but pretty much everyone quits the schedule eventually - but never because the schedule is ineffective, or unenjoyable - which seems odd to say if they're lying or misleading themselves.

The gist is that hordes of people are trying it, and saying it works (much like people who use 'psychic healing powers') while at the same time many people are applying the rules of classical sleep to bite-size sleep and claiming that it's impossible.
That's like using classical mechanics to observe the behavior of molecules, it leads to a complete collapse of physics.

No one is attempting to bridge the gap, which makes all information on the subject really difficult to wade through. So basically I don't know that the true effects will be, or if you get more or less REM, or it will be better or worse. I would have liked to know if anyone had heard of this before, to give some 1 on 1 knowledge about it, but if not then I'll start my schedule in about thirteen days and see how it goes from there.


Again we see mixed results. Some people claim that long sleep just doesn't happen, that alarms become unnecessary and all is well. Some people claim a complete crash, a reset, and they go back to day one. Some people claim it makes them groggy, but they're cured a few naps later (so a day really) and then some people report improvement after taking a long sleep.

I think you should take on the main points that we don't know the effects of this, other than reports from individuals. However, the major advantage is the extra time you'll have.

This has piqued my interest. My sleeping is completely ineffective, so I am looking for something that might be a little more effective.

as it stands I have a week of college left, followed by a few hectic days when I'm booked up doing things. After that though I intend to start the schedule and I'll be sure to write down my findings. At the moment possible side effects vary from weight gain to a completely distorted sense of time.
It's virtually impossible to know how much truth there is to any of this though Not yet anyway.

I think you can take those that likely. Your sleep schedule is a nap every four hours. You won't have a sense of when the day changes.

Plus, your weight will likely change. You'll need to eat more, if you're awake for six more hours than usual, plus you might snack more.

my plan is to prepare a small meal, sleep for thirty minutes, then wake up and eat it. Digestion makes it harder to sleep so I figured I should eat as soon as I wake up. Plus, I do intend to put on weight, so eating lightly 6 times a day will probably do me some good

I do have motivation issues, mainly with waking up, so I'm not even sure if I'll manage to wake up on time - though I've heard a few good tricks. Guess we'll just have to see.
I'm also thinking of assigning myself some mental tasks to keep me on my toes, and to analyze any changes in brain activity. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Well, one thing to do later on in the process would be keeping a dream journal, this should help you analyze how lucid your dreams have become after completing the initial naps.

Actually Sparrow, it's best to have a semi full stomach before you go to sleep. A completely empty, or completely full stomach - is what interrupts sleep. Your sleep phase is initiated and controlled by your Parasympathetic nervous system aka "rest and digest" phase. It's best for your body to have something to 'nibble' on during this time.

I'm interested to see what your personal experiences with this are, as this is something I've looked over before but not really considered. Although I did sort of go through this myself at one point, but it was more so due to insomnia. I was taking 30 min naps at roughly 4 - 5 hour intervals. I wouldn't call myself more alert however, honestly I felt like a zombie during that time.

If the end goal, or one of the end goals, is lucid dreaming - there's other methods to achieve that.

the main reason is curiosity, but extra free time and something interesting to put in a personal statement ought to be cool too.
As for food, that may only apply to full time sleep. Half hour naps may work differently, and I'll probably still be digesting my last meal when I first nap (how long does it take to digest food ) Most people who succeed on this sleep pattern are generally very healthy (vegans, vegetarians) as apparently hormones in meat can make it harder to sleep.
I'm not sure how much of this is true (and I intend to research it) but I have no plans on making any major diet changes (in the immediate future anyway) so I think erring on the safe side and eating when I wake up will be a good idea. More research may be needed.

The downside of this entire experiment is that I will (doubtlessly) have to give up the sleep cycle a little while after I start. The rest of the world is still monophasic and I need to maintain a social life + go to college again in mid-august. Only if the benefits are extremely good can you expect me to try and maintain this through indefinitely.

On the plus side I have recently been persuading myself to get up the instant I wake up - which is something I'll need for this pattern. I also do intend to keep a dream journal, but I very rarely dream (or remember my dreams) anyway - so this may be pointless.

...vegans and vegetarians are not healthier, as they're not getting the necessary nutrients. We're designed to be omnivores with a heavy fish diet. Suppliments don't suffice either as most nutrients are destroyed in the process of making the suppliment (speaking specifically of pills here). Furthermore, most vegetables need to be cooked in order to properly absorb and digest the nutrients within.

Digestion times vary depending on what you've eaten, usually between 24 and 72 hours - digestion doesn't specifically interfere with your sleep cycle unless you've over eaten/gorged, or gone to bed within 2 hours of eating a meal. It's called your rest and digest cycle for a reason, it can't be prevented. As soon as your body is at rest (pre-sleep stages) your body kicks up it's digestion.
I'm not entirely sure about shorter sleep periods, but rest/digest is still being triggered. A light carb with milk prior to any sleep cycle helps with melatonin release (from the milk) and absorption - which triggers the sleep cycle.

Either way, it'd be interesting to see what your personal experiences are and compare them to those of others. Anytime I've run on minimal sleep I do feel energized, but I think that's more of a prolonged adrenaline drive due to your body running on low sleep.

My naps will be roughly every 3 hours (though I do have an impressively quick metabolism) so I think eating soon after waking up would be a good idea - with a glass of milk before napping again.

My main goal now is to make an actual schedule. Classically people have a 30 minute nap every four hours (leaving 3.5 waking hours at a time, some of which you'll spend getting ready for sleep again) six times a day - but people have added additional naps to help (seven or eight) and moved them around so that they have more naps at night than during the day.

9-1-5-9-1-5 seems pretty good when squared up with meals:
9 - breakfast - 1 - lunch - 5 - tea (dinner) - 9 - supper - 1 - midnight snack - 5 - sunrise sandwich (a meal I have just invented this very second)

the 1 - 5 part is apparently very difficult, so I may add a 3am nap in there as well.